Billie Eilish has truly come into her own within the past year. Not only did she recently become the first artist since 1981 to win in all of the big four Grammy categories (best new artist, an album of the year, the record of the year, the song of the year), she also is the youngest artist to do so at just 18-years-old.
The 18-year-old phenomenon also became the latest artist to lend her voice for the latest James Bond song, is not a traditional pop star: She whispers nearly as much as she sings, and blurs genres like pop, rock and electronic music. She sports black-green hair dresses in baggy clothes and collaborates with her older brother.
Eilish herself loved performance from a very young age due to her parent’s method of raising both her and her brother. One of their goals with homeschooling the kids was to make them both career-oriented but in a field that they were truly passionate about; and they were definitely successful in doing so.
By the time she was 13, Eilish was recognized by all her creative-arts teachers as a talented force to be reckoned with. So much so that one of her dance teachers asked her to write a song for a choreographed dance performance. With the help of her brother Finneas, Eilish wrote the now insanely popular track, “Ocean Eyes,” which the Los Angeles-based dancer and musician, uploaded to SoundCloud late one night. She had only intended for one person to listen to it: her dance teacher. When she woke up the next day, the song had gone viral on the streaming platform.
Soon the music bigwigs took notice of this young pop star and she signed with Darkroom and Interscope Records. From there, things took off. In the spring of 2017, her song “Bored” was featured in the first season of Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why, and in August, she dropped her critically acclaimed EP, Don’t Smile At Me.
Although her career has already become one of the greatest success stories in the music industry, Eilish says it’s still just her and her brother making music together at home and hoping everyone likes it. Based on the last year alone, it won’t be an exaggeration to say this is just the beginning for both Billie and Finneas.
