"NDA" (an acronym for "non-disclosure agreement") is a song by American singer-songwriter Billie Eilish and the fifth single from her second studio album, Happier Than Ever (2021). It is an industrial, alternative pop, dark pop, electropop, and progressive pop track, which contains elements of techno-pop, trance, and trip hop, accompanied by diverse lyrical content. Inspired by her relationships, "NDA" has lyrics about Eilish's struggle with fame and fight for privacy. Additionally, the song transitions into the following album track, "Therefore I Am". Eilish wrote the song with its producer, her brother Finneas O'Connell.
The track was released by Interscope and Darkroom Records as the album's fifth single on July 9, 2021. It is the fourth song supporting the project that impacted mainstream radio in the United States. The song received mostly favorable reviews from music critics, who often called it "dark" and "pulsating". Critics acclaimed the production and vocals, but some took issue with its themes and said it was a misplacement on Happier Than Evers track list. Commercially, the single reached the top 20 in Australia, Canada, Greece, Ireland, Lithuania, New Zealand, Norway, and the Billboard Global 200 chart. It was certified platinum in Australia, gold in Mexico and Poland, and silver in the United Kingdom.
Eilish self-directed the music video for "NDA", which depicts Eilish walking alone on a desert road as cars race around her. Critics saw the road as representing the titular non-disclosure agreement or different parts of the singer's life. Critics also said the video's atmosphere effectively accompanied the song's production and described it as dark, eerie, and moody. For further promotion, the singer performed the song numerous times for gigs like BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge, Life Is Beautiful Music & Art Festival, 2022 Coachella, and Glastonbury Festival 2022. During a 2022–2023 world tour in support of Happier Than Ever, Eilish performed the song on the stage resembling the highway road. The live rendition of the track has been featured in her concert film Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles (2021).
Background and release
At the age of 18, Billie Eilish won five awards at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards held in 2020. These include Album of the Year for her debut studio album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (2019). It was a commercial success, debuting at number one on many national record charts and bringing her mainstream fame. Her newly found success attracted the attention of stalkers: in 2019, the address of her family home in Los Angeles leaked online, causing three fans to show up at her house one day. One of them was an old man who had driven all the way from San Diego. That same year, a man was arrested for trespassing after appearing outside Eilish's residence seven times while "showing erratic behavior", such as by waiting for her by the front porch when told by her father that she was not home yet. A judge issued a restraining order against the man, which prevented him from trying to contact or go within a 100-meter radius of Eilish and her parents, harassing the family, or visiting Eilish's workplaces. In 2020, Billie Eilish and her family experienced stalking from another person. She filed a civil harassment restraining order against the stalker, who went by a nickname of "Adam Lucifer", on February 11, 2021, winning the case the following month. Camping by a school across from Eilish's residence, he had been sending her "extremely disturbing" letters and making throat-slitting gestures whenever they encountered each other. Eilish started fearing for her life and the well-being of her family, and she stopped feeling safe while inside her house as well as travelling outside of it. In a court statement, she wrote: "Every time I see him I just want to scream."
On April 27, 2021, Eilish announced her second studio album Happier Than Ever for release on July 30. "NDA" was announced via an Instagram post by Eilish, alongside a music video, on July 1, 2021. She additionally revealed the cover art for the single, which features double image of her. Two days before the song's release, Eilish posted a short snippet of it on Instagram. The song was released to digital download and streaming media on July 9, as the fifth single from Happier Than Ever. The same day, it was serviced to Italian radio airplay by Universal Music Group, while the UK pop-format BBC Radio 1 added it to its "A List". On July 13, the song impacted alternative and mainstream radio formats in the United States. Along with the release of the album, the lyric video of the song was uploaded to Eilish's official YouTube channel.
Development and recording "NDA" was written by Eilish and her brother Finneas O'Connell, who also served as the track's producer. It was recorded at Finneas' home recording studio, located in the basement of his Los Angeles residence. The song's production started with the sound made by Finneas that plays in between pre-chorus and chorus. Eilish wanted to use the sounds, because if not it would be a "waste" according to her. In Eilish's concert film, Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles (2021), she said that the track talks about different situations, it goes "all around the place", and it is open to interpretation. She added that the recording of "NDA" did not take place in her "comfort zone", but it was therapeutic and fun for her. The singer likes the track because of its different structure. She further elaborated about the song's development process in an interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music:
"I'm so happy that it's seeing the light of day. It came from that [does sound] We had that, we only had that. Finneas made that, just that. We were just messing around, and he just made that, and we were like, 'Oh!' And it just was that … and it was way slower and pitched down. It was really slow, this crazy... And we would just listen to it, and we would just walk around the room feeling it. And it was such a feeler. Oh my God, I kept picturing visuals for it. And I kept picturing legs, and girls and shapes, and darkness, and this cool. And I was just like, 'We have to make something to this, because this is a waste otherwise.' We literally made that whole song in two days or something, a day, I don't know. But it was a fun, satisfying-ass process. It was very, very fulfilling."
Composition and production
Musically, "NDA" is a minimal, pulsating, trip-hoppy, and trance-like song described as industrial, alt-pop, dark pop, electropop, and progressive pop. According to the sheet music published by Universal Music Group, the song is composed in the key of G minor, and has a tempo of 85 beats per minute. Eilish's vocals span from G3 to D5, staying in her mid-range. It begins with a distorted synth and pulsing beat. The song later features "weird plucky" guitar, "eerie" piano line, atmospheric synths, sub-bass, an electro Auto Tune, "hypnotic" couplets and refrains, and Eilish's doubled whispery vocals in a "sparse, chiming production". The bass grows more "intensive" and "aggressive" during the song's "frustrated" chorus, while Eilish screams "You couldn't save me, but you can't let me go / I can crave you, but you don't need to know" through heavily auto-tuned vocals. The chorus itself was classified by Rob Harvilla of The Ringer as "dystopian techno-pop". The song segues into the album's next track "Therefore I Am".
"NDA" has been labeled as "claustrophobic", "jittery", "prowling", "razor-sharp", "syncopated", and "thumping" by music commentary, with Allison Stewart from The Washington Post describing it as "twitchy club [track]". Tyler Golsen of Far Out stated that the song is a "stark and shadowy version of electro-pop" and is "closer to goth-pop" than the previous single "Lost Cause" (2021), but noted how "stylistically it stays in the same sonic sandbox". In Teen Vogue article, production of the tune was stated as its "unique sound element", while the song in whole was described as "woozier take on hyperpop". Brad Wheeler described the track as a "creepy thumper". Alex McLevy from The A.V. Club described the track as "pulsing, heartbeat-like throb". "NDA" has been compared by critics to her debut studio album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, and to the work of artists such as progressive rapper Kanye West, industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, and hip hop and dance producer Timbaland. Sophie Walker of The Forty-Five opined that strings of this track are influenced by the Eastern music, and they with the "ticking metronome" create a "disorientating, otherworldly sound".
The singer's vocal delivery in the track was described as "apathetic", "emotive", half-rapping, and "hushed". Writing for Billboard, Hannah Dailey said that Eilish's distorted vocals are "engineered to sound intense"; whilst Capital FM's Savannah Roberts called her vocals "effortless", elaborating that Eilish carried the verses and allowed the poignant words to sink in. NMEs Rhian Daly wrote that the song "moves between sparse, hypnotic verses and big refrains anchored by a heavy sub bass". Bardají said that the song contains an interesting contrast with its production choices, "catchy and boastful melody", and "Billie's voice in the foreground but subjected to the habitual virguerias". Walker said that the auto tune effect put on Eilish's voice "brings this glacial, nocturnal and spectacularly odd track to life."
Lyrical content and interpretation
Lyrically, "NDA" covers various topics. Eilish starts the song by offering a reminder of the stalking incident from 2020: "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." Next, she mentions that she bought a secret house back in 2019. Eilish also presents the struggles of having a private personal life and a romantic partner due to her fame. Additionally, she sings that she had a "pretty boy" who she made sign a titular NDA—which is short for a non-disclosure agreement—to secure her private life from going public. In the second verse, Eilish addresses her fame and money, singing that after being featured in Forbes 30 Under 30, her life has been negatively impacted since she can "barely" go outside. She also shares thoughts of pursuing a new career and moving to Kauai, an island she visited in 2020. Eilish later refers to other songs from the album, such as "Getting Older", "I Didn't Change My Number", and "My Future". The singer thinks that the outro has "like eight different meanings".
The song's lyrics have been described as a "half-joke", "darkly humorous", "emotional", "barbed", and "sly". Megan Stone of Good Morning America had a different perspective on the track, describing it as "vulnerable and unsettling". In an article published by Pinkvilla, a writer suggested that the song seemingly also talks about trust, while Young Hollywoods Rebecca Breitfeller stated it is about "that life is moving too fast and too many things are coming at [Eilish] from all angles". The Sydney Morning Heralds Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen said that "NDA" depicts "strangeness of being a young woman under such intense scrutiny". Jon Dolan of Rolling Stone opinied this tracks is about "life as a disconnected blur of new-fame isolation."
Critical reception