What is she famous for?
Billie Eilish (full name Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O’Connell) is a famous American singer/songwriter. She gained fame from a young age with her song ‘Ocean Eyes’ which was initially released on SoundCloud and later by Interscope Records. Much of her music, including ‘Ocean Eyes’ is written by her brother Finneas, who often collaborates with her on her live shows and music. Eilish has found success with both her debut EP and her debut album ‘When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?’ with both charting well and the album debuting on top of the charts and outperforming every other record in 2019 in the US.
Already in her short career she has won five Grammy Awards, two American Music Awards and three MTV Video Music Awards she has also won two Guinness World Records. Billie Eilish has the distinction of being the youngest artist (and the first woman) to win in the four main categories of the Grammy’s, having won the awards for; Best New Artist, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Album of the Year.
Early Life
Billie Eilish was born in Los Angeles, California in 2001. Her mother is screenwriter and actress Maggie Baird and her father is Patrick O’Connell, an actor. Both of her parents are also musicians and her mother taught both her and her brother song writing when they were children. Eilish and her brother Finneas worked together on music and Finneas began writing music and performing with his band. The singer wrote her first song at the age of 11 when working with her mother on songwriting. She joined the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus at the age of eight.
Career Breakthrough
In 2015 Billie Eilish recorded the song ‘Ocean Eyes’ with the help of her brother Finneas who wtote and produced the song. The song was produced for a dance routine after the Eilish’s teacher asked her to record a song. The song was released on SoundCloud and received attention from a number of media outlets and radio stations including Beats 1, KCRW, BBC One, Jason Kramer, Annie Mac and more.
Finneas’ manager reached out after the song was released to talk about Eilish’s potential future in the music business. Eilish was then signed to the A&R company Platoon in a deal that was brokered by her brother Finneas. The company helps artists get a deal with major labels. The singer got a publicist who helped her shape her image with the help of Chanel and a stylist.
The singer released a music video for the song ‘Ocean Eyes’ in 2016 and signed a record label with The Darkroom (an imprint of Interscope Records) shortly after. Billie Eilish’s artist persona was developed based on inspiration from hip hop artists such as Travis Scott and Chance the Rapper. Billie Eilish released the song ‘Six Feet Under’ in 2016, which then premiered on Beats 1. The singer’s song ‘Ocean Eyes’ reached platinum status in 2018 and reached number 84 on the Hot 100 I 2019.
The singer released her first EP in 2017, it included four remixes of the song ‘Ocean Eyes’, she followed the EP up with the release of the song and music video for ‘Bellyache’. In the same month she also released the song ‘Bored’ for the soundtrack to the Netflix TV series, ’13 Reasons Why’. In the months following the singer released the track ‘Watch’ and the follow up song ‘Copycat, she also announced plans to release her debut extended play, ‘Don’t Smile At Me’.
Throughout July she released a number of singles including ‘Idontwannabeyouanymore’ and ‘My Boy’ both of which received Gold certification from the RIAA. The EP was released in August 2017 and helped Eilish transition her image to a darker pop image.
Billie Eilish was promoted by Spotify on their most popular and visible playlist, ‘Today’s Top Hits’. The singer became a commercial success was boosted by her promotion on Spotify and in late 2017 she was named the ‘Up Next Artist’ for Apple which included an interview on the Beats 1 radio station and a short documentary as well as a recording of a live EP, called ‘Up Next Session: Billie Eilish’.
Continuing Career
In 2018 the singer began her ‘Where Is My Mind’ tour, the tour lasted a few months and ended in April 2018. The singer released a special 7 inch vinyl with an acoustic version of the song ‘Party Favor’ and a cover of the Drake song ‘Hotline Bling’. She then went on to collaborate with Khalid on the song ‘Lovely’ which was featured on the soundtrack for the second season of the Netflix television series 13 Reasons Why.
The song achieved platinum certification in the United States and she also released the song ‘Bitches Broken Hearts’ and ‘You Should See Me in A Crown’ which was featured on the soundtrack of the game FIFA 19. The singer continued to make strides in her career throughout the rest of 2018, releasing the song ‘When The Party’s Over’ and signing a contract with the modelling agency ‘Next Models’. She also released the single ‘Come Out and Play’ for an Apple commercial.
At the start of 2019 the singers extended play, ‘Don’t Smile At Me’ made it to 1 billion streams on Spotify, which earned her the record as the youngest artists to reach 1 billion streams on the platform. In the same month the singer released the single ‘Bury A Friend’ which would appear on her upcoming debut album ‘When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?’. She also released the single, ‘When I was Older’ which was inspired by the film Roma.
The single ‘Bury a Friend’ made it to number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. The following month the singer appeared in a mini-series on YouTube called ‘A Snippet Into Billie’s Mind’. She released an additional single ‘Wish You Were Gay’ in March, 2019. The single made it to number 31 on the charts and received Platinum certification.
Billie Eilish released her debut album ‘When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?’ in late March, 2019. To help promote the album a multi-level promotional campaign was launched on Spotify which included a multi-media playlist and new product features on the streaming platform. An experiential pop-up was set up in Los Angeles for fans, allowing them to experience the music and different artwork – the promotion was meant to provide a multi-sensory experience to fans.
The album debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 charts and earned Billie Eilish the record as the first artist born in the 2000s to reach number one in the US. Following the release of her debut album the singer broke the record for a female artist with the most simultaneously charting song on the Hot 100 charts – 14 of her songs (every song except for ‘Goodbye’ on her album made it to the charts).
Her fifth single, ‘Bad Guy’ was released at the same time as the album and a remix with Justin Bieber was released two months later. The song reached number one in the US, making her the first artist born in the 2000s to have a number one single.
The singer embarked on the ‘When We All Fall Asleep’ tour with her first performance during the Coachella Festival in April 2019. The tour concluded in Mexico City in November 2019. In 2019 the singer partnered with Apple Music on Music Lab which allowed fans to remix her song ‘You Should See Me In A Crown’ with tools like Garageband. The singer announced she would be embarking on her ‘Where Do We Go?’ world tour in 2020, the tour is set to begin in Miami in March 2020 and end in London on July, 2020.
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