Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Celebrities

Is Billie Eilish ‘Happier Than Ever’? The singer talks mental health, her new look, and why she finally stopped reading her Instagram comments – interview

STORYTribune News Service
Billie Eilish’s second album, “Happier Than Ever”, is now available on streaming platforms. Photo: @billieeilish/Instagram
Billie Eilish’s second album, “Happier Than Ever”, is now available on streaming platforms. Photo: @billieeilish/Instagram
Fame and celebrity

  • Between ages 17 and 19, Eilish won seven Grammy Awards and played Coachella after her debut single Ocean Eyes went viral on SoundCloud in 2015
  • She spent Covid-19 on self-reflection … and recording My Future with brother Finneas O’Connell and debuting a Julie London-inspired look

Billie Eilish is crying on the cover of her new album. Her eyes are blue and empty, staring vacantly into the distance. “Happier Than Ever,” read the words above her face.

Billie Eilish’s new album, “Happier Than Ever”. Photo: Handout
Billie Eilish’s new album, “Happier Than Ever”. Photo: Handout

After her debut single Ocean Eyes became a viral hit on SoundCloud in 2015, she signed with Darkroom Records and landed a deal with Interscope. But she felt ill-equipped to deal with the sudden onslaught of attention. Which isn’t surprising, because the music industry didn’t see her coming either.

“I hated the internet having a bunch of eyes on me. I just wanted to be doing teenager s***,” says Eilish, who was 16 when she toured her four-times platinum debut album, “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” She grew depressed, and her body didn’t react well to the stress; she was constantly coming down with laryngitis or developing fevers. And she was surrounded by adults.

Advertisement
Billie Eilish’s EP “Don’t Smile at Me Now” contains many of her hit tracks like Ocean Eyes and idontwannabeyouanymore. Photo: @billieeilish/Instagram
Billie Eilish’s EP “Don’t Smile at Me Now” contains many of her hit tracks like Ocean Eyes and idontwannabeyouanymore. Photo: @billieeilish/Instagram
So how did she end up at this industrial compound in the San Fernando Valley, readying for the Friday, July 30, release of her second effort? “Honestly, it took growing up a little bit. Literally, physically growing up – like the actual chemicals in my brain shifting,” she says. Eilish is still figuring out who she wants to be as a grown-up. Between 17 and 19, she played Coachella, won seven Grammy Awards – in 2019, becoming the youngest person ever to sweep the prizes for best new artist and record, song and album of the year.
So when the Covid-19 pandemic hit, she finally had an opportunity to pause and “do the self-reflection I’ve never had the time for”. She began to think about what she’d been through “and how it affected me – how I actually feel about it all instead of just doing it”.
Billie Eilish, left, and Finneas O’Connell pose in the press room with the awards for best album, best engineered album and best pop vocal album for “We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?,” best song and record for Bad Guy, best new artist and best producer, non-classical at the 62nd annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, in January 2020. Photo: AP Photo
Billie Eilish, left, and Finneas O’Connell pose in the press room with the awards for best album, best engineered album and best pop vocal album for “We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?,” best song and record for Bad Guy, best new artist and best producer, non-classical at the 62nd annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, in January 2020. Photo: AP Photo

Maggie Baird, Eilish’s mother with whom with whom she lived in her northeast LA childhood home until roughly a year ago, suggested to her two kids that they use the unexpected free time during the pandemic as an opportunity to create new music.

“My mum was, like, ‘What if you guys had a schedule where Billie came over and you worked three days a week?’” recalls Finneas Baird O’Connell, Eilish’s brother, 23. “At first I was like, ‘I don’t think that’s needed.’ And within the first week, we’d written and recorded My Future.”