Billie Eilish
17 year old, Los Angeles native singer-songwriter/fashion influencer Billie Eilish is nothing like you have ever experienced before.
Although a hard pill to swallow for some, with her dark, gothic inspired theatrics, I think Eilish is a breath of fresh air, pushing the boundaries of what is expected from a young pop artist in the music industry.
Taking several places amongst the billboard top 100 this week, Eilish is a hard contrast in comparison to the mainstreamers in the list. Defining her sound as “alternative,” doesn’t exactly cover it. Her music is distinctly hers and it’s difficult to define in general terms. With hip-hop being a major influence of her songwriting, Eilish cooes with a sweet falsetto backed by layers of snyth, guitar, and an array of attention-grabbing, jarring electronic beats, making her songs haunted, tense, and cautionary, yet playful, forgiving, and inviting.
Contradiction rings true for her appearance as well, a young fair beauty, with a classically trained choral voice, singing of nightmares with tarantulas crawling out of her lips, dressing in loose fitted silk tracksuits and head to toe in gucci. She is so undeniably unafraid to be herself and she’s not asking for permission to do what she wants.
“People ask me what it’s like to be a woman in music, and young. I’ve found that it’s fine because I know exactly who I want to work with, what I want to do, what I want to wear and what I want to say.” — Billie
It is important to Eilish and her family to have flexibility and creative freedom to push her musical talents forward. Her journey to explore her identity as an artist continues to be exciting as we find out all that she is capable of.
Eilish’s musical parents taught her and her musician/actor brother Finneas O’Connell, everything about music, inspiring both to sing in the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus since they were young children.
Eilish’s fame began after O’Connell uploaded a track “Ocean Eyes,” to Soundcloud in 2016 that he wrote and produced along with vocals by Eilish, that would become her debut single and viral sensation. The intention was to use the song as part of a dance recital, but after the tack received more than 2 mil+ plays on Soundcloud and Spotify, Eilish quickly received a lot of interest from managers and labels.
Eilish’s musical career continues to be a family affair, with her mother accompanying her on interviews and on tour, as well as her brother assisting with songwriting/producing and playing live performances.
Much of Eilish’s writing is fictional, allowing her to explore an unlimited amount of material for songs. Eilish is wise beyond her years and goes a bit deeper, tackling themes of violence, love, and loss. She has a distinctive style that is relatable to listeners of all ages. Somehow she is able to make these horrifying scenes approachable. Her aesthetic is rebelliously unpredictable and people like that.
In an interview with Vogue, Eilish gets wise with us.
Has the creative process changed or gotten more intense now that people are following you?
“We’ve had a ton of sessions with other people and with groups. It’s been an amazing experience, and to see everyone else’s way of writing and everyone’s way of producing. And they’re all different. We’ve written so much since then, because we’re both so motivated. And now that other people like it, it’s kind of huge. Because it’s something that we’re so passionate about, and you don’t think about the way that it affects other people, because you’re you and you’re not in other people’s heads. But it’s really life changing because it tells you that something that you created, because it affects you in a way, affects somebody else, too.” — Billie Eilish
A message to her Generation Z peers,
“Being famous sucks so much,” she says about the realities of being in the public eye. “It’s so gross I just said that but it’s like, only some people should want this, you know what mean? People are like, ‘I just want to be famous, that’s all,’ and it’s like, ‘No, you don’t.’ Especially if you just want to be famous to be famous, that’s really pointless. The only thing that’s good about it, to me, is that I’m doing what I want and it’s become successful. That’s all I can say that is good. If you’re just going to be famous to be famous, that’s hell. The only reason I’m okay with doing all of this stuff and having it all happen is because I’m doing what I love.” — Billie Eilish
