Top 10 Things You Didn't Know About Billie Eilish

Billie Eilish’s first hit single "Ocean Eyes" was released during her mid-teen years; an impressive feat in and of itself. However, she’d actually been creating original music for years before her breakout song hit the airwaves. As a child, Eilish was homeschooled in Los Angeles, and began performing musically from the age of eight. From age 11, she started singing songs that she herself penned. In an interview with Ellen, she mentions being a big fan of the Spice Girls when she was younger – and watching their movie “Spice World” 40 times. Might they have inspired any of her music?

Did you know that Eilish once took inspiration from a popular zombie show for her music? While “Ocean Eyes” was her first big hit, her first real original song was called “Fingers Crossed”, and is far less well-known. In an interview with Harper’s Bazaar, she said that, contrary to popular belief, the song was written about the zombie apocalypse. She added that, if you listen carefully to the lyrics, you can even find specific lines and even episode titles from the show!

Like any celebrity in the modern age, social media is an essential tool for Billie Eilish, who boasts over 16 million followers on Instagram alone. She even admitted to Harper’s Bazaar that she is “nothing without it”. But despite their importance to her career, Eilish has a lot of contempt for social platforms as well, saying they can “completely ruin” friendships, relationships, and yourself. Furthermore, she expressed in that same interview how she felt looking through your feeds can damage your self-confidence, and just how dangerous that can be.

If you’re wondering how this talented young lady found her passion for music so early in life, there’s a clear explanation: she came from a family of musicians. In an interview with Teen Vogue, she shared that both her mom and brother are songwriters, and that her father plays the ukulele and piano. When she was younger, her dad would encourage her to listen to new types of music by making mix tapes for her. In fact, she works closely with her brother Finneas O'Connell, who collaborates with her and produces her music. Not only that, but Finneas has also dabbled in acting; appearing on TV shows like “Glee” and “Modern Family”.

Though we’ve already talked about how she was inspired by “The Walking Dead”, it turns out that Eilish is indeed a huge horror fan; professing her love for scary movies in an interview with PopCrush. She admits that, although she hasn’t seen many of the classics, she has watched a number of the genre’s more modern hits; including 2014’s “The Babadook”, while also mentioning the series “American Horror Story” and Jordan Peele’s Oscar-winning 2017 film, “Get Out”. Now we see where she gets her eerie aesthetic!

While we mentioned how Billie Eilish started early on her singing career, she was also passionate about dancing as a child. She began her dance training at the age of eight, and eventually focused on the contemporary style of dance. She trained for up to 11 hours a week at her dance studio, attending competitions with them as well. Unfortunately, despite her passion for it, a string of injuries made it impossible for her to pursue it further. Luckily for her, though, she still gets to do very minimal dancing as part of her music career.

We already know Eilish has been writing her own music since she was 11, but she actually got her start performing for large crowds well before that. When she was just eight years old, her parents, Maggie Baird and Patrick O'Connell, enrolled her in the Los Angeles Children's Chorus; a choral youth organization founded in 1986. This undoubtedly helped her gain confidence as a performer, leading her to release an EP that got to number 14 on the Billboard 200 before she had even turned 16.

It’s become more and more common for big-name celebrities to be open about their health issues; and in late 2018, Billie Eilish opened up to her fans and followers about something she had been suffering through since childhood. After compilation videos appeared online showing her physical tics, Eilish posted publicly about having been diagnosed years earlier with Tourette syndrome. Tourette’s is a neurodevelopmental disorder, and signs are usually first seen during childhood. Eilish spoke with Ellen about her experience with Tourette’s, particularly on coping with the disorder while so many fans are watching.

In a 2017 interview with Teen Vogue, Eilish was asked which other artists she draws inspiration from, and her answer will likely surprise you. While she did shout out other female singers she’s been compared to, such as Lana Del Rey and Aurora, she primarily cited hip-hop artists. The first artist she mentioned was Tyler the Creator, saying she admires how he “does anything he wants” without caring whether or not it pans out. She also counted Drake, Big Sean, Earl Sweatshirt and Childish Gambino among her musical inspirations.

Billie Eilish became a worldwide sensation thanks in part to her song “Ocean Eyes”, but fans may be surprised to hear that this was kind of an accident. Eilish’s dance instructor asked if she or her brother could create a song for the class, so she and Finneas started working together on a song he initially wrote for his band. She says the track got “stuck in [her] head for weeks” after he taught it to her, and they went on to record the track with Finneas on production. They uploaded it to SoundCloud for her dance teacher to listen to, and the rest is history.