Finneas is perhaps best-known as the sole producer and collaborator of the music his super star sister, Bille Eilish, makes. But, he’s already branched out to producing and collaborating with other artists in the meantime, and this fall he’s releasing a solo album of his own, Optimist, and in anticipation of that NME did a cover story focusing on what’s been going on in his life lately. The piece is a great feature, running down some of the success that he and Billie have had together in their not one but two albums released in as many years, along with other surreal moments like winning a host of Grammys or performing “Fix You” with Coldplay.
Though he’s committed to his own solo work, and obviously his collaborations with Billie, Finneas said he considers himself in service of the artist and their sound when he’s enlisted by another musician to help out. “I’m still passionate and opinionated and I make sure they know what I think,” he told NME. “That, at the end of the day, is part of the reason I get hired – hopefully people trust me.”
But no matter what, there’s nothing like the connection he has with Billie. “I don’t know that anything could get [as] strong as our creative bond,” he explained. “I like working with anyone that you could list that I’ve worked with. I haven’t had a terrible experience working with anybody. But I think just the intimacy of a relationship with a sibling is impossible to replicate or duplicate.”
Read the whole cover story here and look out for Optimist dropping October 15.