When Finneas O'Connell was in high school, he wrote a song called Ocean Eyes for his pop-rock band the Slightlys. O'Connell felt like the song didn't quite work for his voice, later describing it as sounding like a terrible cover of a Soundgarden song. He asked his sister to try singing on it, and the two were happy enough with the result that they uploaded it to SoundCloud, primarily as a way to share the song with his sister's dance teacher. The song got picked up by Hillydilly, a music discovery platform, and when the siblings woke up the next morning, the song had started to go viral. It wouldn't be long before everyone in the pop world would know his sister's name: Billie Eilish.
This was just one of many stories and career tips that O'Connell shared with students at a recent Q&A in a standing-room-only Red Room at Cafe 939. The event was organized by the Career Center and moderated by Amanda Samii 09, who majored in music business/management before launching her career at music publishing company, Kobalt Music, where she serves as vice creative director.
Read More
Earlier in her visit, Amanda Samii from Kobalt Music took time to hear song pitches from Berklee students. Over the course of two hours, O'Connell was a constant fount of the kind of wisdom you'd expect from an industry veteran, not a 22-year old, discussing topics ranging from songwriting-both for his solo work and in collaboration with Eilish-to life on the road, to finding the perfect piano sound. He even brought along the original stems to Bad Guy, his and Eilish's first Billboard Hot 100 no. 1 song. The following quotes have been excerpted from that lively conversation.
On Writer's Block and Writing on the Road O'Connell recorded his debut solo EP, Blood Harmony, under the moniker FINNEAS, amidst an intense touring schedule supporting Eilish's debut album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? Many songwriters will share how difficult it is to write meaningfully while on tour, but O'Connell came up with a simple recording rig that he could bring anywhere:
I'm definitely the happiest when I find time to [write songs], and one of those ways is to be completely mobile. I had a studio built that lives in a road case that I can wheel around in all my green rooms, and that's how I was able to do the Blood Harmony EP while I was on tour.
It's always been really important to find a way to carve out time, no matter how busy I am, to write a song about whatever happened to me and what I'm going through.
Despite his rolling setup, he's not immune to writer's block-he just doesn't let it bog him down:
There have been plenty of days where I've not thought of any particularly good ideas. The longer I'm alive, the more I try to put less pressure on those days. I've never been angry at myself and had that lead to a great song.
On Writing Bad Guy For Billie Eilish's first chart-topping single-which made her the first person born in this century to nab that number one spot-O'Connell explained that the initial spark of inspiration came from Eilish playing around with a beat in their family's small L.A. home, back when she was just learning the production ropes.
She made that [beat] and had her speakers in her vanity set, like with her makeup and sh*t, and the whole room was like [makes whooshing sound]. When you don't fully understand what you're doing, you make the coolest stuff, because [the volume] was all in the red, but it sounded awesome.
That [initial beat] was back in 2017, and then it just sat around. It was one of those songs where it was like, I don't know how to write the rest of a song that could live up to that beat.' A year later, I had this bass line and it was clear that we were writing the rest of that song [All the later production additions] were just a way to try to mimic the energy that playing it in this tiny bedroom way too loud had.
On That Bedroom Feel' In many ways, it's that bedroom sound that Finneas and Eilish are being credited with bringing to the mainstream. While that's often understood as a DIY aesthetic, for O'Connell, it runs deeper than that-it's about the sounds of your youth, and, unsurprisingly, about family. Here, he talks about his preference for the sound of a beat-up piano, versus a high-end baby grand:
I grew up with my grandfather's super old, super beat-up upright piano in my bedroom. I love that sound, and I think, if you're a pianist, and you grew up with a piano in your house, I think that's how you think a piano sounds. So that sound is how a piano sounds to me-cloudy and soft. When I hear an incredible Bosendorf or grand, it doesn't sound right to me.
After the initial blow-up success of Ocean Eyes in 2016, O'Connell and Eilish had the chance to work with megastar producers. And yet, the pair thought the songs weren't landing in the territory they wanted to be in. For OConnell, creation is ultimately about having the freedom create on your own terms. For some reason, the chemistry that Billie and I have together when we make music is very unsupervised.' And that's probably the best recommendation I can give for home recording, is being unwatched.
Related categories:
News
Most Popular
How Shoegaze Lived, Died, and Came Back to Influence a New Generation If you like Coldplay, Beach House, or even the 1975, then you probably like shoegaze-even if you didnt know it.
Latest
Shake the Vanity: How FINNEAS Took Pop by Storm from a Bedroom The wunderkind producer and songwriter discussed his sold-out solo tour, songwriting, and what its like collaborating with his sister, Billie Eilish.
American Oud Player Aliya Cycon Explores the Music of Andaluc a in New
Most recent headlines
04/08/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, is excited to announce Santiago Solanas as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO)....
03/06/2024
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, a...
28/04/2024
Mediahaus delivers the first SRT live-streaming sports production over 5G with U...
27/04/2024
PORTLAND, Oregon Audinate Group Limited, the developer of the Dante AV-over-IP solution, announced significant new additions to Dante Connect, its cloud-based D...
27/04/2024
TORONTO Bell Media has launched 10 English and French-language FAST channels featuring entertainment, factual, news, and sports programming. The new free stream...
27/04/2024
An extensive new analysis of the news segments in the broadcast evening news programs of ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS has found that broadcasters devoted most of their...
27/04/2024
GERMANTOWN, Md. EchoStar's Hughes Network Systems has opened a new manufacturing facility and private 5G incubation center in Germantown, Maryland....
27/04/2024
Harry Pappas, one of three brothers who founded Pappas Telecasting Companies in 1971, died April 24. He was 78 years old....
27/04/2024
ATLANTA and LONDON Mexican telecommunications and broadcast company Televisa has selected Synamedia for an overhaul of its broadcast distribution....
27/04/2024
Participate in the Survey - The Impact of AI on Media and the Creative Industry
Pascal Wagner April 26, 2024
0 Comments
By participating in this surve...
27/04/2024
SDVI Rally Access Workstation Earns Two Top Awards at 2024 NAB Show
Brie Clayton April 26, 2024
0 Comments
SDVI, the leading platform provider for clo...
27/04/2024
Berklee's Music and Health Institute Launches Community Health Musician Cert...
27/04/2024
Charter Communications reported higher first-quarter profits despite continued cord-cutting and competition for broadband customers....
27/04/2024
Two environmentally-focused groups are partnering to engage the unscripted TV world in finding better ways to address climate change. Reality of Change is an ec...
27/04/2024
Sarah Garcia has been promoted to weekend anchor at KTLM McAllen, Texas, known as Telemundo 40. Starting April 27, she will anchor Noticias Telemundo 40 weekend...
27/04/2024
CBS Sports said it launched a new 24-hour free, ad supported streaming television (FAST) channel devoted to the UEFA Champions League....
27/04/2024
Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts received $35.4 million in compensation in 2023, up 11% from the previous year, according to a proxy statement filed by th...
27/04/2024
Art Happens Here With John Lithgow, which sees the actor study dance, ceramics, silk-screen printing and vocal jazz with students in Los Angeles, debuts on PBS ...
27/04/2024
Remember Leave It to Beaver? Bewitched? Dragnet? When cable ratings were rising?...
27/04/2024
Next up for the weekend binge at Catchy Comedy is Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. Every weekend, Catchy Comedy features The Catchy Binge, a marathon of a classic sitcom....
26/04/2024
Sundance Film Festival CDMX 2024 kicks-off today with screenings in 5 theaters in Mexico City and the opening-night film, FRIDA, directed by Carla Guti rrez...
26/04/2024
[Editor's Note: This interview is part of a larger feature about the women d...
26/04/2024
Once again this year, SGL Carbon opened its doors to interested children and young people. On the occasion of the German Girls and Boys Day, which took place on...
26/04/2024
Orders1 of $5.5 billion; book-to-bill of 1.06x
Revenue of $5.2 billion, up 17%,...
26/04/2024
Five Considerations For Communications Modernization In The 21st Century
In the digital-enabled battlespace, the Joint Force needs to shoot, move and communica...
26/04/2024
CBS Sports has launched Champions League as a new, 24-hour streaming channel that will serve as the year-round destination for nonstop highlights of the UEFA ...
26/04/2024
Despite tough competition in the streaming space, Roku reported solid results in Q1 2024, beating revenue expectations, with total net revenue up 19% YoY to $88...
26/04/2024
LONDON AND TORONTO Pinewood Toronto Studios has appointed Sarah Farrell as general manager of the Studios in downtown Toronto....
26/04/2024
Quantum to Offer Advanced Filesharing Technology and Performance in StorNext and...
26/04/2024
FilmLight Colour Awards welcomes 2024 entries and introduces new Emerging Talen...
26/04/2024
Picture Shop Announces Chris Evans as Head of Unscripted
Brie Clayton April 26, 2024
0 Comments
Picture Shop announced Chris Evans will lead Unscripte...
26/04/2024
Participate in a Survey - The Impact of AI on Media and the Creative Industry
Pascal Wagner April 26, 2024
0 Comments
By participating in this survey,...
26/04/2024
Toy maker Mattel said it is working with Samsung to launch its first free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channels later this year....
26/04/2024
Trusted Media Brands (TMB) said it named Marty Moe as president....
26/04/2024
Ron Howard is the director on Jim Henson Idea Man, a documentary that premieres on Disney Plus May 31. Henson of course created Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Big...
26/04/2024
The ice continues to melt under the regional sports network business as the Seattle Kraken of the National Hockey League have made a long-term deal to broadcast...
26/04/2024
Heading into the upfronts, Warner Bros. Discovery said it launched Olli, a first-party data platform advertiser can use for converged, targeted advertising camp...
26/04/2024
CBS has renewed the drama The Equalizer, which will see season five on in 2024-2025. Queen Latifah stars....
26/04/2024
The CW has entered into an exclusive multiyear broadcast partnership for the Miss USA Pageant and the Miss Teen USA Pageant. The 73rd Miss USA Pageant will air ...
26/04/2024
Fuse Media isn't mincing words in a campaign urging its young viewers to register and participate in the 2024 elections....
26/04/2024
Dead Boy Detectives, a series from Neil Gaiman about a detective agency staffed by ghosts, debuts on Netflix April 25. George Rexstrew and Jayden Revri are in t...
26/04/2024
The Story Collective has gradually repurposed the former Mortlake Brewery to include production offices, workshops and sound stages
By Matthew Corrigan
Publi...
26/04/2024
Perkett joins the company following a 25 year career in product management, product marketing, engineering and user experience (UX) across multiple industries
...
26/04/2024
Teradek, the industry leader in wireless video transmitters and receivers, announced today the launch of new Bolt 6 LT 750 and Bolt 6 Monitor Module 750 RX with...
26/04/2024
NEW YORK Amagi has appointed Richard Perkett chief product officer (CPO)....
26/04/2024
WASHINGTON, D.C. The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) has announced the results of the 2024 NAB Radio and Television Board of Directors elections. The...
26/04/2024
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. & NEW YORK Mattel has announced a deal to launch its first three 24/7 free ad supported streaming (FAST) channels on Samsung TV Plus, Samsung...
26/04/2024
PORTLAND, Maine Viewers here can now receive the NextGen TV signals of five local stations with the launch of ATSC 3.0 service from host station WPFO, which is ...
26/04/2024
TORONTO Rogers Communications has signed a 10-year agreement with Comcast to bring the latest Xfinity products and technology to Canadians....
When Finneas O'Connell was in high school, he wrote a song called Ocean Eyes for his pop-rock band the Slightlys. O'Connell felt like the song didn't quite work for his voice, later describing it as sounding like a terrible cover of a Soundgarden song. He asked his sister to try singing on it, and the two were happy enough with the result that they uploaded it to SoundCloud, primarily as a way to share the song with his sister's dance teacher. The song got picked up by Hillydilly, a music discovery platform, and when the siblings woke up the next morning, the song had started to go viral. It wouldn't be long before everyone in the pop world would know his sister's name: Billie Eilish.
