Since she first emerged on the music landscape in 2016 at 14-years-old, with an upload of her song, Ocean Eyes, on SoundCloud, Billie Eilish has become one of the biggest pop stars in the world and is considered the voice of her generation. In fact, in 2018, Eilish went as far as to join Los Angeles Mayor, Eric Eric Garcetti in a push to get young people to vote because she was quoted as saying “teenagers know more about this country that we’re living than anybody.”
In terms of her global musical icon impact, according to cheatsheet.com: “In the spring 2019, due to the release and critical success of her first studio album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, and the single, Bad Guy, helped put Eilish at the number 1 spot of the Billboard 200 and at the number 1 position on the U.K. Albums Chart. As a result, Eilish became the first artist born in the 2000s to have a chart-topping album in the U.S. and the youngest female musician to ever reach the reach the Number 1 slot on the U.K. Albums Charts.” Eilish also played a full set of music at Coachella the same year. Her list of accomplishments are endless and have continued to grow. In February, Eilish’s debut album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go picked up Best Pop Vocal Album. She also won Best New Artist, Album of the Year for When We All Fall Asleep and Record and Song of The Year for Bad Guy.
Bad Guy from When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
Eilish became the second ever and first singer to win all four general field Grammy categories in the same year since Christopher Cross did in 1981. Her brother, producer and collaborator Finneas shared in the accolades as they recorded the debut album in his childhood bedroom and is responsible for Eilish’s success as well. Finneas picked up GRAMMYs for himself for Best Engineered Album, non-classical, sharing it with Rob Kinelski, and Producer of the Year, Non-Classical.
Finneas is an in-demand producer in his own right and has worked with Selena Gomez, Tove Lo and Camilla Cabello and he has also been produced a full-length album of his own, Blood Harmony, in 2019. Eilish also had the honor of singing at the 2020 Academy Awards where she performed The Beatles’ Yesterday during the In Memoriam segment of the award show’s broadcast. Finneas accompanied her on piano.
Eilish also completely sold out tickets for the Where Do We Go? World Tour within days of the sale opening. The 42-stop arena tour, which includes dates in Los Angeles at The Forum on April 3rd through the 5th are her biggest yet. Believe it or not, she’s sold more than 500,00 tickets in North America, South America and Europe within the first hour of the onsale.
Eilish Celebrating Her Grammy Wins
Her concerts have been described as “where Eilish can unpack her truest emotions onstage and the energy is more like a hardcore show than a pop spectacle.” In addition to her major GRAMMY sweep, Eilish can now also say she had broken a James Bond record, too, with her new song, No Time to Die. That songs made her the youngest person to record a song for the decades long-running franchise. No Time to Die had the biggest opening week for a James Bond ever. According to IGN.com, as March 1, 2020, the track has sold 90,000 copies in its first seven days of release and racked up 10.6 million streams. The streaming of her music by her billions upon billions of fans is an integral part of Eilish’s phenomenon as a recording artist and has helped and had a hand in transforming and changing the industry and the listeners that disseminate it.
Even with major-label backing, Eilish continues to record with Finneas in his bedroom in a very DIY fashion and aesthetic in the house they grew up in. Eilish was home-schooled and raised in Highland Park. That might explain why she has an independent spirit sense of style and a quirky personality. She was also literally born in the entertainment industry and maybe destined for greater things even earlier on. Her parents Maggie Baird and Patrick O’Connell are both successful actors with whom she continues to have a close relationship with today.
BILLIE OVER THE YEARS
Eilish began singing at very young age and belonged to the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus and learned to play the ukulele. She was raised in Los Angeles’ Highland Park neighborhood where her mother taught her and Finneas the basics of songwriting. While Finneas had worked with Eilish on some music, Finneas had been writing and producing his own songs and performing with his band. Eilish said Finneas and her mother inspired her to get into music. Now, in addition to her music, Eilish has also created a unique image branding herself so thoroughly and personally as she is involved in all aspects of her multi-faceted and broad ranging career including tour visuals to album covers, merchandise designing and staying constantly on top of her social media.
Well ahead of her years, Eilish defied conventional wisdom by resisting being pigeonholed by labels or a genre. Eilish’s fans have a strong connection because she’s open, honest and real with them sharing her trying and challenging life experiences. She’s open about her struggles with Tourettes Syndrome, the pressures of her fame and more. She’s a role model for kids that don’t fit in their own schools and within their families. She may seem aloof at times, but at the same time, approachable and self assured … nothing remotely close to a predictable pre-fabricated pop star.
She’s known for writing songs that allow her to tap into her imagination and experiences she has never had, her own anxieties that both intrigue and creep out her fans.The songs find inspiration in horror and nightmares (Bury A Friend and Bellyache) as she sings in a whispery, sometimes sulky melancholic style. She also sings about real life scenarios about an intoxicated friend in Xanny, and climate change in All Good Girls Go To Hell, When The Party Is Over, where she wishes to ebb more than a party of one, and “Wish You Were Gay,” Eilish professes love for a boy whose lack of mutual interest is suspect. She has unique and creative influences musically that include hip-hop and genre-defying artists like Childish Gambino and Earl Sweatshirt.
While growing up, Eilish was encouraged to express herself with uninhibited freedom. As a result, she absorbed and consumed all kinds of art. The clothing she wears goes against current trends as Eilish has create her own original look with big, over-sized outfits that reflect a love of Japanese amine, streetwear and 90’s rave culture. Eilish rejects the sexy selfie image culture on Instagram. In fact, in 2019, she did a commercial for Calvin Klein, telling the reasons why she wears baggy clothes.
Apparently a lot of thought when into her statement and spokes volumes about her fearless approach to being candid and transparent with her fans that respect her and all women who may feel wrongly and unfairly judged in general. Eilish says, “I never want the world to know everything about me. That is why I wear baggy clothes. Nobody can have an opinion because they haven’t seen what is underneath.” At the tender age of 18, Billie Eilish has experienced an enormous amount of fame in a very short time. She has managed to keep it from going to her head by keeping things in perspective and shows she is wiser and more self aware than she looks and for those who know her best describe her as an old soul at heart.
