Billie Eilish, the Unofficial Biography Page 3

  She was young enough to be turned into a star and talented enough to be taken under a company’s wing.

  Some have hung the “industry plant” tag on Billie as she had parents in the entertainment industry, a brother in the music business, and even a manager offering help, but that is to completely ignore the fact that these people were all minor players without any clout. They did, however, know enough about the business to advise Billie to tread carefully. She knew her own mind, and if she was going to be successful, it was going to be on her own terms—but she would still need money and know-how.

  Enter Denzyl Feigelson. He (along with Saul Klein, the money man behind Songkick, last.fm, and SoundCloud) had just set up Platoon, a company that he hoped would supply “a platform for fearless creatives.” Feigelson had worked in the music business since the 1980s and had always championed independent, unsigned talent, even creating Artists Without A Label (AWAL), a business helping acts distribute their own CDs. As the twenty-first century progressed, he had been instrumental in setting up Apple Music and the iTunes Festival. He had seen which way the wind was blowing and especially how SoundCloud, Spotify, and iTunes had radically reshaped the music industry.

  Platoon reached out to artists like Billie who were making a splash on these sites. They offered the services traditionally supplied by record companies, such as marketing and promotion, video production, and recording studios, without tying artists to long-term contracts, taking a share of song rights or, perhaps most importantly for Billie, restricting their creative freedom. They were already helping their first signing, English singer-songwriter Jorja Smith, release a single, “Blue Lights,” on her own label and were the perfect fit for the fiercely independent Billie.

  As Billie signed up with Platoon in January 2016, the new year continued where the old had left off, with “ocean eyes” picking up ever more plays. It was boosted by yet another remix, this time by DJ and producer Goldhouse, who had won considerable acclaim already for his Lady Gaga and Sam Smith remixes. His version gave “ocean eyes” a completely different vibe: upbeat with added instrumentation creating a trop-house feel (very much the thing in early 2016). The track was now a club hit, too, and Billie clearly loved it, remarking on Facebook, “This remix is LIT!”

  The track was now a club hit, and Billie clearly loved it, remarking on Facebook, “This remix is LIT!”

  Meanwhile, Billie and Finneas were working on new songs. On January 12, Billie’s Facebook post read, “Makin bangers with Cheat Codes today” along with a photo of her and Trevor Dahl from the electronic music trio. Fellow LA residents Cheat Codes were also on their way up. They had had success with their track “Visions” six months before “ocean eyes” and had followed it with another viral hit, “Adventure,” which earned them a slot as support on a Chainsmokers tour. Billie and Finneas would record two tracks (one of theirs and one of the Cheat Codes’s) with them. However, in February, Cheat Codes released “Sex” with Dutch trio Kriss Kross Amsterdam, which immediately went super viral, gaining millions of plays around the world. As Cheat Codes’s career took off, the tracks they had recorded with Billie were shelved and have still not seen the light of day.

  All that most of those streaming “ocean eyes” knew of Billie was that she was thirteen when she recorded the track and that she worked with her brother. Many might also have seen a picture accompanying the song on SoundCloud, a striking black-and-white photo of a young girl looking two or three years older than thirteen. In it, Billie stared past the camera, her long blonde hair with dark roots falling completely over one eye.

  Early in March a select few—many of whom were friends or people who knew Billie already—witnessed her first performance. It took place in a small club called the Hi Hat that had only recently opened just around the corner from her house in Highland Park. Playing as a support act to the UK band Mt. Wolf, Billie and Finneas took to the stage dressed mainly in black (Billie in leggings, T-shirt, and a jacket), and although there was only an audience of around fifty people, the general feeling was that they blew them all away.

  Later that month, the world was to get to know Billie a lot better. On March 24, 2016, the video to “ocean eyes” was released. It had been shot in December 2015 by Megan Thompson, an LA director who had worked with interesting indie acts such as Hands Like Houses and Astronautalis. Shot at the Eilish home, the video comprised a simple continuous shot of Billie facing the camera and standing in front of a blue flowing curtain.

  The video successfully matches the intensity of the song because of Billie’s extraordinary ability to create drama from nothing, to fill the screen with her presence and convey such powerful emotion through her eyes and small hand movements. She wears a simple black top and her hair, still blonde with dark roots, has wet-look ends that fall below her shoulders. She has pronounced black under-eye liner, shiny red-brown mascara, and looks conventionally pretty yet “interesting.” Billie herself wasn’t impressed, though, later saying, “It was the day after my birthday that we shot this. I had just turned 14. They put makeup on me that I did not want, and they did my hair very f***ing weird.”

  The video successfully matches the intensity of the song because of Billie’s extraordinary ability to create drama from nothing.

  Since “ocean eyes” Billie and Finneas had continued to work on songs old and new. On June 23, seven months after that fateful release, they dropped “Six Feet Under,” a song they had been working on for some time. Thanks to the Platoon deal, it not only appeared on SoundCloud but also enjoyed a worldwide digital release on iTunes, Spotify, Tidal, and Amazon. The lyrics, music, and production on “Six Feet Under” were Finneas’s work, but the performance is all Billie. It follows “ocean eyes” in the ethereal, breathless, and intense singing elucidating every word over a sparse synth backing track, but Billie stretches herself, especially when she holds the note on “bloom.” Once again, Finneas’s lines are simple, but cut to the quick with short phrases and deft metaphor.

  Although it didn’t immediately take off in the way “ocean eyes” had, the single did strengthen Billie’s core following, and some of those fans were in positions of influence and had popular playlists on Spotify. Most notable of all was Apple Music Beats 1 radio presenter Zane Lowe, who premiered “Six Feet Under” on his show, describing the single as “absolutely incredible” and Billie as “an amazing new talent.” Just days after release the song was also featured in the soundtrack to the incredibly popular teen thriller series Pretty Little Liars, which also gave it a real boost.

  Tyler, the Creator

  In the early years of her fame there weren’t many interviews with Billie when she didn’t name Tyler, the Creator as her favorite artist and biggest influence. Tyler was the founder of the underground rap group Odd Future (whose members have included Frank Ocean and Earl Sweatshirt) but also built a successful solo career. His break came in 2011 with a viral YouTube video for his single “Yonkers” and an erratic, hyperactive performance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. His debut album, Goblin, reached Number 5 in the Hot 100 and his subsequent albums, Wolf (2013), Cherry Bomb (2015), and Flower Boy (2017), did progressively better until 2019’s Igor hit the top of the charts and won a 2020 GRAMMY for best rap album.

  Billie first came across Tyler in 2013 when she was working at the stables, helping out with a camp for younger children. A fellow helper asked if she liked him and was surprised Billie hadn’t even heard of him as he was her profile picture (she just thought he looked cool). They listened to his hit “Tamale” as the five-year-olds rode past, and Billie was hooked. She was beginning to get into hip-hop, but it was no surprise that she saw something special in Tyler, the Creator. His songs have many allusions to horror and dark themes, and he isn’t afraid to explore his own mental frailties. Remind you of anyone?

  Aside from the fact that both are Angelinos (although from opposite sides of the city), there is an obvious connection between Billie and Tyler in that they share a creative impulse
that goes beyond music. Tyler has always created his own artwork, directs his own videos, and exerts creative control over all aspects of his recordings and performance. Early in his career he also set up a clothing brand called Golf Wang to sell his own colorful, vibrant, and occasionally controversial streetwear, shoes, and skateboard designs.

  Billie first met Tyler when she visited his Golf Wang shop in LA and was invited to hang out with him in the back room, and she remains a massive fan, citing him as a true genius. In a 2019 interview with Zane Lowe, Tyler revealed that he loved her music, too, and that he would like to collaborate with her. Billie quickly responded on Instagram, saying, “i would never in a billion years have thought these words would come out of this mans mouth. wow. i would be nothing without you tyler. everyone knows it.”

  Things were now gathering pace. By August 2016, Billie had signed to Darkroom, an artist management company and label. Darkroom was run by twenty-eight-year-old Justin Lubliner, who had recently linked up with Interscope Records, a major record label whose roster included Lady Gaga and Lana Del Rey. Lubliner’s first signing was an electronic dance-music artist called Gryffin, but after hearing “ocean eyes” he was determined to make Billie the next Darkroom artist. “Within one second of hearing it and seeing her photo, it just clicked,” he told Hits Daily Double website. “I felt like this was the artist that I’d been searching for my entire career. I was going to make sure I did everything possible to work with her.”

  Lubliner and Billie seemed to share a vision based around her identity, visual creativity, and performances. They wanted to avoid the conventional strategy of launching new artists through a heavily promoted and hopefully hit single (such as Katy Perry’s “I Kissed a Girl” or Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy”) and, instead, were determined to build Billie’s profile through a series of varied releases, presenting her unique persona, individual aesthetic, and enormous talent.

  Disappointed with the “ocean eyes” video, Billie directed her own video for “Six Feet Under,” which was edited by her mother. It featured clips of smoke balls set off in front of the fence at her house, which filled the backyard with red, blue, and yellow smoke. It was interesting and artful, and so was Billie, but many fans wanted to see her performing it live.

  Billie directed her own video for “Six Feet Under.”

  They didn’t have to wait long. On August 8, she and Finneas performed the song at an intimate venue in Los Angeles for Sofar Sounds, a project promoting live performances by new artists. Onstage, Finneas sat at the keyboard in a light brown T-shirt and jacket with Billie sitting next to him on a stool. Her hair was tied back in a casual ponytail, and she wore a white sweatshirt paired with a flared, pleated, short white skirt. This time, she had on minimal makeup and big hooped silver earrings. She was still only fourteen, and yet she sang with such grace and confidence to Finneas’s stripped-back piano accompaniment. By the end of the month a video had been uploaded to YouTube, and it was clear to anyone watching that here was a true star in the making.

  It was clear to anyone watching that here was a true star in the making.

  As “Six Feet Under” continued to garner plays, soon reaching the one million mark, and versions of “ocean eyes” surpassed twenty million, Billie went on the road. The Rickshaw Stop was still in California, but it was out in San Francisco. There Billie supported another emerging solo artist, Michl. Backed by Finneas as well as a bassist and a drummer on an electric kit, Billie played a set that included not only “ocean eyes” and “Six Feet Under,” but also “bellyache,” “hostage,” “my boy,” “party favor” (featuring Billie on ukulele), and the beautiful “True Blue,” which, despite being a live-fan favorite, has yet to be recorded.

  Interestingly, photos of the concert reveal a pre-stylist Billie displaying a penchant for baggy clothes as she stands at the mic wearing an oversized white shirt and casual gray pants, with her long blonde hair now parted off-center. The huge, unmissable crosses marker-penned on her hands mark her out as an underage guest at the club, but she clearly gave a mature performance. A review by the Sweet Sound Bites blog remarked how her “heartfelt lyrics about heartache and damaged indifference age her well beyond fourteen years old.”

  Heartfelt lyrics about heartache and damaged indifference age her well beyond fourteen years old.

  Back in Los Angeles, Billie and the band played another gig, this time opening for Canadian electronic dream-pop outfit Mu at Tenants of the Trees, a cocktail-bar venue in the Silver Lake area of the city. Although playing as a support act in small venues, Billie was getting noticed. In late September she was invited to Teen Vogue’s Young Hollywood celebration event in Malibu, California, taking her place in the photo-call dressed in a modest green T-shirt dress with a matching pendant, wearing a camo baseball cap over her pigtails. Still only fourteen, she already looked comfortable and assured among Hollywood’s going-places teenagers.

  Chapter Four

  Bellyache

  It might have been a year late, but Billie finally got to perform Fred Diaz’s choreography for “ocean eyes.”

  This was the original reason she had recorded the song, and she uploaded a “dance performance” video to YouTube in January 2017. Although she had spent the year injured and absent from the dance floor, Billie was determined to play her part, taking center stage in a fluid and emotional dance that did indeed perfectly match the mood of the song. Alongside her in the video were the friends she had loved dancing with in classes. That must have seemed a long time ago, though, before her life as a singer took off.

  She was still only fourteen years old. She wasn’t yet being recognized in the street, but she certainly had a growing presence online. Many of those getting in touch with her didn’t realize how young she was and approached her like any adult musician. “It’s insanely surreal. It’s really hard to process everything when that much is going on,” she told Dash Radio. “It’s weird because I see my name—Billie Eilish—like Blackbear will tweet me and I don’t realize it’s me. I have to think, ‘Oh, that’s me that they are talking about, not just a name I am hearing.’ ”

  In live performances Billie was growing in confidence. She was still opening for more established acts, but more and more people who were familiar with her material were showing up. Moreover, she could see how her songs were connecting with an audience, even moving some of them to tears. To someone who knew that same feeling from listening to other artists’ music, this was truly amazing. “I wake up and can’t believe people know that my work and my music exist,” she said. The only problem was that the shows were taking place in venues that didn’t admit under-eighteens or under-twenty-ones. From feedback and comments on social media, Billie and Finneas knew there was a groundswell of young teenagers who loved their music but couldn’t access their live performances.

  The deal with Interscope Records bore its first fruit on November 18 with the worldwide digital release of “ocean eyes” and the Ocean Eyes—The Remixes EP, which brought together the Astronomyy, Blackbear, Goldhouse, and Cautious Clay versions. These, along with the remixes of “Six Feet Under” from Jerry Folk, Gazzo, and BLU J (which were themselves released as an EP in February 2017) and the live appearances, kept the interest bubbling nicely.

  With ongoing injuries keeping her dancing on hold, Billie had been directing her energies toward songwriting for the last year. She and Finneas had tried working with different producers and in various recording studios but always returned to his bedroom studio, deciding that the mood, comfort, and routines of their familiar setup were the most conducive for producing the sound she was looking for.

  The first half of 2017 would see the fruition of this work in a series of singles, beginning with “bellyache” in February. The story of how “bellyache” was written says a lot about her creativity and imagination, and how her and her brother’s minds work in sync. She has described how she was hanging out with Finneas and a couple of his friends, rehearsing for a show. They were jamming along
on guitar and piano when Billie came up with the opening, a typical pop-song cliché about sitting alone with a mouthful of gum. Finneas added a line about the friends being in the back of the car. Then Billie hit on the evil and genius twist—the narrator had killed them all. The siblings worked on the song from there, with Finneas contributing his own twist with the “bellyache” line giving the murderer a shocking nonchalance or naivety.

  From the outset Billie insisted that her imagination was enough to justify a song’s lyrics. Putting yourself into someone else’s head—no matter how far-fetched—was perfectly acceptable if you had the creativity to carry it off. Nobody could insist you had to have experienced love or rejection yourself to write a song about romance, and you really didn’t need to have killed anyone to pen a song about murder and guilt.

  From the outset Billie insisted that her imagination was enough to justify a song’s lyrics.

  Surprisingly, with such dark and discomfiting lyrics, “bellyache” was Billie’s most upbeat release to date. Although the characteristic synth chords and slow beats are still there, they are overridden by a strumming up-tempo acoustic guitar with a Latin sound that hovers on the brink of a summer ditty and even a dance break. Billie’s voice is more forceful than ever but still portentous. It mirrors the mind of her character as it drifts from sing-along to irony to thoughtful and on to the turmoil of the “losing her mind” chorus.

  “Bellyache” was not a massive chart hit. It wasn’t intended to be. Following the Platoon and Darkroom plan, they were not chasing chart success but putting out authentic, unique tracks that would help establish Billie’s identity. As Billboard wrote, “She [Billie] knows that a song like ‘Bellyache’ is going to get her more sideways glances than Top 40 airplay, and that’s fine with her.” Instead, the single reached Number 11 on both the US Bubbling Under Hot 100 Chart and the Billboard US Alternative Digital Song Sales Chart.