If you don’t know who Billie Eilish is, there’s a good chance you are not in tune with the latest music charts and are not dancing to her fab tracks that are making waves all over the world.

Bllie Eilish Pirate Baird O’Connell was born a little over three months after 9/11, and so if you didn’t even know when 9/11 terror attacks took place, well it was on 11^th September 2001, which means our American singer was born on 18^th December of the same year. 9/11 is the darkest days in US history.

She was born to part-time-actor, full-time-artist parents, Maggie Baird and Patrick O’Connell, committed to the idea of homeschooling their two super-creative kids (which include her elder brother Finneas) in the formerly affordable enclave of Highland Park in Los Angeles. Her parents helped teach classes in music to young students. This sparked a love for music in both children. Billie became immersed in contemporary dance and joined the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus at the age of eight, where she learned music theory and how to sing without destroying your vocal chords developing the soulful vocals that would later appear on her early singles. By the time she turned 11, she had begun writing and singing her own songs. Billie’s musical graph was similar to 90s super kid Britney Spears, who ruled the charts with songs like Baby One More Time, Oops I did it Again who at a very young age of 13 years went on to make it big overnight with her debut album.

Belonging to a family of musicians, she was destined to make a career in performing arts it seems. While growing up, she saw her elder brother, Finneas O’Connell, fall in love with music. Additionally, her mother wrote songs and her father played instruments such as the piano and the ukulele. Billie was just being groomed in the right direction, with the musical vibe in the house which inspired little Billie to make a career in music. She grew up listening to the music of The Beatles and Avril Lavigne. Her father loved making mix tapes of various artists.

Even though she was homeschooled like her brother that did not stop her from participating in extracurricular activities. She loved acting in homemade films and also sang and danced whenever she found the chance. When she turned 8 years old, she joined a choir and sang with them for three years. By the time she was 11 years old, she was already writing and composing songs of her own.

Other than acting and music, dance was another passion of hers. She took dance classes in her early teenage years. With a plethora of skills, she set her eyes on making a big career in the show business.

Her brother was possibly the biggest influence in her life while she was grew up. He had his own band the Slightlys and took on 12 year old Billie to do a bit of singing on a few tracks which they brought out together like the pop-leaning Six Feet Under and Fingers Crossed a cinematic little number about love in the time of zombie apocalypse that racked up maybe a couple thousand plays, an achievement that felt, back then, pretty mind-boggling.  They also wrote a song She’s Broken. Both thesesongs were released "for fun and for our friends to listen to", as she was quoted on a music website.

But it was Ocean Eyes produced and co-written with her brother Finneas that was a game-changer for Billie’s career. In the final months of 2015, Finneas had been work shopping the song with his band, but it wasn’t sounding right. Billie heard it from across the narrow hall dividing their rooms and knew she could make the song her own; conveniently, she was nursing a crush on a blue-eyed boy at that time, and surely her emotions would show in the song. Billie performed the song and released it online. It became a massive success. This turned out to be her first massive breakthrough. The very simple music video is directed straight to the 13 year olds who are tuned into her. The duo posted the track to SoundCloud with the intention of sending it to Billie’s dance teacher for potential choreography, but things changed dramatically when many tuned into it and loved the soft and sober piece. That song, now platinum in a couple countries, was pure pop; a ballad about longing for reconciliation with an ex. In November 2016, a music video with Billie dancing on the song was released. It turned out to be another success by its own standards.

Several major record labels came ahead to buy the rights for the song. The song was released worldwide by ‘Darkroom’ and’ Interscope Records’ (Universal Music in India). It immediately became a critical and commercial success. On 13^th January 2017, Billie released an EP with four remixes of Ocean Eyes by the likes of Blackbear and Astronomyy. The Astronomyy remix took off immediately, becoming even more popular than the original track on Spotify.

In February 2017, her brother helped her record the single Bellyache. Since its release, the song has been remixed by the likes of duo Marian Hill. Just over a week later, on 30^th March, Billie released the track Bored as part of the soundtrack to the Netflix television series ‘13 Reasons Why’. With the success of the song, Billie released more music with songs like Watch, Copycat and My Boy, enough material for her debut EP Don’t Smile at Me in August 2017. The EP appeared on several American and international music charts. In October 2017, Apple named her their newest ‘Up Next’ artist.

Noticed by the many in the music industry, she got a call by famous American singer Khalid for the single Lovely in April 2018, which became part of the soundtrack for the second season of ‘13 Reasons Why’ which charted globally.

On 18^th July 2018, Billie released her first single You should see me in a Crown from her to be released album which was first premiered on BBC Radio 1 with Annie Mac before its official release.  Billie had also teased the song several times before releasing it to gain traction so many could get a feeling of what she has in store for her growing fans. The second single was When the Party’s over released on 16^th October 2018, with her last teaser When I was Older in January this year.

Finally end March 2019, saw the release of her debut album ‘When we all fall asleep, where do we go’ an album that showcased her hybrid blend of pop, electronic, and hip-hop textures with a rock edge. She hit out more tracks from the album like Bury a friend and Wish you were gay and later a music video for Bad Guy which was the album’s fifth single. The last single has a funky groove to it, very impressive music style, something we haven’t heard in a long time. If you have seen the video, I am sure you would love the way she dances in it, not forgetting the really weird conversation at the beginning of the track.

One very distinct aspect of her songs are that they’re all filled with ethereal indie electronic and dark alternative pop with a fab beat thrown in, which other artist don’t bring up.

Only 19 and making waves all over the world, Billie stated in an interview in March of 2019 that she has never used drugs or smoked, however she suffers from Tourette syndrome and synesthesia and has experienced depression.

Billie is considered a super chick when it comes to her music and charming music videos. Her voice is filled with innocence and teenaged stories. If you haven’t tuned into this new artist, suggest you check her out. Surely an artist to watch out at the Grammy awards next year, who might make a winning streak.

By Verus Ferreira