Bills have two distinct meanings in music, referring either to paying the bills or to cash dollars.
It doesn’t matter if you’re rich or poor – every track on our playlist of songs about bills carries a priceless sense of confidence to motivate you through the working week and help keep your achievements as high as your aspirations.
Songs About Bills
1. Lunchmoney Lewis – Bills
Perhaps the most famous song about bills of the last decade, Lunchmoney Lewis’ 2015 track, Bills, is a pop anthem with a colourful summer feeling and an invigorating message.
This track puts an optimistic spin on paying the bills, refusing to spiral downwards in stress and instead taking on the responsibility with pride; “I got bills I gotta pay, so I’m gon’ work, work, work every day, I got mouths I gotta feed, so I’m gon’ make sure everybody eats.”
Lunchmoney Lewis’ track captures the bright, unbreakable energy you need to get through any workday, motivated by his golden wish for family comfort.
2. Destiny’s Child – Bills, Bills, Bills
Destiny’s Child’s 1999 US #1, Bills, Bills, Bills, is renowned for its classy yet dominant flairs of independent feminine power, a style which soon became synonymous with nearly every era of Beyonce’s discography.
This addictive R&B track is stunningly melodic yet intensely moody for a girl group piece, shaped by its characteristic edgy sound that could make any woman feel on top of her game.
Bills, Bills, Bills is anchored in an ever-relevant story of a man neglecting to step up to his role, inadvertently prompting his woman’s independent strength and self-worth;
“Can you pay my bills? Can you pay my telephone bills? Do you pay my automo’ bills? If you did, then maybe we could chill, I don’t think you do, so you and me are through.”
3. Whitney Houston – Million Dollar Bill
Whitney Houston’s final single release, Million Dollar Bill, is set with a timeless disco-style dance ambience, seamlessly fitting into the 2008 pop scene it was released in, whilst carrying the sound of a classic 80s anthem.
This track was rather interestingly written by singer-songwriter Alicia Keys, whom Houston approached to craft a hit song for her (needless to say, Alicia succeeded).
Million Dollar Bill is about keeping a firm grasp on the man who makes you feel like the rare and luxury find you are;
“I can see the way that he’s making me feel, this way about his love, I’ve been looking for something like this … If he make you feel like a million dollar bill, say it, makes you go left, right, up, down, got you spinning ’round and round, say it.”
4. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – Thrift Shop
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis’ showstopping hit Thrift Shop is centred around going on a lavish second-hand shopping spree with only 20 dollars cash in your pocket.
This track remains as iconic as ever for its shameless promotion of saving and bargain hunting, embracing the eccentric nature of thrift shop aesthetics with an addictive sense of confidence.
Between Macklemore’s myriad tongue-in-cheek lyrics is a clean swipe at his genre’s maximalist aesthetics alongside celebrating pure authenticity of style;
“They be like, ‘Oh, that Gucci, that’s hella tight,’ I’m like, ‘Yo, that’s fifty dollars for a T-shirt’ … I call that getting swindled and pimped, I call that getting tricked by a business, that shirt’s hella though, and having the same one as six other people in this club is a hella don’t.”
5. Cardi B – Money
Cardi B’s 2018 Money is an eccentric rap track backlit by a fierce attitude. Centred in an edgy piano beat, this track evokes both the fear of payment day and the threat of a powerful woman with stacks of money for a throne;
“I was born to flex, diamonds on my neck, I like boarding jets, I like morning sex, but nothing in this world that I like more than cheques, all I really wanna see is the money, I don’t really need the D, I need the money.”
This is a track for anyone refusing to succumb to the negative pressures of money making, instead revelling in their treasure chest of accomplishments.
6. DJ Khaled ft. Latto & City Girls – Bills Paid
DJ Khaled’s collab with Latto and City Girls details the dream of finding a man who gives you everything you want, without even having to tell him twice.
This track’s stunning, summery atmosphere is conjured by its captivating fusion of retro-style disco/funk and cut-throat contemporary rap.
Threaded together with a bounty of bill-based wordplay, Bills Paid is a track for anyone seeking the perfect man who works hard to keep your love alive, rather than leaving it all to you;
“He asked me what’s my horoscope, I said a dollar sign … When I meet a n****, this what I tell him: I want my bills paid, rent paid, nails did, hair slay, ain’t no such thing as it’s enough, baby, boss bitch, got my own but you can upgrade it.”
7. Zack Knight – Bills
This sleek and seductive rap track by Zack Knight is anchored in the lines, “I ain’t tryna pay your bills right now, I just wanna see you work right now, spin it round right now, drop it down right now, slow down, slow down,” crafting a piece for any player running far from all sense of faithfulness.
While rejecting all burdensome commitment to love, Bills is devoted to a different type of honesty instead; “They don’t wanna put in work for the rari, but they wanna live the life like Cardi, they out here looking for a pay cheque, am I the only one tryna make cents?.”
Exhibiting a seamless flow of Urdu interwoven within its English lyrics, this fresh track is executed with an enlivening grime-style beat and a contemporary club ambience.
8. BØRNS – American Money
Børns atmospheric pop track captures the ambience of a romantic adventure, summoning the amber midnight mist aglow under city street-lamps and the warmth of the person your love against the coldness.
American Money draws its title from the shade of a lovers’ eyes, placing the breathtaking metaphor at the heart of a song about finding the one;
“So take me to the paradise in your eyes, green like American money, you taste just right, sweet like Tennessee honey, and we can run away, swimming in the sunlight everyday, oh, paradise in your eyes, green like American money.”