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Billie Eilish

A Los Angeles songwriter who made her records with Finneas O'Connell in a bedroom studio and went on to win Grammys, Academy Awards and the biggest streaming numbers of her generation.

Origin
Los Angeles, California, United States
Years active
2015-present
Genres
alternative pop, electropop, indie pop, bedroom pop
Labels
Darkroom, Interscope, Polydor
Also known as
Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell

Beginnings

Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell was born in Los Angeles on 18 December 2001. In 2015 she and Finneas had begun writing together, and on 18 November that year they put Ocean Eyes on SoundCloud. Finneas had written, mixed and produced it for his own band, the Slightlys, before deciding it suited her voice. Her dance teacher, Fred Diaz, had asked them for a song to choreograph. Apple Music signed her to the A&R company Platoon in January 2016, and in August she signed to Darkroom and Interscope, who re-released the song that November.

Her debut EP, Don't Smile at Me, followed on 11 August 2017. She and Finneas wrote it, and he produced all of it. It reached 14 on the Billboard 200 and 12 on the UK Albums Chart.

The debut album

Her first album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, came out on 29 March 2019, when she was 17. Finneas produced it in his small bedroom studio in Highland Park. The pair chose it over a professional studio for its intimate, homely feel and the way a bedroom treats vocals. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and the UK Albums Chart, which made her the first artist born in the 2000s with a US number-one album. Bad Guy, released with the album, reached number one on the Hot 100 in August 2019 and ended the 19-week run of Old Town Road. Laura Snapes of the Guardian praised Finneas's "compellingly nasty production".

At the Grammys in January 2020 she won Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best New Artist. She was the first woman and the second artist to take all four in one ceremony, and at 18 the youngest winner of both Album of the Year and Record of the Year.

Bond, a second album and Barbie

In January 2020 she was announced as the performer of the James Bond theme No Time to Die, written and produced with Finneas. She became the youngest artist to write and perform a Bond theme, and it gave her a first UK number one. Happier Than Ever followed on 30 July 2021. It was recorded weekly between April 2020 and February 2021 in the basement studio of Finneas's Los Angeles home. She said she wanted a timeless record and drew on jazz singers she grew up hearing, such as Julie London, Peggy Lee and Frank Sinatra. It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and in 27 other countries. Alexis Petridis of the Guardian found its overall tone "noticeably more sombre", and the title song builds from a muffled acoustic ballad into an epic finale.

In 2022 she won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for No Time to Die, the first person born in the 21st century to win an Oscar, and she became the youngest headliner of Coachella and Glastonbury. She and Finneas wrote What Was I Made For? for the film Barbie after the director, Greta Gerwig, showed them a rough cut. It won the Oscar in 2024, along with Grammys for Song of the Year and Best Song Written for Visual Media, and made her the youngest person to win two Academy Awards.

Hit Me Hard and Soft

Hit Me Hard and Soft was announced on 8 April 2024 and released on 17 May without a lead single. She said she disliked songs coming out of context. Co-written with Finneas, who produced it, the album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 with 339,000 units, her largest first week, and at number one in the UK. All ten tracks entered the top 40 of the Hot 100. Birds of a Feather reached number two in the US, topped the Billboard Global 200 and was Spotify's most-streamed song of 2024. She sang it at the closing ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Petridis headed his Guardian review "still the great outlier of American pop". Wildflower, from the album, won Song of the Year at the Grammys the following year. Apple Music named her its Artist of the Year for 2024, the first person to earn the title twice.

Records

Songs

Finneas, Lorde, Lana Del Rey, Khalid

Where to go next

Official

Reference

Writing and criticism

Sources

  1. Billie Eilish, Wikipedia
  2. Hit Me Hard and Soft, Wikipedia
  3. When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, Wikipedia
  4. Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft review, The Guardian (2024-05-16)
  5. Billie Eilish: When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? Album Review, Pitchfork (2019-03-29)
  6. The Anxious Love Songs of Billie Eilish, The New Yorker (2024-05-17)
  7. Billie Eilish is Apple Music's Artist of the Year for 2024, Apple (2024-11)