Finneas reveals when new Billie Eilish album will be released
Pioneer of homeschooling and home recording, Finneas talks about his new song written in isolation and how far off a new album is from his famous sister Billie Eilish.
SmartDaily
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Homeschool and working from home have become the fixtures of 2020.
For American musician Finneas, the rest of the world has arrived late at the only life he and chart-topping sister Billie Eilish have ever known.
As well as being homeschooled there, they wrote and recorded Eilish’s Grammy-winning When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go album at their parents’ LA house (Finneas paid off their mortgage last year).
“This year people are really doing what I’ve done all along,” Finneas laughs.
“I loved being homeschooled. Largely because I always knew I was interested in music. If you’re a kid who doesn’t know what they like, homeschooling might be less fun, because it’s a big, wide open day.
“I really don’t envy eight to 18, those 10 years, I feel so bad for those kids right now. I feel bad anyway for them in America because their classmates carry guns and kill people, which is horrifying. But I remember how important it was to see my friends when I was 15, and being told, ‘It’s not safe to see your friends’ must be devastating.”
While Eilish still lives at home, Finneas is on Zoom with Smart from his newly-purchased house in LA, complete with a home studio.
“The house is sort of a tax write-off because I do all my work here,” he notes.
He apologises for running slightly late – “I was grabbing one last Billie take.”
COVID may have paused his touring plans and well and truly cured his “travel burnout”, but he’s been more creative than ever.
“Billie and I are full steam ahead on her next record, I’m working on my own album too. I haven’t suffered at all because of my set-up. Billie and I can work one-on-one, and I’m working remotely with other artists who FaceTime me and ask if I want to work on a song.”
As a songwriting and production team he and Eilish have already released two songs this year: My Future and her Bond theme No Time To Die – a UK No.1.
“Bond has its own fans, they were opinionated, some liked it, some hated it. Some of the comments were like ‘Muse should be doing it!”
Finneas has just released a solo track, What They’ll Say About Us, written after leaving a Black Lives Matter protest in LA earlier this year.
However rather than being a protest song, it bursts with hope and optimism.
“I was apprehensive about going to protests just for safety. I see my parents who are in their 60s, my sister, I don’t want to get any of them sick. I called my mum who said, ‘It’s really important to protest’ so I’m glad she was so kind to me. At protests you’re with all these people who are marching the same streets, they feel the same way you do, it’s a very galvanising, inspiring experience. Scrolling through Twitter and seeing both sides fighting with each other is not inspiring, that’s very depressing. I wanted a song that talked to the people who I feel are instilling change and making the world better.”
Finneas (and Eilish) are using their social media followings – which tap into a younger democratic – to encourage American fans to enrol to vote.
Finneas’ Twitter bio simply reads, ‘Don’t re-elect him’.
“The argument in America that entertainers should stay out of politics died when an entertainer became president. You can be a Trump supporter and listen to my music I guess, but if you’re following me on Instagram you’re probably not going to like what you see.”
Finneas and girlfriend Claudia Sulewski joined the trend and launched an iso podcast – We Bought a House.
However between the “mundane” life they’re currently living and the secret side projects Finneas is working on (which he politely declines to discuss) he says subject matter is tough.
“My podcast is a little bit like if two friends at the CIA had a podcast and they’re like, ‘How was your week?’ and the other says, ‘I’m not at liberty to say’. It’s been fun, but the mental challenge is, ‘What are we going to talk about? Our dog again?’ It’s 19 episodes about our dog.”
Elton John had Finneas on his Apple Music radio show Rocket Hour and invited him to open for him when he returns to Australia – he’s due to finish postponed shows on his farewell tour in New Zealand next year and has hinted at more Australian dates.
“My desire to return to Australia was exacerbated when Elton said he wanted me to tour with him there. It has to happen! But who knows when now. But he said it on air!”
At this stage, new Finneas and Eilish albums will only land when they’re able to tour them.
“Billie’s album, and my album, they won’t be a bummer COVID record. I have a desperate desire not to release them during COVID-19. It’s the vaccine record! I want it to be the album everyone’s out dancing in the streets to.”
