NDA

Billie Eilish

Did you think I’d show up in a limousine? No

Had to save my money for security

Got a stalker walkin’ up and down the street

Says he’s Satan and he’d like to meet

I bought a secret house when I was seventeen

Haven’t had a party since I got the keys

Had a pretty boy over but he couldn’t stay

On his way out, made him sign an NDA

Yeah, I made him sign an NDA

(Once was good enough)

’Cause I don’t want him having stuff to say

You couldn’t save me but you can’t let me go

I can crave you but you don’t need to know

Thirty under thirty for another year

I can barely go outside, I think I hate it here

Maybe I should think about a new career

Somewhere in Kauai where I can disappear

I’ve been having fun getting older now

Didn’t change my number, made him shut his mouth

At least I gave him something he can cry about

I thought about my future but I want it now

Want it now

(You can’t give me up)

You couldn’t save me but you can’t let me go

I can crave you but you don’t need to know

Did I take it too far?

Now I know what you are

You hit me so hard

I saw stars

Think I took it too far

When I sold you my heart

How’d it get so dark?

I saw stars

Stars

Background

“NDA” is from the singer’s second album “Happier Than Ever,” with the title serving as an acronym for non-disclosure agreement. NDAs are commonplace for celebrities – a necessity in all honesty – yet you don’t hear them open up about them or discuss them. The singer lets us peek into her world throughout the song. She rose to fame as a teen, and she imparts the downside of fame including stalkers, lack of parties, and the time she had a date but couldn’t let the boy stay and demanded a NDA from him. She sounds great throughout, particularly the brief but gorgeous chorus, and her ratcheted up intensity on the outro.