Billie Eilish has spent her life surrounded by musicality and influence. Her older brother Finneas works alongside her to create the music she is known for, and her parents are both actors and musicians. He provided a safe space for Eilish’s artistic side to flourish.
Since being homeschooled, Eilish has also spent many years learning all sorts of extracurricular skills she could focus on, like dance and aerial arts. Suffice to say, Eilish had a lot of interesting influences all around her.
Even though Billie Eilish is young and has many influences from her youth that still have a part in her musicianship and style, Billie Eilish is no stranger to working alongside contemporaries she respects and admires – or those who also look. Take The 1975 for example. She says of their lead singer Matt Healy: “I’ve seen them live several times. I love Matty Healy. I met him last year, which was amazing. He’s… ugh, God, I love them. And this song is just beautiful, and I feel like there’s almost no other song that talks about what this song is about.
Some of her other favorite contemporaries are Nicki Minaj, Marina and the Diamonds, and Lana Del Rey. She says of Marina, “She was my favorite artist for years and years and years, and all of her albums, I just… I know all the lyrics to this whole album and I love her next three albums or whatever. whatever – all his albums from then on – I know them all.
However, it seems there’s one artist Eilish has been keeping her eye on lately, and it’s none other than James Blake. The English singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist is known for his chilling, unique voice and haunting songwriting prowess. Recently it was included on the Euphoria soundtrack and released a song with SZA.
Eilish raves about his music and performances, even calling him “a god.” She goes on to describe when she saw him live: “He did a tour where he just played the piano and nothing else, and sang. And it was amazing. It was truly breathtaking. If other artists had done that, I would have been bored, and because it was James Blake, it was so perfect.
Plus, Blake actually covered one of his songs. When he did his rendition of his ballad, “when the party’s over,” Eilish said she “was crying the whole time.”
It’s amazing that Billie Eilish can not only inspire others with her music, but that it’s a collaborative relationship where other artists can do the same. If you want to listen to James Blake’s cover of “When the Party’s Over” by Billie Eilish, you can listen below.
