The Incredible Rise of Billie Eilish

Popular musical acts come and go, but this young star is unlikely to be forgotten any time soon. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’ll be discussing The Incredible Rise of Billie Eilish.

Come along as we take a closer look at the life, evolution and inspiring success story of this unique and hugely influential alternative pop singer-songwriter. Defying expectations at every opportunity and smashing Grammy records, Billie Eilish is an artist that never ceases to amaze us.

Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell was born on December 18th, 2001. A Los Angeles native who grew up in the historic and diverse Highland Park neighborhood, Eilish is of Scottish and Irish ancestry. Hers is an artistic family. Billie’s father, Patrick O’Connell, is an actor, and her mother, Maggie Baird, is a screenwriter. Given that both parents are also musicians, it’s safe to say that art and music flow through Billie Eilish’s veins. From a young age, she was very much encouraged to think outside the box and express herself. The Baird-O’Connell family opted to home school their children in order to foster an environment of creativity - one in which they could pursue the fields that most interested them. Her parent’s inspiration? Hard though it might be to believe considering how stylistically different Billie wound up… the ‘90s group “Hanson,” who were similarly home-schooled.

Eilish, like her older brother Finneas, ultimately wound up developing a passion for music above all else. Having written her first song when she was just four years old, Eilish also joined the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus at the age of eight. She explored acting, but ultimately found that it wasn’t for her. She did, however, discover a passion for dance, and has clearly always had her own unique fashion sense and visual identity. Musically speaking, her family exposed her to a wide range of music, but as she entered her teens, she began to gravitate towards alternative hip hop and genre-blending artists, including Childish Gambino, Earl Sweatshirt, and Tyler, the Creator.


Though Billie was already exploring and creating music on her own from a young age, it was the collaborative effort between her and older brother Finneas O'Connell that provided a surprise launchpad for her meteoric rise. Finneas, 4 years Billie’s senior, was playing with a band of his own when, at the age of 17, he penned what would become Billie Eilish’s breakout hit “Ocean Eyes”. But when Billie’s dance coach asked for a song for choreography purposes, Finneas realized that his sister, only 13 at the time, but who was already putting her own unique spin on existing pop songs, was a great fit for it. Not only did “Ocean Eyes” become an unexpected hit on Soundcloud, but it also brought the siblings, who were already very close, even closer. The two became musical partners and remain so to this day; Finneas produces, co-writes and performs Billie’s songs with her.

“Ocean Eyes” became a massive hit in the mid-2010s- especially when you consider that it was coming from an unknown artist. It has gone on to be streamed hundreds of millions of times. As its popularity snowballed, the track was picked up by major radio stations and music influencers. Through Finneas’ manager, Eilish soon found herself with A&R company Platoon, a publicist and a stylist. Seemingly overnight, Eilish had become what many were beginning to predict would be the next big thing in alt-pop. She was soon signed to the Interscope imprint, The Darkroom, and with the release of the video for “Ocean Eyes”, Eilish’s popularity continued to grow at an exponential rate.

Having captured the attention of both the music industry and countless listeners, it was time for Billie to prove that she was more than just a one-hit wonder. And with her subsequent singles, like “Bellyache", "Watch", "Copycat" and "Idontwannabeyouanymore", she accomplished that and so much more. These songs showcased her versatility as both a songwriter and a singer, as well as her and Finneas’ combined knack for crafting songs that are both emotional and catchy. Her 8 song EP “Don't Smile at Me” went platinum in the United States and brought her to the attention of an even wider audience.


As big of a deal as “Don’t Smile at Me” was for the artist-on-the-rise, it was a relatively minor success compared to what Eilish achieved next with her debut full length album, entitled “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” The album is incredibly eclectic, veering wildly from hip hop influenced anthems, to dark, industrial-tinged tracks that ooze with menace, to heartbreakingly beautiful slow-jams carried almost entirely by Billie’s emotionally-charged vocals. But despite the wide range of genres in which Elish is playing, it somehow comes together as a cohesive album. It’s unified by Eilish’s distinct voice and Finneas’ production style. Just a few short years after Eilish introduced herself to the world with “Ocean Eyes”, this album officially saw her claiming the crown. It was met with near universal acclaim by critics. And for anyone who had missed out on Eilish up until now, they were now forced to pay attention. NME called it “game-changing”, while Variety deemed Eilish “the real deal”. Exclaim! praised its genre-defiance and called it “a bold artistic vision”.

With the release of this 2019 full length album, Billie Eilish officially arrived. In the year following its release she’s topped charts, broken records, inspired fans, made converts out of listeners young and old - and done it all while refusing to play by anyone else’s rules but her own. Only one musical metric of success remained - the Grammys. And sure enough, on January 26th, 2020, she won five out of the six categories she was nominated in - including Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist. She was the first artist to sweep these four general categories since 1981, and the first female artist to ever do so - not to mention the youngest. Oh, and it’s worth mentioning that Finneas also won Producer of the Year. Add to this her “Best New Artist” Grammy and two Guinness World Records, among dozens of other awards, including AMAs, and it’s safe to say that Billie Eilish has successfully conquered the world of music.

But perhaps best of all, is the fact that she’s accomplished this all while refusing to conform to the conventions of what has come to be expected from young female popstars. She’s become an alternative role model, one who, rather than preaching purity and crafting an image of perfection, has been open about her struggles with mental health, Tourette syndrome, body image and more. Yes, her music stands on its own two feet, but ultimately, it’s her bold sense of individuality that has helped to establish Billie Eilish as a true icon - and all by the age of 18 no less.