I think both are extremely boring. (Though that may have something to do with my general problem with today's state of pop music)

But probably EiIlish takes it.

Aren't all of these diet trip-hop, sulky-voiced, wierd-accented emo-teens the same person, but with different coloured nail varnish?

It's like Village of the Damned meets young Winona Ryder, the musical.

It's funny, I'm kind of a fan of both. Both had debuts that were something newish for popular music (and yet as pointed out on here wasn't especially strange) as much in their lyrical themes and personas as their sonics.

They both put out new, underwhelming albums this summer. Billie's is just a little tepid but Lorde's has some cringe inducing missteps. The pop music press is looking at Taylor Swift like she's held on to her throne, which is a testament to the importance of songcraft to me.

I call it a tie.

I can't think of any reason I'm going to listen to either, but I'm seeing Lorde's butt all over town. Winner.

Lorde definitely smoked Billie on Hot Ones. Lorde all the way

Is death an option? I choose that.

There's always a class clown.

So my ex got me to watch this way-long Billy Eilish documentary and I learned a few things.

First is that "Billy Eilish" is a duo. They're precociously talented homeschool kids who are like a Zoomer version of the Carpenters. They were at their most endearing in the film while they were self-producing their Grammy award-winning album in the bedroom of their ramshackle house while their hippie parents look on anxiously. Least endearing when fame hits and Billy starts dressing head to toe in couture trash like she's Eddie from AbFab and complaining constantly. She's the classic teenager from a stable family who's never suffered any tragedy at all, so every day is a tragedy. It's just the sadness of the world, you know? But she's so young, she's still deep in her tweeny Justin Bieber obsession. Her dad looks like he thinks this has all been way too much, too soon.

Also, her brother seems to be the main driving force behind the music, but we see Billie take over directing her own music videos very early on, with the kind of perfectionist's eye that suggests a possible future film director in the making. It could happen.

Lorde has now decided that getting stoned on the beach beats being a pop star? I dunno, what I heard of the arse album just sounds a bit boring, but she is smart and seemingly self-aware, and she's probably right about getting stoned on the beach.

That Billie Eilish has a documentary about her at age 19 counts against her. Fuxache.

It showed them writing and recording an album that went on to win them armfuls of awards and sell millions, so I can't say it was a bad call on the part of the doco maker there. But she was younger than 19, and very much acted like it. Constantly moping about. Even so, when you see them singing harmony together it's clear they've got that musical siblings thing going on, and if you gave them a mic and a guitar they could probably do up a #1 song in a raw take.

Didn't make me want to listen to them, but it seems they are not short of talent.