Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell (born December 18, 2001), known mononymously as Billie Eilish, is an American singer and songwriter. Her debut single, "Ocean Eyes", went viral and has amassed over 132 million streams on Spotify alone as of October 2019. She released her debut EP, Don't Smile at Me (2017), followed by her debut studio album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (2019). The latter debuted atop the Billboard 200, making her the youngest female artist to ever achieve a US number-one album.
Eilish's singles "When the Party's Over", "Bellyache", and "Idontwannabeyouanymore" have all been certified platinum in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In 2018, she won an MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist and two American Music Awards for Favorite Artist – Alternative Rock and Favorite Album – Alternative Rock. Her song "lovely" with Khalid was nominated for five Grammy Awards at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards, winning two: Song of the Year and Record of the Year.
Eilish was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, to Maggie Baird and Patrick O'Connell. Her mother is a former actress who has appeared in small roles on television shows such as The King of Queens, Parks and Recreation, and Fear the Walking Dead. Her father is an alternative rock musician who has released several albums with his band The Raging Honkies. She has two older siblings: Finneas, her brother and collaborator, and a younger brother named Kieran. Eilish was homeschooled for most of her education; she began learning to play the ukulele at age four and took up piano a year later. At age eleven, she wrote the song "Ocean Eyes", which was originally intended for one of her dance projects. However, after her brother Finneas added production elements to it and uploaded it onto SoundCloud in 2016 without Eilish's knowledge, it began to gain popularity. Eilish has Irish, Scottish, and English ancestry.
In 2016, Eilish posted the song "Ocean Eyes" to SoundCloud, where it was discovered by her then-manager Daniel Dauplaise. The song was written by Eilish and produced by her brother Finneas O'Connell. It went viral on the platform, accumulating over a million plays within two months of its upload. In response to its popularity, Eilish and her family decided to pursue a career in music. Ocean Eyes was subsequently included on several Spotify playlists, and was eventually picked up by the American fashion brand ModCloth for use in a national ad campaign.
In early 2017, Eilish signed with Interscope Records. She released her debut EP, Don't Smile at Me, on August 11, 2017. The EP peaked at number 14 on the US Billboard 200, and received generally positive reviews from music critics. writing for Pitchfork, Sasha Geffen praised Eilish's "startlingly assured vocal performance" and said that the EP "announces a new artist of immense talent and potential". Later that year, Eilish embarked on her first headlining concert tour, where she performed in North America, Europe, and Australia.
Eilish's popularity continued to grow in 2018. In February, she released the song "Bellyache", which peaked at number 55 on the Billboard Hot 100. In March, she performed at the South by Southwest music festival. In April, she released the single "Watch", which debuted at number 79 on the UK Singles Chart. In May, she released a collaboration with American singer Khalid, titled "lovely". The song peaked at number 45 on the Billboard Hot 100, and was later certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
On March 29, 2019, Eilish released her debut studio album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, and received positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 86, based on 22 reviews. Reviewing the album for Pitchfork, Lauren Jauregui wrote that it "isn't just good—it's impressive", and praised Eilish for her "startling vocal maturity". The album was also nominated for Album of the Year at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards.
This album also featured "Bad Guy" as the lead single. The song debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, making Eilish the first artist born in the 2000s to top the chart. "Bad Guy" spent three non-consecutive weeks at number one on the Hot 100, and was later certified diamond by the RIAA. The song also won two Grammy Awards: Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical and Record of the Year.
Eilish's success continued with the release of her second single, "all the good girls go to hell", which debuted at number 11 on the Hot 100. She then released two more singles from the album: "everything i wanted" and "my future". The former peaked at number eight on the Hot 100, while the latter debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, making Eilish the first artist born in the 2000s to debut a song at number one on that chart.
Eilish's success has continued into 2020. In January, she won four Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist, Record of the Year, and Album of the Year. In February, she performed at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards. In March, she released the single "No Time to Die", which is the theme song for the upcoming James Bond film of the same name.
Eilish has achieved widespread critical and commercial success. She is one of the most popular music artists in the world, and her songs have been streamed billions of times. She has won numerous awards, including five Grammy Awards and one Brit Award. In 2019, she was included on Time's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
