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Billie Eilish
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Inside The Visual World Of Billie Eilish's 'Happier Than Ever,' A Testament To Her "Brilliant" Creative Vision
After years of longing to take creative control, Billie Eilish is finally at the helm of her visual output. As she celebrates GRAMMY nods for Best Music Video and Best Music Film, her collaborators detail how her 'Happier Than Ever' vision came to life.
GRAMMYs/Mar 31, 2022 - 12:11 am
There's a moment early on in the 2021 Apple TV+ documentary film, The World's A Little Blurry, where Billie Eilish stakes her claim as the ringleader of her own creative circus — one where what she says goes.
In the scene, a then 16-year-old Eilish maps out her visual ideation for the "When The Party's Over" music video. Explaining in fine detail how she envisions her now-iconic black ink tears coming to life, Eilish has very specific instructions for director Carlos López Estrada.
"Don't zoom," Eilish demands in a video message to Estrada, filmed at a replica set in her backyard. "Don't do anything these bozo f***ing filmmakers do when they try to have it not be boring."
At the actual video shoot, the blue-haired singer bounces between the set and the monitor to ensure that her vision — born from a "beautiful piece of art from a fan" — is being properly executed. When they wrap, she makes a quiet declaration with loud determination: "For the rest of the videos, I'm directing them all myself."
It's an aspiration Eilish has had since she started releasing music at age 14, but an opportunity she only had a few times before taking the reins with 2019's "Xanny." "Since the beginning of my career I wanted to direct videos," she told The Guardian in 2019. "I told everybody that immediately and they were like: 'Well, you don't have any experience and you don't have the time.'
"They really didn't want a 14-year-old girl to direct a music video," she continued. "But I knew I wanted to and I convinced them, I got their trust, and from here on out I want to do my own videos, and I eventually want to make a movie. I've wanted to direct my whole life. I love cinematography, the camera angles, the visuals."
Now, the singer is in the midst of building a world around her second album, Happier Than Ever, which earned Eilish seven nominations at the 2022 GRAMMY Awards. Though she's no stranger to GRAMMYs — in 2020, she became the youngest artist (and only second ever) to sweep all four General Field categories — this year spawned perhaps Eilish's most meaningful nomination yet: Best Music Video. Earning the nod was the visual for the album's title track, one of Eilish's self-directed masterpieces that features the star experiencing a cathartic release of emotion by way of a rain-induced flood.
One of six videos Eilish directed for the album, "Happier Than Ever" — which is nominated for both Record and Song of the Year, as well as Best Pop Solo Performance — is just a sliver of the visual universe the singer created. With the release of a philharmonic-backed concert film (the Disney+ special Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter To Los Angeles, nominated for Best Music Film) and multiple aesthetically pleasing live performances, Eilish displays a transformation at work — one helmed by an artist set on having full creative control.
As that fateful scene in The World's A Little Blurry indicates, the documentary's director R.J. Cutler saw the genius within Eilish as they worked together. "It was important to me to illustrate the fact that in terms of all other aspects of her work, her career, her business, her art and her image — whatever it might be, she is the final word," Cutler tells GRAMMY.com. "It should be no surprise to anybody that a brilliant visionary director who has an incredible instinct and a very specific visual sensibility is in command of the camera."
That sense of visual awareness is integral to pop stardom — particularly for women artists, who have historically been held to a higher standard than their male counterparts. Knowing this, Eilish launched the Happier Than Ever era with an aesthetic rebranding that swapped her trademark neon green roots for an Old Hollywood-style blonde cut. "I couldn't go anywhere with that hair because it was so obviously me," she told Elle last year. "I wanted anonymity."
Her compromised sense of security is a major theme across Happier Than Ever — and rightfully so, considering she came of age in the public eye. Though Eilish had never fully lost authority of her narrative, building a world around such a personal record offered an opportunity to regain control in more ways than one.
Visualizing Happier Than Ever
Eilish's self-directed visual world began to truly take shape with the music video for "Your Power," a damning examination of abuse and its consequences — or lack thereof. Nearly camouflaged against the earthy tones of Simi Valley's mountainside, the singer steeps in her lyrical vulnerability while a green anaconda envelops her body. "Your Power" served as the follow up to "Therefore I Am," a final send-off to Eilish's old signature green-rooted hair.
Within her own visual direction, Eilish often errs on the side of solitude. She builds narratives through the use of distinct locations and dramatic accessories, rather than acting out elaborate scenes with other people — whether she's having a real tarantula crawl out of her mouth for early career cut "You Should See Me In A Crown," walking down the middle of a street in the path of cars racing in all directions for "NDA," or performing in a torrential flood for "Happier Than Ever."
In the official "Male Fantasy" music video, which Eilish directed and edited, she conveys cold and brooding emotions with acute power within isolation. She moves from the quiet space of a living room back to her bed, then in and out of the refrigerator before once again returning to the security of the blankets. It's the exact opposite parallel to the lively slumber party she directed for "Lost Cause," which played into the same neutral color palette, but did so with a carefree air of spontaneity.
Crafting Intimate Live Performances
In July 2021, Eilish kicked off a four-part live performance video series that saw the singer scale back the avant-garde ideas often executed in her music videos for a more intimate setting. For the first release in the series, she leaves behind the slithering snake of "Your Power" and reimagines the song at Los Angeles' Biltmore Hotel.
Opening with an Old Hollywood film title card, the video places Eilish and Finneas against graceful orange curtains at the end of a long corridor at the hotel. The famed designs of the location are obscured with focus locked on the acoustic performance itself, a subtle visual narrative that develops over the course of the series. The historic 1930s hotel plays into the presence of Los Angeles as a character in Eilish's world, somewhere she often champions and revisits through song and video. Her constant call-backs add weight to the depth of the pivotal moment in "Happier Than Ever" where she cries out: "I'd never treat me this shitty, you made me hate this city."
"We had a good, long conversation with their team early on about [wanting] to create this as Billie not only enters this new phase of her musical career, but as she becomes an adult starting to tackle bigger themes — as you can clearly hear on the album," says Micah Bickham, executive producer of content production at Vevo. "We wanted to create this world that was elevated and took it to that same sort of place, exploring these more iconic and maybe more adult themes."
For "Male Fantasy," Eilish settles on the edge of a gold-blanketed bed in a torn cream sweater as she ruminates on the same notions of the male gaze and desire that she later explores in A Love Letter to Los Angeles. "All of that was by design," Bickham explains. "Her and Finneas in a simple hotel room just having a conversation with her fans in a way that blaring concert lights and large bands [couldn't]."
He adds: "We were just trying to create a bit of a paradox, if you will, between these softer environments and then take Billie into those worlds, who is basically, either vocally or performatively, creating a bit of a contrast. If you think about some of the songs, some of the lyrics juxtaposed to the world that she's sitting in, it's a really interesting simple expression of contrast. That was a really important part of it."
Completing Another Visual Journey
In the Vevo live performance series videos, there's a sense of emotional release that mirrors the intensity embedded within the lyrics. But Happier Than Ever is shaped through Old Hollywood regality, which displays the power of performance even in the absence of theatrics. "Lost Cause" and the simmering, rhythmic "Billie Bossa Nova" are delivered in the Biltmore Hotel's famed Crystal Ballroom, using the location as a point of entry to the alluring tone of each track. As the final installation of the video series, "Billie Bossa Nova" places Eilish in the center of the ballroom in front of a trio of luxurious ceiling-high windows.
"It's like, how do we create vignettes and spaces for each of these conversations to take place so that when you watch them individually, they stand on their own two legs — but if you were to watch them as a collection, you see the evolution of those performances from song to song," Bickham says.
The series is a significant example of Eilish driving the narrative of Happier Than Ever forward through the use of hyper-specific tones and color palettes. The singer, who has synesthesia, established the visual and tonal range executed through wardrobe choices and set designs. The muted pinks, pops of blue, and array of neutral selections — juxtaposed to the gold regality of the hotel — correspond with the Eilish's own synesthetic perceptions of each song.
"There are not that many artists who create a world around the album that they're making. They're not just performing singles, they're creating a character and that character is operating inside a world and the visuals that you're seeing are built inside that world," Bickham says. "Some people think they want endless possibilities, but it's important to have someone like Billie define what the parameters are and give us that thing that we can color inside the lines of, and help extend and build that world."
Reimagining The Concert Film
Amid the rollout of Vevo performances, Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter To Los Angeles arrived in September. The hour-long special brought more stunning live performances, doubling as a tribute to Eilish's hometown. Filmed over a week at the Hollywood Bowl, Love Letter reconfigures the typical concert film formula — particularly thanks to her 2D animated avatar, which threads a visual storyline through the streets of California.
When Eilish first approached animator Patrick Osborne and filmmaker Robert Rodriguez to co-direct the Disney+ feature, she — in very Billie fashion — had a specific vision for how the film would look.
"The first interaction we had, she was sending all of these reference images of blonde animated characters from '80s cartoons," Obsorne explains, recalling Ralph Bakshi and Jessica Rabbit-esque sources of inspiration. "Billie, from the beginning, [wanted to have] an animated alter-ego version of herself that was kind of idealized and something she isn't."
Working under a tight deadline, animators in London, Los Angeles and Sydney created a landscape for the blonde avatar to explore Eilish's hometown. The avatar has freedom that the real Eilish lacks, though billboards promoting Happier Than Ever appear throughout, reinforcing the ironclad inescapability of fame.
During "Not My Responsibility," Eilish tackles the conversation surrounding her body, while the avatar's silhouette saunters through shallow waters. She drives through rare traffic-less streets in a top-down convertible, making pit stops to take in the city from the rooftop of the Roosevelt Hotel and to dine alone at a quaint restaurant. Later, she arrives at a movie premiere under the shine of flashing lights. The avatar detours through Echo Park and Highland Park (the singer's longtime home until stalkers and security breaches made relocation imperative) before arriving at the Hollywood Bowl.
"If I was to dig into the psychology of the animated character, these '80s animated characters that she's referencing are really idealized from a male perspective," Osborne says, calling back to Eilish championing bodily autonomy and desire on Happier Than Ever itself.
"She has such a cool aesthetic eye that certain things feel like her," he adds. "She had an angle on this and that, then it was up to me and Robert to shape it into some kind of achievable story."
Capturing A Precious Moment In Time
The unrestricted adventures of Eilish's 2D avatar are a call back to life before When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? and the massive influx of notoriety that followed. Having captured that moment in The World's A Little Blurry, R.J. Cutler recalls a recent conversation with Eilish's mother, Maggie Baird, about the change.
"Maggie said to me recently that she didn't expect that this would be one of the reasons she is so grateful for the film," he says. "But she now recognizes that it captured a moment in their lives that in some instances no longer exists."
At the pinnacle moment in A Love Letter to Los Angeles, the 2D character appears as the venue's sole audience. She watches the real Eilish perform an exceptional record of their shared experiences, backed by Finneas, the Los Angeles Children's Chorus, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, guitarist Romero Lubambo and drummer Andrew Marshall. The artist's ongoing theme of solitude, and the autonomy found within that, reaches a pointed height and speaks to the one consistency between where Eilish has been and where she's headed: herself.
"These films are a dialogue between the moment that they capture, and the moment that they're viewed," Cutler adds, noting the comparison between the 16-year-old girl in the Apple TV+ documentary and the now 20-year-old GRAMMY-winning musician currently embarking on a sold-out international arena tour.
By presenting the complex emotions of change in a tangible form, Eilish has constructed a living gallery of artistic growth. Surely she'll continue to evolve, but her Happier Than Ever era will always serve as an important statement piece of where she's been and where she's going — with her artistic identity at its center.
Smooth Like "Butter": How BTS' GRAMMY-Nominated Mega Hit Came To Be
Colombian singer Shakira performs with Argentine record producer and songwriter Bizarrap on the Sahara Stage during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California, on April 12, 2024
Photo: VALERIE MACON / AFP) (Photo by VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images
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Coachella 2024 Weekend 1 Recap: 20 Surprises And Special Moments, From Billie Eilish & Lana Del Rey To Olivia Rodrigo With No Doubt
Weekend 1 of Coachella 2024 is a wrap, and the internet can’t stop talking about it. Here are 20 surprises and special moments from Coachella so far, including inspired team-ups, wackadoo moments in the clutch, and much more.
GRAMMYs/Apr 15, 2024 - 09:11 pm
It may be hard to believe, but Weekend 1 of Coachella 2024 is already over. Clearly, time flies when you’re having fun — particularly when beholding the world’s leading artists, convened in the Indio desert in California.
If you weren’t there, the festival was filmed, of course. You can enjoy Coachella from the comfort of your own home, sans-sunburn, undrenched with champagne.
As you survey Coachella’s sold-out first weekend, read on for 20 performances, debuts and moments that surprised and touched us from Coachella Weekend 1.
Lana Del Rey's Headlining Set Brought Out GRAMMY Winners Billie Eilish, Jon Batiste & Jack Antonoff
After rolling deep up to her desert set on a fleet of motorcycles for her Friday performance, Lana Del Rey infused her iconic sad-girl pop persona into every facet of her Gatsby-esque performance.
Her headlining set also included some special GRAMMY-winning guests: Jon Batiste and 2024 Producer Of The YearJack Antonoff both accompanied on piano, while Billie Eilish joined her idol on stage for duet performances of "Ocean Eyes" and "Video Games." Sharing a moment with her hero on stage at the end of the set, Eilish declared, "This is the reason for half you bitches’ existence, including mine.”
Tyler, The Creator Brings Out Childish Gambino, A$AP Rocky, Kali Uchis and Charlie Wilson
Saturday's main stage event kicked off with a ruckus 80-minute set by creative magnet Tyler, The Creator, who transformed the stage into an ever-changing desert scene to host fellow performers.
First up, Childish Gambino hit the stage to perform a duet of "Running Out of Time," before A$AP Rocky joined for a performance of two tracks, "Potato Salad" and "Who Dat Boy."
Tyler admitted he once saw both as rivals, but now considers them friends. Kali Uchis also returned to the desert stage with Tyler for a quick appearance as well as legendary singer/songwriter Charlie Wilson, who made an unexpected appearance to accompany Tyler on a laid-back version of "EARFQUAKE."
No Doubt Made Their Grand Re-Entrance (With Olivia Rodrigo!)
Social media is currently abuzz at the allegedly unresponsive audience for Blur — but what’s a viral, out-of-context clip supposed to prove, anyway? Whatever the case may be, after their rollicking set, Damon Albarn and company declared that the Britpop icons were entering another hiatus.
Bizarrap Brought Out Shakira
Mega-watt Argentine producer Bizarrap brought his BZRP Music Sessions to the Coachella stage and included a surprise appearance from superstar Shakira.
Shakira and Bizarrap won the Latin GRAMMY for Song Of The Year at the 2023 Latin GRAMMYs for "Shakira: Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53," a featured track on her fresh-out-the-trap album, Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran.
Billie Eilish Threw A Special “Billie & Friends” Party & Hyped Up The Crowd With The Killers’ “Mr. Brightside”
After surprising fans during Lana Del Rey's Friday set, Billie Eilish treated fans and special guests to a preview of her new album, Hit Me Hard and Soft at the Do LaB Stage on Saturday night.
The previewed songs were well-received by an enthusiastic set of attendees who were introduced to yet-to-debut tracks "“Lunch,” "L’Amour De Ma Vie," and "Chihiro."
"Yo Gabba Gabba!" Showed Up To The Aquabats’ Pool Party
Christian Jacobs, lead singer of the Aquabats, co-created the "Yo Gabba Gabba!" TV show — and the colorful cast of costumed characters showed up to their pool party! This marks yet another example of ska picking up at Coachella — see the transcendent No Doubt and Sublime performances.
Sublime Made Their Coachella Debut With Jakob Nowell
As you may have read, Sublime are back, against the odds — not with Rome, but with Jakob Nowell, original Sublime frontman Bradley’s son. (It must be said: Bradley died at 28, ending the band’s original run; as he takes the guitar and mic, Jakob himself is 28.)
Speaking of the guitar — he wielded his old man’s, in an emotional and electrifying set that proved these songs’ durability and beyond.
Vampire Weekend Brought Paris Hilton Onstage To Play Cornhole
Dance/electronic sensation Dom Dolla returned to Coachella for a charged set featuring festival first-timer Nelly Furtado who joined to perform their GRAMMY-nominated track, "Eat Your Man."
Furtado gave her all during the rousing performance, a testament to the duo's synergy after Dom Dolla brought the singer out of a six year hiatus to work together on the song.
Sky Ferreira Made A Surprise Appearance With Kevin Abstract
If Sky Ferreira seems like an unlikely candidate to belt out a Lady A hit, think again. The singer/songwriter brought newfound heft to the five-time GRAMMY winners’ classic hit, “Need You Now,” with Kevin Abstract.
Does this foreshadow a reappraisal of the country mainstays’ catalog? Once the dust settles re: the ska revival, we’ll have that conversation.
Kesha Showed Up To Rock With Reneé Rapp (And Diss A Certain Disgraced Rapper)
Autumn Rowe at the 2023 GRAMMYs.Photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
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Where Do You Keep Your GRAMMY?: Autumn Rowe Revisits Her Unexpected Album Of The Year Win With Jon Batiste
Acclaimed songwriter Autumn Rowe reveals the inspirational location where her Album Of The Year golden gramophone resides, and details the "really funny way" she first met Jon Batiste.
GRAMMYs/Apr 10, 2024 - 08:33 pmEver since Autumn Rowe won a GRAMMY in 2022, it's been her biggest motivation. That's why the musical multi-hyphenate keeps the award nestled in her writing room — to keep her creative juices flowing.
"It reminds me that anything is possible," she says in the latest episode of Where Do You Keep Your GRAMMY?
Rowe won her first-ever career GRAMMY in 2022 with an Album Of The Year award for Jon Batiste's We Are. "It was very stressful," she recalls with a laugh.
"Right before they announced Album Of The Year, the pressure started getting to me," Rowe explains. "Album Of The Year is the biggest possible award you can win. So, I'm like, 'We didn't win any of these [categories], how are we going to win the biggest award?"
The win also taught her one unforgettable, valuable lesson: "We matter. The music matters. Everything matters. We just have to create it. If there isn't space for it, we have to make space for it. Don't wait for something to open."
Rowe says she grew up "super dirt poor" and never even had the opportunity to watch the awards ceremony on television. "To be a GRAMMY winner means it is possible for everyone," she declares.
Press play on the video above to learn more about the backstory of Autumn Rowe's Album Of The Year award, and remember to check back to GRAMMY.com for more new episodes of Where Do You Keep Your GRAMMY?
Billie EilishPhoto: William Drumm
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Billie Eilish's New Album 'Hit Me Hard And Soft': Everything We Know About Release Date, Close Friends Campaign & A More Eco-Friendly Release
On May 17, Billie Eilish will release her third studio album with brother Finneas — a release that emphasizes sustainability. Read on for everything about 'HIT ME HARD AND SOFT,' from the singer's eco-conscious production to innovative cover art.
GRAMMYs/Apr 8, 2024 - 10:20 pmBillie Eilish has announced her third studio album, HIT ME HARD AND SOFT out May 17.
Fresh off a sweeping set of award wins for Song Of The Year and Best Song Written For Visual Media at the 2024 GRAMMYs and Best Original Song at the Oscars for her hit single, "What Was I Made For?" from the Barbie soundtrack, Eilish is swapping Barbie pink for submerged shades of blue.
Her new album, another collaboration with brother Finneas, comes almost three years after her sophomore effort, 2021's Happier Than Ever.
Ahead of the official press announcement and Instagram post on Monday, Eilish unleashed a viral ad campaign teasing the release. Billboards featuring the nine-time GRAMMY winner's "blohsh" symbol (a genderless human stick figure) with what fans guessed were cryptic lyrics, appeared in blue font on a black background across major cities, including Los Angeles and New York City's Times Square. Then, Eilish changed her social media icons to a shade of blue and treated Instagram followers to some more mystifying visual content via a set of story posts that included her millions of fans being added to Close Friends on the app.
That strategy paid off, exploding the number of followers Eilish counts on the platform to over 120 million (up from 110 million on Friday) in the span of just three days. One fan summed up the collective rush to join the inner circle with a comment that's racked up over 10,000 likes: "Not a big deal but I’m on her close friends."
As she dives into deeper artistic waters with her third album, Billie Eilish continues to push the boundaries of music and environmental activism, blending her unique sound with a strong commitment to sustainability. Read on for everything GRAMMY.com has unearthed about Eilish's upcoming release.
There Won't Be Any Pre-Released Singles
Fans hoping for an early taste of what's to come will have to wait almost a full month to quench their thirst for any new music.
Eilish confirmed via Instagram that the album will drop in full, without any pre-released singles. “So crazy to be writing this right now i’m nervyyyyy & exciteddd," Eilish wrote. Continuing, "Not doing singles i wanna give it to you all at once. Finneas and i truly could not be more proud of this album and we absolutely can’t wait for you to hear it. Love you love you love you.”
The Track List is ‘Spirited Away’
On April 18, Eilish posted the full tracklist for Hit Me Hard And Soft on her Instagram in a post that lists 10 tracks including one named "CHIHIRO," a title borrowed from the Japanese animated film Spirited Away.
Eilish teased a 15-second snippet of the track in a recent interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music which included Eilish softly singing, “Today, maybe tomorrow/ Open the door for me/ I know you said before/ You can’t cope with it no more.”
In the same interview with Apple Music, Eilish noted that she and brother Finneas created the album as if no one would ever hear it. "We kind of made the album that if somebody had said, ‘I want you to make an album and no one is going to hear it. You don’t have to worry about anyone’s ears or opinions or anything at all. It’s in your contract to make an album but no one can hear it,’ Eilish told Lowe. "We pretty much made that album. We made that album without much thought of other people.” Watch the full interview below.
It's Her Most Daring Work To Date
The album is set to debut in a year poised to feature some of the most significant releases from major musicians, each exploring and redefining genre boundaries, trends, and soundscapes.
"HIT ME HARD AND SOFT is a diverse yet cohesive collection of songs, ideally listened to in its entirety from beginning to end," a press release accompanying the announcement stated. "The album does exactly as the title suggests: hits you hard and soft both lyrically and sonically while bending genres and defying trends along the way."
The Cover Art Is Haunting
The cover art is elusive and mysterious, featuring a dark and moody image of Eilish that matches statements about her plunging to new depths as an artist. Dressed head-to-toe in dark colors, she is depicted sinking into the depths of a body of water, beneath a stark white door floating at the surface.
The cover art tracks against the statements in the press release that note, "HIT ME HARD AND SOFT journeys through a vast and expansive audio landscape, immersing listeners into a full spectrum of emotions."
The Release Is Focused On Sustainability
Eilish is hoping to turn the power of her fans into a force for good — her latest album hopes to set a new standard for eco-conscious music production with sustainability baked into the production of CD, cassette, and vinyl releases.
In an interview with Billboard Eilish said, "The fact that I have a far bigger audience and platform than I’ve ever had in my life means I can reach that many more people, and that’s such a huge responsibility and privilege to have." She continued, “If I don’t use that privilege to do some good in the world, then what’s the point?"
According to a new sustainability page on her website, fans can anticipate eight distinct vinyl variants, each unified in track-listing but varied in their sustainable creation. Available through her website and major retailers, the standard black vinyl is crafted entirely from recycled materials. The other seven vibrant variants use ECO-MIX, which repurposes leftover vinyl pieces, or BioVinyl, reducing carbon emissions by 90 percent with ingredients like used cooking oil. The packaging itself is also focused on environmental responsibility, featuring certified recycled content and plant-based ink.
On building more sustainable processes into her album release as a major artist, Eilish told Billboard, “I can’t just ignore what I know and go about my business and career and not do something. That’s just not how I was raised, or how I want to live my life."
Watch Billie Eilish & FINNEAS’ 2024 GRAMMYs Red Carpet Interview
Finneas O'Connell and Billie Eilish show off their Oscar awards for Best Original Song for 'What Was I Made For?' from 'Barbie'' at the 96th Annual Academy Awards in Hollywood.Photo: Arturo Holmes/Getty Images
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2024 Oscars: Billie Eilish and FINNEAS Win Best Original Song For "What Was I Made For?" From The Motion Picture 'Barbie'
The duo's win for "What Was I Made For?" [From The Motion Picture 'Barbie'] marks the second Oscar win for Billie Eilish and FINNEAS, making Eilish the youngest two-time Oscar winner ever.
GRAMMYs/Mar 11, 2024 - 02:23 amSibling duo Billie Eilish and FINNEAS are taking home more awards "What Was I Made For" [From The Motion Picture *Barbie*], this time at the 2024 Oscars, winning the prestigious Best Original Song award for their heartfelt ballad.
Once again, they've proven their unparalleled talent crosses effortlessly between the realms of music and film. Billie Eilish and Finneas won their first Oscar in 2022 for Best Original Song with "No Time to Die," the theme for the James Bond film of the same name.
Fittingly, the award was presented by two GRAMMY-winning musical performers, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, who star as Glinda and Elphaba in the Wizard of Oz big screen adaptation of the musical Wicked, premiering on the silver screen later this year.
2024 Oscars: Watch Performances & Highlights
Eilish, who admitted to having a nightmare the night before receiving the award, burst into laughs before thanking the Academy and Barbie director Greta Gerwig, "Thank you to Greta, where did you go? I love you. Thank you for this. I'm so grateful for this song and this movie and the way that it made me feel."
The pair contended for the award against a diverse group of nominees: Diane Warren with "The Fire Inside" from "Flamin' Hot," Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt for "I'm Just Ken" also from Barbie, Jon Batiste and Dan Wilson with "It Never Went Away" from American Symphony, and Scott George for "Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)" from Killers of the Flower Moon.
Ahead of the win, Eilish and O'Connell gave a stirring paired back performance that highlighted their power as a pair.
"What Was I Made For?" captivated audiences and critics alike with its poignant lyrics and emotive composition, underscoring the siblings' ability to tap into universal feelings of identity and purpose.
This Oscar win is a significant milestone for both artists, reinforcing their status as multifaceted talents capable of storytelling that resonates across different mediums. At the 2024 GRAMMYs, they had already made waves with the same song, winning Song Of The Year and Best Song Written For Visual Media.
Eilish and Finneas's journey from the music studios to the glitz of the Oscar stage is a testament to their hard work, creativity, and the deep connection they share as siblings. Their ability to collaborate and push the boundaries of music, now recognized by both the Recording Academy and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, sets a high bar for artists striving to make their mark across multiple industries.
Eilish and FINNEAS are not just a powerful duo in music but also formidable talents in film music composition. Their Oscar victory tonight is not just a win for them but a win for the incredible synergy between music and storytelling in cinema.
