Finneas on paying off his parents’ mortgage, changing pop and plans for the new Billie Eilish album
Finneas has had a good year — he and sister Billie Eilish have had global No.1s, Grammy nominations, Apple Music awards, and he’s just paid off his parents’ mortgage. But there was one moment that confirmed to him the impact they’d had on pop culture.
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Finneas O’Connell has just paid off his parent’s mortgage.
“That was a really good feeling,” the American singer/songwriter and producer states.
He’s come into a bit of money this year — with sister Billie Eilish, O’Connell has completely changed the algorithms of pop in 2019.
Eilish’s album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, which O’Connell co-wrote and produced, is on track to be the year’s most popular release, hitting No.1 around the globe, including the subversive worldwide chart topper Bad Guy. They’ve spent the year playing sold-out shows around the world.
O’Connell has also enjoyed a sideline solo career, as Finneas, releasing a string of singles and now his first EP Blood Harmony, as well as playing in her band and opening her shows with his own material.
Their music was written, recorded and produced at their parents’ LA home — in Finneas’ bedroom. O’Connell figures clearing their mortgage was a good financial deal.
“I literally paid them what I would have paid for studio time somewhere else. And our mom cooked for us all the time,” he said.
“We’d be working long days in my bedroom and she was always coming in and asking if we wanted something to eat. If I was paying for studio time and a private chef, which is basically what I got, could you imagine what it would cost? Way more than paying off their mortgage.
“I remember growing up watching Extreme Home Makeover. Expensive jewellery just doesn’t really matter.
“But paying off my parents’ mortgage means they now have enough money to remodel their kitchen. That’s a big deal, that will change their lives. When you make your money you should figure out ways to use it in ways that will matter for a long time.”
O’Connell has the long game in mind. Back in March 2016 he tweeted a photo of him with his sister and the caption “talking about the future of music and what we’re going to do about it.”
Their public vision board has since become very real indeed. “Isn’t that crazy?” he notes.
His success this year has already seen him inundated with offers to write and produce with other artists. He’s said yes to Camila Cabello and Selena Gomez, and has a song “I really, really like” with Tove Lo ready to roll out next year.
Yet for everyone he’s said yes to, there’s a legion of people keen to tap into the year’s biggest producer he’s politely declined.
“I just tell people I’m too busy,” he says. “I get to work with fun people and artists I love. I also try to be honest with myself. I don’t work with people unless I think I can do a good job with them. My dad is a carpenter. If he didn’t think he could do a good job he’d tell them to hire someone else, I try to treat my production the same way. If an artist comes and says they’ll pay me really well but I’m not really into the songs I’ll tell them.”
If 2019 hadn’t been stellar enough, O’Connell ended the year with five Grammy nominations (including producer of the year as well as song and album of the year), while he was recognised as songwriter of the year at the inaugural Apple Music Awards last week.
The event invited the pair to perform acoustically, on a stage made to look like an indoor forest, at Apple’s Cupertino HQ. Fans who attended exited via a room with the bed from Eilish’s Coachella performance, covered in handwritten lyrics from her song I Love You, as a 22-minute demo version of the song was played in public for the first time.
“We’ve had so many things that have made us feel so good about what we’ve made,” O’Connell says. “This acknowledgment of it has been really really sweet and kind and unexpected, but also very important to us. So many artists we’ve looked up to our whole lives have been nominated for Grammys, it’s crazy to be a part of that club.”
The 22-year-old says it was only when he saw kids on line recreating Bad Guy’s sound on DIY instruments, and endless covers, that he realised the impact he and his sister have had on pop culture this year.
“I didn’t really think about it until I heard kids trying to rip us off. It’s a little bit like a horror movie taking over the world. The way Get Out was this scary movie and became this pop cultural phenomenon. So to have something masquerading as an alternative record becoming a pop record was a very satisfying experience to be a part of.”
O’Connell laughs off claims his sister was an “industry plant” — suggesting someone else was writing the 17-year-old’s lyrics for her. “What does that even mean? It’s flattering I guess, because we’re just making music in the bedroom.”
The latest Eilish single, Everything I Wanted, is an ode to being best friends with your sibling — a healthy message the pair have put out to their young fanbase.
“It’s a song about how we’ve been thrown into this world with high expectations and lots of travel and hard work and public attention, it can be stressful and tense. I’m so glad we have each other there to deal with that. So glad,” he said.
“I remember seeing a Beatles documentary when they talked about how they always felt bad for Elvis because it was only Elvis. Billie and I are good at saying no or yes to stuff, I’m grateful for that. We really like each other. We just crack each other up. She was on Jimmy Kimmel the other night and I wasn’t doing anything but I wanted to be there for my sister so I went down. It was a pleasure to be there.”
Blood Harmony’s standout I Lost a Friend was written after falling out with a pal.
“I’m very proud of that song,” he says. There’s also a happy ending. “We just went hiking the other weekend. We reconciled. But when I wrote the song we weren’t talking.”
O’Connell has found himself a famous friend, musician James Blake, another male not afraid to write about his feelings.
“He’s inspiringly transparent about his emotions, I respect that a lot, I try to do the same.”
It’s been an interesting transition for O’Connell turning from fan to friend of Blake.
“I just had lunch with him and his girlfriend Jameela (Jamil). I was telling him I brag about being his friend. He’s one of those people that make me feel like I’m cool because I’m friends with him.
“At lunch we were talking about how we would work well together, and we probably will one day, but right now we’re enjoying not having to deal with the pressure of working together.
“Billie and I love each other dearly and are best friends, but when we’re hanging out we often feel like we should be working.
“I think James and I have been enjoying hanging out and not thinking ‘OK let’s finish this chorus’. It’s just been a very fun experience to just chill out.”
There’ll be new Finneas music next year (“There’s a lot of stuff in the world to write about, I try to write about it”) and he’s stepping down from opening for his sister on her 2020 tour to concentrate on recording her next album.
“We’re going to end up making a lot of the second album on tour, we’re already in it. Writing’s fun,” he said.
They recently recorded a stripped back live album to vinyl with Jack White (“we made mistakes, it was so exciting”) — another chance to meet a musical hero who hasn’t let him down.
“I don’t know if Dave Grohl lets anyone down, he’s such a cool guy. That was a big deal. Billie Joe Armstrong (of Green Day) is my lifelong hero, my rock star Jesus person. He hasn’t let me down.
“I pretty much haven’t been let down by anybody. If I’m someone’s hero I’d feel so bad I let them down in some way. I know that at Billie’s shows we’re playing to kids where it’s their first concert.
“I remember going to my first show so vividly. I’m so proud we’re the first show kids are seeing.”
While there’s no plans for Eilish to tour Australia again any time soon, O’Connell has his own plans to get back down under.
“My secret fantasy is to play Laneway Festival in 2021 under my own name.”
Blood Harmony is out now.