Billie Eilish

• 1. Introduction

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  Billie Eilish was 18 years old when she left the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards in 2020 holding all four of the ceremony's general field prizes. Only one person had done that before her, and no woman had. Not long before, she had been a teenager making songs with her older brother Finneas. This documentary follows the American singer-songwriter from a Los Angeles childhood to the front of modern pop. It asks how a soft, whispery voice found such an enormous audience. It also asks what she chose to do with that audience once it was listening.

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• 2. A Homeschooled Childhood

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  Her parents were watching a documentary about Irish conjoined twins Katie and Eilish Holton when they found her name. Eilish was meant to be the first name, with Pirate in the middle. Then her grandfather William Baird died while her mother was pregnant, and the couple named her Billie after him. So Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell was born in Los Angeles on the 18th of December 2001.

  Her mother, Maggie Baird, is an actress and teacher, and her father, Patrick O'Connell, is an actor. Both are musicians who also work on Eilish's tours. The family is of Irish and Scottish descent, and Eilish grew up in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. Naturally blonde, she has dyed her hair since the age of nine, starting with a Manic Panic blue. She generally prefers black, which feels most like her.

  Baird homeschooled both Eilish and her older brother Finneas. Their parents made that choice to spend time with the children and to give them freedom to follow their interests, including art, dancing and acting. Baird also taught the siblings the basics of songwriting.

  At the age of six, Eilish began playing the ukulele. She sang at talent shows, and at eight she joined the Los Angeles Children's Chorus. When she was 11, she wrote her first real song for her mother's songwriting class. The subject was the zombie apocalypse, and she borrowed script lines and episode titles from the television series The Walking Dead. She says she received a diagnosis of Tourette syndrome that same year.

  Acting never took hold. She disliked auditions but enjoyed recording background dialogue for crowd scenes, which led to work on Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Ramona and Beezus, and the X-Men series. Dance classes continued until 2016, when a growth plate injury ended that path and she turned to recording music. Yet a dance studio had already supplied the song that would start her career.

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• 3. From SoundCloud to Interscope

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  "We recorded them and put them out on SoundCloud, just for fun," Eilish later said of the first songs she made with Finneas. They were called "She's Broken" and "Fingers Crossed," the first written by Finneas and the second by Eilish. Then came "Ocean Eyes," released on the 18th of November 2015. Finneas wrote, mixed and produced it, originally for his band the Slightlys, before deciding Eilish's voice suited it better. Her dance teacher Fred Diaz, at the Revolution Dance Center, had asked the siblings for a song to choreograph. They uploaded it to SoundCloud so that Diaz could download it. Within two weeks it had several hundred thousand listens, and Finneas's manager, Danny Rukasin, got in touch to discuss Eilish's potential.

  In January 2016, Apple Music signed Eilish to Platoon, a company that packages emerging artists before they land a major-label contract. Finneas and his manager arranged the deal. She then hired a publicist, who connected her to the luxury brand Chanel, and a stylist, and both helped shape her image. The video for "Ocean Eyes," directed by Megan Thompson, premiered on her YouTube channel on the 24th of March 2016. In June she released "Six Feet Under." She directed its homemade video herself, and her mother edited it.

  In August 2016, Justin Lubliner signed her to Darkroom and Interscope Records. He had noticed her talent in 2015, when he first heard "Ocean Eyes." Lubliner modeled her rollout on hip hop artists such as Travis Scott and Chance the Rapper. Rather than relying on one big single, he focused on building a "persona and distinct aesthetic." That November, the label re-released "Six Feet Under" and "Ocean Eyes" as singles for download and streaming.

  On the 14th of January 2017, Eilish released two EPs of remixes, one for "Ocean Eyes" and one for "Six Feet Under." "Bellyache" followed in February. In March, "Bored" appeared on the soundtrack to the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why, and Apple Music showcased her at the South by Southwest festival. Her debut EP, Don't Smile at Me, came out on the 11th of August 2017. It was a sleeper hit that reached number 14 on the US Billboard 200. Spotify promoted her on its most popular playlist, Today's Top Hits, and in September Apple Music named her its Up Next artist. In December she released "&Burn," a remix of her single "Watch" with the rapper Vince Staples.

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• 4. Albums on the Charts

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  By early January 2019, Don't Smile at Me had passed 1 billion streams on Spotify. That made her the youngest artist to reach that figure with a single project. Her first album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, followed on the 29th of March 2019. Spotify built a campaign around it, including a pop-up experience in Los Angeles with different artwork and a multi-sensory take on each track.

  The album debuted at number one on both the Billboard 200 and the UK Albums Chart. Eilish became the first artist born in the 2000s with a number-one album in the US, and the youngest woman ever to top the UK chart. Every song except "Goodbye" charted on the Hot 100, giving her 14 at once, a record for a female artist.

  The fifth single, "Bad Guy," was released alongside the album. In August 2019 it reached number one in the US and ended Lil Nas X's record run of 19 weeks on top with "Old Town Road." It was the first song by an artist born in the 21st century to top the Hot 100 and earn a Diamond certification from the Recording Industry Association of America. A remix featuring Justin Bieber had arrived in July.

  Eilish announced her second album, Happier Than Ever, on Instagram on the 27th of April 2021 and released it on the 30th of July. It became her second album to debut atop the Billboard 200 and topped charts in several countries. The singles "My Future," "Therefore I Am," "Happier Than Ever" and "Your Power" each peaked inside the top ten in the US and UK. A limited vinyl edition pressed from recycled scraps was sold only at a number of Gucci stores.

  Hit Me Hard and Soft arrived on the 17th of May 2024 to critical acclaim. Its singles "Lunch" and "Birds of a Feather" both reached the US top five. The second became her first number one on the Billboard Global 200 and the most-streamed solo song by a woman on Spotify. It was also Spotify's most-streamed song of 2024. By March 2026 the album was the fastest by a female artist to reach 10 billion streams on that service. Another 2024 single, "Wildflower," spent a total of 72 weeks on the Hot 100, the longest run for a solo female song.

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• 5. Soundtracks and Screens

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  On the 14th of January 2020, Eilish was announced as the performer of the title song for the 25th James Bond film, No Time to Die. She wrote and produced it with Finneas, and became the youngest artist to write and perform a Bond theme. It was the second Bond theme to top the British charts, the first by a woman, and her first UK number one. In 2022 it won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, making her the first person born in the 21st century to win an Oscar.

  For the 2023 film Barbie, she wrote "What Was I Made For?" She says she was inspired after seeing unfinished scenes during production. The song won the Oscar for Best Original Song in 2024, along with Grammys for Song of the Year and Best Song Written for Visual Media. It was the tenth song ever to win both an Oscar and the Song of the Year Grammy. Eilish became the youngest person to win two Academy Awards in any category.

  Animation came too. For the Pixar film Turning Red, she and Finneas wrote three songs for the fictional boy band 4*Town: "Nobody Like U," "U Know What's Up" and "1 True Love."

  In 2023, Eilish made her acting debut in the Amazon Prime Video satirical thriller Swarm. She played Eva, the leader of a cult inspired by NXIVM, and reviews of her performance were positive. Documentaries and concert films had already shown her on screen. The R. J. Cutler film Billie Eilish: The World's a Little Blurry reached Apple TV+ on the 26th of February 2021, and critics praised its in-depth look at her personal life. The Disney+ concert film Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles followed that September.

  In March 2026, it was reported that she was in advanced talks to play Esther Greenwood in Sarah Polley's adaptation of Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar. Before that, on the 8th of May 2026, her concert film Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D) reached theaters. She co-directed and produced it with James Cameron.

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• 6. Records and Honors

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  In November 2019, at 17, Eilish became the youngest artist nominated in all four Grammy general field categories. She was nominated for six awards in total. That same month Billboard named her Woman of the Year, the youngest recipient in its history. Her Grammy total now stands at ten, and she is the youngest person to reach that number, at 24. Seven of the ten come from the four biggest categories, tying her with Adele, Bruno Mars and Paul Simon for the most general field wins.

  With Finneas, she holds the record for the most Song of the Year wins, three each, for "Bad Guy," "What Was I Made For?" and "Wildflower." At the 2020 ceremony she was also the youngest winner of Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album. She is the first person born in the 21st century to win a Grammy. Her other trophies include nine American Music Awards, eight MTV Video Music Awards, four Brit Awards and twenty Guinness World Records.

  In April 2022, at 20, she became the youngest headliner of the Coachella festival, taking the record from Ariana Grande, who was 25 at the time. Later that year she became the youngest solo headliner of Glastonbury. Her Met Gala debut came in September 2021, when at 19 she was also the youngest co-chair and the first co-chair born in the 21st century.

  Streaming numbers grew just as quickly. In June 2024 she became the youngest artist, and the third overall after the Weeknd and Taylor Swift, to pass 100 million monthly listeners on Spotify. In August she became the world's most-streamed artist by monthly listeners. Apple Music named her Artist of the Year for 2019 and 2024, the only multiple-time winner. In 2019 she also became the youngest person on the Forbes Celebrity 100 list, with estimated earnings of $53 million.

  Online, she reached 100 million Instagram followers in February 2022, at 20. In early April 2024 she gained over eight million followers in 24 hours, a record for a woman. Time put her on its first Time 100 Next list in 2019, and the BBC named her one of its 100 Women in December 2022. On the 11th of August 2024, she performed "Birds of a Feather" at Belmont Shore in Long Beach during the Summer Olympics closing ceremony, as the Games passed to Los Angeles for 2028.

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• 7. Sound and Influences

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  "Like to completely make up things and become characters" is how Eilish describes what she and Finneas do when they write. Finneas writes for her albums, produces her music and performs in her live shows. Some songs are fictional, and others come from their own experiences. They aim for lyrics that feel "really interesting and conversational." Finneas says he tries to help her tell whatever story she is after, using language that fits her voice.

  Critics have reached for many words for that voice. Avery Stone of Vice called it "ethereal," and Maura Johnston of Rolling Stone called it "whispery." Doreen St. Félix of The New Yorker described a "husky, slurring voice that she can thin out to reedy." Eilish is a soprano. Robert Christgau saw "playful version of teen-goth angst" in her debut album. Her music is usually called pop, with touches of electronic, alternative, hip-hop and rock. On Happier Than Ever she moved into downtempo and jazz pop. Musicologist Jessica Holmes argued that much of her music concerns depression.

  She had wanted to direct her own music videos since she was 14, but at first nobody gave her the chance. In 2019 she made her directorial debut with the video for "Xanny."

  Her listening history runs from the Beatles and Green Day to Arctic Monkeys, Nine Inch Nails, Linkin Park and Lana Del Rey. Hip hop is her favorite genre and biggest inspiration. Stumbling on Aurora's "Runaway" on YouTube pushed her toward a music career. Of Matty Healy she said, "His show is the second show I ever went to in my life." She also credits Damon Albarn with changing how she views making art and music.

  Media often compares her to Avril Lavigne, Lorde and Lana Del Rey. About the last of those she has said, "That woman has made her brand so perfect for her whole career and she shouldn't have to hear that." At Coachella she invited Hayley Williams of Paramore to join her set for an acoustic "Misery Business." Ariana Grande's album Thank U, Next, she says, inspired her to keep making music.

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• 8. Image and Causes

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  In a Calvin Klein advertisement in May 2019, Eilish explained that she wears baggy clothes so people cannot judge her body. That same year she pushed back on her own reputation: "Over time it's kind of become a thing, 'Billie Eilish, the creepy, weird, scary girl.' And I don't like that." Her short film Not My Responsibility, which she wrote and produced, premiered at a Miami show in March 2020 and addressed body shaming. At her first Met Gala she wore an Oscar de la Renta gown, on the condition that the fashion house permanently end its use of real fur.

  Her rise also brought scrutiny. In June 2021, videos surfaced of her mouthing a slur while lip-syncing a song, and she apologized on Instagram stories. She said she was 13 or 14 at the time and did not know the word was derogatory. Looking back that July, she observed that "nothing ever goes away once it's on the internet."

  On climate, she signed an open letter urging world leaders to act against climate-induced poverty, and she hosted a six-day seminar in London called Overheated. Her 2019 single "All the Good Girls Go to Hell" uses heaven-and-hell imagery to criticize ignorance of rising sea levels. In 2023 she helped start and fund REVERB's Music Decarbonization Project, and she says she refuses to travel by private jet. She is also an outspoken advocate for animal rights and veganism.

  On women's rights, her single "Your Power" criticizes the sexual exploitation of young women by men who hold power over them. At Glastonbury in 2022 she performed it after the overturning of Roe v. Wade, saying, "Today is a really, really dark day for women in the U.S." She wrote much of her song "TV" after a draft of that court decision leaked, and surprise-released it on the Guitar Songs EP on the 21st of July 2022. In August 2020 she performed at the Democratic National Convention and endorsed Joe Biden, and in September 2024 she and Finneas endorsed Kamala Harris. In December 2023 she signed the Artists4Ceasefire open letter on Gaza and later wore the group's pin at the 2024 Academy Awards.

  In October 2025, at The Wall Street Journal magazine's Innovator Awards, it emerged that she had donated $11.5 million from her Hit Me Hard and Soft tour. The money went to organizations working on food equity, client justice and reducing carbon pollution. Accepting the Music Innovator Award, she urged wealthy people to give their money away. Reaction was divided between applause and discontent. In February 2026, accepting Song of the Year at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards, she denounced ICE and said "no one is illegal on stolen land." Some critics replied that she owns valuable property on land historically inhabited by the Tongva.

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