artist page

FINNEAS
Finneas Baird O'Connell (born July 30, 1997), known mononymously as Finneas , is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actor. He has written and produced music for various artists, including his sister, Billie Eilish . He has won eight Grammy Awards , including Album of the Year , Producer of the Year, Non-Classical and the Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical for his work on Eilish's debut album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (2019).
Finneas has released several singles as a solo artist, and his debut EP, Blood Harmony , was released in October 2019. The EP includes " Let's Fall in Love for the Night ", his most successful song to date, peaking at number 17 on the US Billboard Alternative Songs chart. His debut studio album Optimist was released through Interscope Records on October 15, 2021.
Finneas starred in the 2013 independent film Life Inside Out . He is also known for his role as Alistair in the Fox musical comedy-drama series Glee . He has also made an appearance on the American sitcom Modern Family .
Finneas was born in Los Angeles to actress and screenwriter Maggie Baird and actor Patrick O'Connell, both of whom are also musicians. Finneas is of Irish and Scottish descent. In 2010, at age 12, he took a songwriting class with his mother, and began writing and producing songs.
Finneas has said his experience playing characters helped with writing music for his sister Billie Eilish , as he writes from her perspective and for her vocal range. He stated: "Being able to hear an artist and emulate them has been a huge part of being successful as a producer and co-writer". When he writes for his sister, he wants to "write a song that I think she'll relate to and enjoy singing and empathise with the lyrics and make her own", and when he writes with her he tries to "help her tell whatever story she's trying to tell, bounce ideas off of her, listen to her ideas."
Similarly to other artists, if you're writing and you know that someone else's voice is going to be the voice telling the story, it should be a language that fits them. ... Everybody has a different vocabulary, a different way of putting sentences together, and the easiest way to tell if a song wasn't written by someone is if it doesn't fit their vernacular, so I try to match whatever I'm helping them make to whoever they seem to be. A lot of that also ... is asking an artist how they feel about it. If you come up with a line, even if an artist really likes it and is like 'That's a really cool line,' it's like 'Yeah, but can you wear it? Is it a thing you’d feel comfortable with singing every time?'
Finneas had written and produced his song " Ocean Eyes " originally for his band, and gave it to Eilish when her dance teacher asked them to write a song for a choreography. They posted the song on SoundCloud , garnering praise from various websites. Finneas's manager reached out to him in November 2015 to talk about Eilish's potential. Finneas then helped Eilish sign to the A&R company Platoon. He co-wrote and produced Eilish's debut EP Don't Smile at Me (2017), which peaked at number 14 on the US Billboard 200 . Finneas also co-wrote and produced Eilish's debut studio album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (2019), which debuted atop the US and UK charts. He won the 2020 Grammy Awards for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical ; Record of the Year and Song of the Year for Eilish's " Bad Guy "; and Album of the Year and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical for When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
He has also been known to work with Grammy winners the Coutinho twins. He produced the 2019 single " Lose You to Love Me " by Selena Gomez , which peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 , and two tracks on the 2019 album Romance by Camila Cabello . He also produced " Moral of the Story " by Ashe , and collaborated with John Legend on an unreleased song. O'Connell composed the score for the 2021 teen drama film The Fallout .