At age 15, Billie Eilish had a smash hit single
on her hands.
Two years later, she became one of Coachella's
hottest acts, all before her first full-length
album dropped.
But there's much more to the brooding, stylish,
and undoubtedly ahead of her time teen.
This is the untold truth of Billie Eilish.
Accidentally viral
Billie Eilish grew up in a musical family.
She was encouraged to write and sing songs
from an early age, but she never considered
music as a possible career.
Instead, her rise to fame was a happy accident.
And it all started with her dance teacher.
As Eilish told Teen Vogue,
"One of my teachers asked if I would either
write a song or have my brother write a song
to choreograph a dance to.
I was like, 'Yes, that's such a cool thing
to do!'"
So she performed her brother’s song, called
"Ocean Eyes", which he originally wrote for
his band but thought would sound better in
his sister's voice.
They recorded the track and posted it to SoundCloud
for her teacher to check out.
The next day, Eilish got the surprise of her
life when he brother called to let her know
the track had 1,000 listens, a milestone she’ll
never forget.
As she told Junkee,
"That was such a big deal at the time, even
though 1,000 is basically nothing compared
to everything else in the world…
We just thought we made it.
And then it just kept growing, and then it
got really big."
So big it earned over 14 million streams in
three years.
Brotherly love
Amidst a whirlwind ascent to super-stardom,
many things have changed for Eilish, but one
of the true constants in her life has been
her brother, Finneas O’Connell.
Not only has he written or co-written many
of her hits, he's also produced or co-produced
several of them.
He's even played and sung on a few tracks.
But Finneas is no wallflower, he has his own
musical and acting career.
He was in a band called The Slightlys; he's
a talented singer-songwriter; and he's even
put together a quality acting portfolio.
Starting out in the film Bad Teacher, Finneas
then starred in a movie with his mom, called
Life Inside Out.
To date, however, his most recognizable role
has to be playing Alistair on Glee.
Yet, he’s not looking to escape the shadow
of his burgeoning superstar sister.
He told PAPER magazine,
"I've loved every minute I have spent recording,
writing, and playing with my sister…
She's taught me so much about how to be a
true artist, and how to execute your vision
and really be an incredible performer."
Thanks, Mom!
As kids, Eilish and her brother were homeschooled
by their mom, actress Maggie Baird.
One of the classes she taught them was songwriting,
and Eilish’s very first composition stemmed
from an assignment her mom gave her.
As the young singer explained to Junkee,
"You had to watch a movie or a TV show and
then write down all the parts that you thought
were good hooks or good lyrics."
She chose The Walking Dead and turned a mix
of episode titles and dialogue into a hit
track called "Fingers Crossed".
She told the mag,
"I watched The Walking Dead… and then I
wrote down all this stuff.
People don't even know that that's what it's
about, because it sounds more like a longing
heartbreak song.
But nope, it's about zombies."
Hiding her Tourette’s
People of all different shapes and sizes have
little tics or repeated movements, but it
doesn't always mean that the person suffers
from Tourette Syndrome.
So, when fans began posting compilation videos
of Eilish experiencing what appeared to be
tics, many expected it to be nothing out of
the ordinary.
The truth, however, is that Eilish is actually
diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome.
Taking to Instagram, she opened up about the
condition with fans and admitted to trying
to hide the involuntary movements, saying,
"I've just never wanted people to think of
Tourette's every time they think of me…
I've taught myself ways of suppressing my
tics and certain techniques to help [reduce]
them when I don't want to be distracting in
certain situations."
Her second love
Eilish's great talents don't end with singing
and songwriting.
She's also a trained dancer.
Not only was her first published track, "Ocean
Eyes," created for a dance routine, but she
eventually released a second music video for
the song, which allowed her to highlight her
own dancing skills.
Dance plays a huge role in Eilish's music
in general.
After all, this is the person who told Milk,
quote, "If a song doesn't make you or you
can't dance to it, then it's not a song."
It was actually dance that drew Eilish to
music in the first place.
She started out in tap, loving Shirley Temple,
then graduated into hip hop and contemporary
dance.
It seems rather fitting then that her music
style is a contemporary hip hop blend.
Speaking with The 405, Eilish proclaimed,
"Like music, dance has always been my passion.
[It’s] a way to express how I feel."
A lesson in homeschooling
The school system helps shape who we are and
who we become, but does that also apply for
homeschooled students?
Apparently, yeah, it does.
Learning at home allowed creativity to become
a major part of the curriculum for Eilish
and her brother.
She told PAPER,
"Homeschooling [is] kind of my parents' way
of having us focus on things we're really
interested in instead of being at school and
being taught things that you don't really
need to know in life, things you're never
going to remember or use.
It was a good way to do what I was interested
in instead of doing something I was forced
to learn."
What’s more, learning at home was actually
a necessity for the young star.
That’s because she struggles with an auditory
processing disorder, which makes it hard for
her to listen and learn the traditional way.
Homeschooling allowed her to set her own pace
and succeed.
No smiling
Eilish isn't about to do what's expected of
her.
She dresses in her own unique way, and she
rejects the standard pop culture demands.
The title of her 2017 EP, Don't Smile at Me,
may sound like it’s simply describing her
emotional, brooding music, but its meaning
is actually quite literal.
In an interview with Harper's Bazaar, she
made the stunning revelation that she doesn’t
like it when people smile at her.
She doesn’t like doing it either.
She proclaimed,
"I hate smiling.
It makes me feel weak and powerless and small.
But you know how when you're walking down
the street and somebody smiles at you?
You're forced to smile back, that's the polite
response.
It's like you have no control over it.
If I don't smile back you're gonna think I'm
horrible."
idontwannabeyouanymore
Speaking publicly about mental illness openly
is becoming more acceptable, but some stars
appear to be even more open, or at least more
aware, of who they are and what they feel.
Eilish is on the forefront of this movement.
Maybe it's her lack of inhibition or her "I
don't give a damn" attitude, but Eilish speaks
freely, even when discussing something as
personal as depression.
Sharing the meaning and inspiration behind
"I Don’t Wanna Be You Anymore," a song about
a person who can't stand who they see in the
mirror, she revealed to Genius,
"I really, really, really, really hate myself...
It's the way that my brain works."
Social media problems
At the beginning of her career, Eilish relished
in any kind of social media interaction and
personally responded to both fans and haters
alike.
Explaining her unique approach, she once told
A Beautiful Perspective,
"I love being judged, so any judgement of
any kind I'm really pumped about…
Nobody should feel like that, but I do.
I don't really know what it is, but I like
getting in people's heads, whether it be a
good or bad thought.
I don't care if you think I look bad or you
don't like me.
You're still thinking about me, and I'm going
around in your head."
Still, the Internet can scar even the strongest
of wills and scare off even the most rebellious
celebrities.
About a year and a half after she made those
comments, Eilish's tune changed slightly.
She admitted to NME,
"I used to read every single comment and every
picture I was tagged in and respond to every
single DM, but now I barely go on Instagram
because I can't handle that.
I just don't wanna see all the horrible things
people say.
I don't wanna see that I should have died
instead of this artist.
It takes not looking at my phone to stop myself
from engaging."
Unsavory neighbors
When Eilish talks about her upbringing, she
speaks highly of her family and home, but
the neighborhood she grew up in is another
story.
She once told Music Connection that Highland
Park in Los Angeles was, quote, "very sketchy
and there were lots of gunshots."
Although she admitted that it, quote, "was
fine, it wasn't horrible and miserable, and
I wasn't scared for my life," crime lived
quite close to the Eilish family.
In fact, her neighbors turned out to be money
launderers.
Eilish’s mom, Maggie, always wondered what
her neighbors did for a living and why they
carried filled garbage bags to and from their
house.
She found out one day when they asked her
for help moving a safe that secretly contained
hundreds of thousands of dollars.
"And just as I put the safe in the minivan,
vroom vroom vroom, 'FBI.'"
Turns out there were three safes in total,
containing approximately $1 million.
But the drama didn’t end there.
The story took another unbelievable turn when
Eilish’s family actually decided to buy
the house.
They closed the sale and were then informed
by their realtor that the cash they had paid
was confiscated by the FBI!
An eye for politics
You might think that Eilish would be too young
to care about politics or not informed enough
to speak on such topics, but she's one smart
cookie.
Not only is she interested in politics, but
she's also greatly involved.
In 2018, she teamed up with Los Angeles mayor
Eric Garcetti to encourage young people to
vote.
Even if she was too young to do so herself.
This isn't just an act for Eilish.
She believes that young people need a voice
and deserve to have a say in what happens
to their country.
Speaking with NME, she argued,
"Teenagers know more about the country that
we're living in right now than anybody.
The world is ending and I honestly don't understand
the law that says you have to be older to
vote, because they're going to die soon and
we'll have to deal with it."
The year of Billie
The last few years have showcased how fast
a talented musician can rise through the ranks
of fame, but, when it comes to Billie Eilish,
it seems we are seeing just the tip of the
iceberg.
Her debut EP was streamed more than 1.5 BILLION
times, and her solo tour has been incredibly
successful.
So how much higher can she go?
According to Forbes, Eilish is on the verge
of super-stardom.
The publication listed her in its "30 Under
30" roundup and named her as one of the stars
to watch in 2019.
The future sure looks bright for young Eilish.
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