Billions (song)
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2022}}
{{about|the Caroline Polachek song|other songs with similar names|Billion (disambiguation)#Music}}
{{Infobox song
| name = Billions
| cover = Caroline Polachek - Billions.png
| type = single
| artist = Caroline Polachek
| album = Desire, I Want to Turn Into You
| B-side = "Long Road Home"
| released = February 9, 2022
| genre = * Progressive pop{{cite web|first= |last= Pitchfork Staff |title= The Best Progressive Pop Music of 2022 |website= Pitchfork |url= https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/best-progressive-pop-music-2022/|date=December 13, 2022|accessdate= December 20, 2022}}
| length = {{Duration|m=4|s=57}}
| label = Perpetual Novice
| writer = {{hlist|Caroline Polachek|Danny L Harle}}
| producer = {{hlist|Caroline Polachek|Danny L Harle}}
| prev_title = Awful Things
| prev_year = 2021
| next_title = Sirens
| next_year = 2022
| chronology = Caroline Polachek
| misc = {{External music video|{{YouTube|id=4zEQJrggKgk|title="Billions"}}}}
}}
"Billions" is a song by American singer-songwriter and record producer Caroline Polachek. It was released on February 9, 2022 as the second single from Polachek's fourth album, Desire, I Want to Turn Into You (2023).
Background and composition
Polachek played the song live on her Heart is Unbreaking US tour in late 2021, and on several fall 2021 festival dates before the single was officially released.
A September 2021 New Yorker profile on Polachek explained the song's backstory as follows:
[…] One day, Danny L Harle sent her a beat that he'd written, and Polachek heard a melody out of nowhere, oceanic and potent, and started jotting down psychedelic images: a headless angel, an overflowing cup, a pearl inside an oyster. The beat and the images became the song "Billions". [Polachek said she] "wanted something that captured the afterglow of a reopening."{{Cite web|date=September 9, 2021|title=After a Year Without Crowds, Caroline Polachek Takes the Stage|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/09/20/after-a-year-without-crowds-caroline-polachek-takes-the-stage|access-date=December 4, 2022|website=The New Yorker|language=en-US}}
As the B-side of the single, Polachek released a reworked version of "Long Road Home", her collaboration with Oneohtrix Point Never from his 2020 album Magic Oneohtrix Point Never.{{cite web |url=https://beatsperminute.com/caroline-polachek-contemplates-the-overabundance-of-the-world-on-billions/ |title=CAROLINE POLACHEK CONTEMPLATES THE OVERABUNDANCE OF THE WORLD ON “BILLIONS” |first=Jasper |last=Willems |date=September 9, 2022|access-date=September 9, 2022|website=Beats Per Minute}}
Reception
The song was met with widespread critical acclaim. Pitchfork named the song a 'Best New Track', and in a review contributor Gio Santiago wrote that "Billions" is "a lucent pathway towards a new era for the pop auteur".{{Cite web|title=Caroline Polachek: "Billions"|url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/caroline-polachek-billions/|access-date=December 4, 2022|website=Pitchfork|language=en-US}} The Fader{{'}}s Jordan Daville wrote that, with "Billions", Harle and Polachek created "a kind of divine symmetry from its elements, channeling Pure Moods-era new age into something utterly splendid".{{Cite web|title=Caroline Polachek shares new song "Billions"|url=https://www.thefader.com/2022/02/09/caroline-polachek-shares-new-song-billions|access-date= December 4, 2022|website=The FADER|language=en}} Kat Bouza from Rolling Stone described "Billions" as "a trip-hop inspired, hallucinogenic epic that finds the songwriter expanding upon the inventive production style perfected on her critically acclaimed 2019 album, Pang."{{Cite web|last=Bouza|first=Kat|date=February 10, 2022|title=Caroline Polachek Surrenders to the Sublime on Esoteric Single 'Billions'|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/caroline-polachek-billions-single-1297854/|access-date= December 4, 2022 |website=Rolling Stone|language=en-US}}
= Year-end lists =
| class="wikitable sortable"
|+Year-end lists for "Billions" !Publication !List !Rank !Ref. |
| The New York Times
| Best Songs of 2022 | 22 | {{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/07/arts/music/best-songs-2022.html|title=Best Songs of 2022|website=The New York Times|first=Jon|last=Pareles|date=December 7, 2022|accessdate=April 24, 2023|language=en-US}} |
| Pitchfork
| The 100 Best Songs of 2022 | 20 | {{cite web|url=https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/best-songs-2022/|title=The 100 Best Songs of 2022|website=Pitchfork|date=December 5, 2022|accessdate=April 24, 2023|language=en-US}} |
Track listing
Digital single{{Cite web |title=Billions – Single by Caroline Polachek |publisher=Apple Music (US) |date=February 9, 2022|url=https://music.apple.com/us/album/billions-single/1605033646 |language=en-US |access-date=December 4, 2022}}
- "Billions" – 4:57
- "Long Road Home" (featuring Oneohtrix Point Never) – 3:44
Charts
| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+ Chart performance for "Billions" ! Chart (2022) ! Peak |
| scope="row"| UK Singles Sales (OCC){{cite web|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/singles-sales-chart/20221028/7509/|title=Official Singles Sales Chart Top 100|publisher=Official Charts Company|access-date=November 4, 2022}}
|37 |
|---|