Quiet and contemplative was the tone coming over the phone line from the other end. The speaker, still in the initial phase of her career, had not yet become a global sensation. However, her brief encounter with fame had already made her aware of its potential perils. Appealing on the surface, but it could quickly turn unpredictable. “People fail to comprehend what accompanies it,” Billie Eilish expressed, concerning her rapidly rising star. She believes one can’t be a celebrity and lead a normal life.
It was January of 2018, and Eilish was still an emerging pop star. She generously made time for interviews, and on one such occasion, we had a conversation. Being wry, flat-toned but amiable, she had a little trepidation about the future and inevitable compromises. Her statement was clear, she didn’t want her entire life in the spotlight. “Not everyone needs to know everything about me,” she spoke. “They can be privy to certain aspects of my life. But, it is my life. I am a human being. I don’t desire to be omnipresent.”
Fast forward six years, Billie Eilish has become a colossal pop star and is set to launch her third album, Hit Me Hard and Soft. Climbing the music industry ladder always comes with a price, evident by the significantly high cost of tickets for Eilish’s 2025 tour. She continues to be an anomaly, her somber, dramatic songs endangering the notion that all pop music must be light hearted and lively.
Eilish has always taken the less-travelled path. Her early hit song, Bury a Friend, was a frighteningly groovy track, more reminiscent of Nine Inch Nails’ music than that of Dua Lipa or Madonna. As she performed this chilling song at the Electric Picnic, a music festival, the previous year, the pulsating red lights and pyrotechnics gave the impression of the festival site succumbing to a terrifying underworld.
With her imminent album, Hit Me Hard and Soft, she decided to spearhead an unorthodox tactic of not releasing any tracks before the album launch, making it a suspenseful event. This approach resembles Taylor Swift’s recent album, The Tortured Poets Department’s mysterious release last month.
Billie Eilish recently expressed her dislike towards individual singles from albums in an interview with Rolling Stone, stating she tends to be predisposed to disliking a song when it’s presented without the album’s context. Eilish equates this context to the strong bond shared by a family, insisting she doesn’t appreciate seeing one part isolated from the rest. However, her recent single, Hit Me Hard and Soft, behaves as an exception, projecting Eilish’s distinct flavor through its relatable artistry and maintaining the eerie essence of her past creations, evident since her 2017 debut EP, Don’t Smile at Me.
The cover incorporates elements of horror and resignation as well as harboring notions reminiscent of a cautionary tale about maintaining close proximity to shore during water activities. It exemplifies her innate fear of submersion and shows Eilish willingly embracing it. The singer revealed she subjected herself to six hours of the production, an act akin to waterboarding, confessing that she feels fulfilled only when she undergoes struggles.
Born as Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O’Connell in December 2001, the star hails from Highland Park, a sprawling suburb of northeast LA. Both her parents, who are musicians and actors, were inspired from a documentary about Irish conjoined twins from Donadea in Co Kildare, leading to O’Connell’s middle name, “Eilish”. Along with her elder brother, Finneas, her principal musical partner, both were educated at home. She resents the notion that her upbringing was unusual or had a hint of countercultural influence.
In 2018, she questioned the definition of ‘bohemian’, reflecting on how her distinctive upbringing doesn’t necessarily make her different. As a child, she explored life differently from others but maintained that she was just like any other child, doing typical childlike activities. Now, as a teenager, she feels she’s no different from her peers, with the exception of her uncommon profession.
She expressed her displeasure in friends failing to understand her work and the commitments that come with it. She found it hard when she couldn’t socialise due to work commitments, and travelling for work, like in New York. She likened it to a regular job, insisting that despite its apparent excitement, it’s still tedious at times, demanding hard work and dedication.
Her big break arrived early, when she was still a teenager. ‘Ocean Eyes’, a ballad produced in the style of Kate Bush and shoegaze, was penned by her brother about a former partner. The song rapidly spread on SoundCloud, soon attracting the music industry’s attention.
At the tender age of 13, she started engaging with record labels. However, she was adamant that her age never dictated her actions. She felt it was about much more than her age; it just so happened that she was young when success found her. She encountered the odd comment regarding her age, and realised that people tend to believe young talent is more profound, a notion she’s reluctantly embraced as somewhat unjust.
When she decided to use ‘Eilish’ as her stage name, people in the US initially struggled with how to pronounce it.
She revealed to me in 2018 that her roots are Scottish and Irish. She mentioned her inability to tan and discussed how her unique first name, Eilish, was virtually unknown until recently. She shared a story of an encounter with a fan whose girlfriend shared her name, an experience that astounded her. She looks forward to a visit to Ireland, where people will be familiar with her name, despite her affinity for uniqueness.
Her first appearance at the Electric Picnic became notable, as she proudly declared her Irish heritage to an audience of nearly 57,000 attendees. Her performance had a powerful impact, and her success as a pop sensation became apparent.
Her second album, Happier Than Ever, explores the taxing side of fame. It paints a picture of an artist struggling with the abrupt rise to prominence.
She and Finneas, her brother and partner in music, accept the critical gaze that accompanies their status as Grammy-winning artists. Finneas conveyed his helplessness to rid the internet of online trolls, acknowledging that despite its ills, their career wouldn’t have thrived without it. He stresses the importance of preserving mental health in the face of harsh online comments, advocating for disregarding negative social media attention.
Billie Eilish’s album, Happier Than Ever, encapsulates a suffocating portrayal of celebrity life.
The album ‘Happier Than Ever’, produced amid the initial unease of lockdown, has been described by Finneas O’Connell as akin to crafting an album in the midst of a twister, cooped up in a storm shelter. Although the album garnered affirmative critiques, it did not perform as well commercially as Billie Eilish’s 2019 maiden creation, ‘When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?’ The latter sold a mere five million units compared to the former’s impressive 15 million, and its cultural influence was somewhat stunted. Therefore, it’s far from shocking that Eilish and Finneas have sought to reincorporate elements of their early style in ‘Hit Me Hard and Soft’.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, Finneas described a spectral presence in the album, saying: “There’s certain concepts on this album which are a half-decade old, lending it some history, which is truly appealing to me. Speaking about the time ‘When We All Fall Asleep’ was created, Billie refers to its theatrics and ominous undertones, and what is it that nobody does better than her? This album was a voyage into what we excel at.”
Ahead of the release of ‘Hit Me Hard and Soft’, Eilish and her brother had consciously decided to keep a low profile. Yet they were caught off guard by the unexpected viral popularity of ‘What Was I Made For?’, a contemporary lullaby penned for the Barbie film soundtrack. The song, a quiet reflection about femininity and the tribulations of maturation that strikes a chord with the subject matter of the Margot Robbie movie, soon gained popularity on TikTok, with users overlaying short videos of their own adolescent experiences.
It fetched a Grammy and an Oscar for Eilish, making it her second following the James Bond theme song ‘No Time to Die’. A visibly touched Eilish commented: “It was an overwhelmingly emotional experience. I got the sense that I contributed in uniting people, and it felt incredibly special. The global connection experienced by women was something I hadn’t envisaged.”
Eilish is surprisingly humble for someone of her global pop icon status. She is deeply committed to combating climate change, and while all musicians can be accused of hypocrisy due to the high carbon emissions generated by their tour industries, Eilish makes more of an effort to reconcile this damage. She actively avoids the use of private jets, consistently choosing to travel on commercial airlines instead.
Recently, she incited the ire of Swift’s supporters after criticising the industry trend of releasing numerous vinyl versions of an album. The resulting backlash forced her to clarify that she was not targeting Swift with these comments. Whilst Eilish herself has released multiple vinyl records, she has made sure these were produced from reused materials.
Eilish is acutely aware of her fortunate circumstances and uses this knowledge to stay grounded. She believes that concentrating on her songwriting and leaving the rest to naturally unfold is the best way to maintain her humility.
Back in 2018, Eilish shared her one wish with me: “I try not to take things for granted. If you are aware of the craziness of everything as it’s happening – ‘Wow, this is wild’ – it has the potential to throw you off balance. Therefore, I approach everything as though it’s normal. I do my own thing as if nobody is watching or paying attention.”
The album ‘Hit Me Hard and Soft’ is scheduled to drop on Friday, 17th May.