Interview with… | Billie Eilish

An explosive debut album, which has immediately revolutionised the rules of music, doing away with categories and “music genres”; an original style that strikes you immediately. Billie Eilish is all of this and much more, and she reveals all in this interview.

I.D Card

Full Name: Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O’Connell Place and date of birth: Los Angeles, 18th December 2001 Profession: singer songwriter

www.billieeilish.com

Billie Eilish

In 2019, her first album When we all fall asleep, where do we go?, written and produced in her bedroom in Los Angeles with her brother, climbed to first place in 60 countries. But Billie had already become famous on the platform Soundcloud, where in 2016 she published the beautiful song Ocean Eyes, which led her to sign her first contract with a record company.

What strikes us about you is that you continue to remain true to yourself. You are admired for this! I’m convinced about one things. To be who we are, without lying, is the only thing to do, always. It’s cool being yourself, even when it means being strange. Accepting yourself is fundamental in order to go forward. Sometimes people criticise me for the way I dress, because I don’t make the most of my

- Her parents, Maggie Baird and Patrick O’Connell, are two actors; her brother Finneas O’Connell is famous for having been in the cast of the TV series Glee. - ‘Eilish’ is her second name; ‘Pirate’, however, is the name that her brother chose for her. - Billie has written music since she was 11 years old. She knows how to play the ukulele, the guitar and the keyboard.

In 2019 Billie was the artist with the most awards with a total of 34. She triumphed* at the 2020 Grammy Awards winning 5 statues (among these the most important awards: Album of the Year, Best Song of the Year and Best Newcomer). Consequently, she has become the youngest singer of all time and the first female artist to succeed in doing this in one night.

appearance. But I don’t care, I continue to dress as I want… I like my oversize clothes.

Some time ago you had to deal with some strong attacks on social media. How did it make you feel? It was a difficult period… some of the hateful comments were becoming unbearable* psychologically and it was ruining my life. I had to stop reading them. Some people are really cruel*. But then I thought I should take control of the situation and talk openly about what was happening to me, against every form of bullying and body shaming*.

How does it feel to have such an enormous success at such a young age? Actually, I didn’t expect it and at some moments I even thought

IN THE MIRROR

Take a mirror and read music and words.

«My texts speak about universal sentiments that can involve everyone. I know that people who listen to me can identify with what I say, because I think and feel the same things.»

I didn’t want it… it all happened during an already complicated period of life in a normal situation - adolescence isn’t easy to manage! At a certain point I hated fame, the hard work, never stopping, not being able to go out without people bothering you or see my friends when I wanted. Now it’s different. You never get used to these things, but now I’m finally happy and I feel lucky.

How did you start out with music? Who inspires you? Music has been my first love. At home we listened to everything, from the Beatles to Green Day, from Avril Lavigne to Lana Del Rey. But when I started composing my music with my brother, probably it was the Beatles who triggered the spark* and showed me the way. How many Beatles are there in the Beatles? There’s rock, Indians with a sitar, experimental, nursery rhymes… four geniuses.

What’s it like working together with your brother? How do you compose your pieces? My brother is my best friend and this makes working easier. We know each other very well, so we understand each other immediately. We both like inventing stories. So half of the songs we write are pure imagination and half speak about things that have really happened, but no-one will ever know which are real and which are invented.

Glossary

body shaming: criticising someone’s body shape or size cruel: evil, mean spark: something that ignites a fire triumphed: was successful unbearable: you can’t tolerate it anymore