'No Time to Die' from the James Bond movie of the same name, written by Billie Eilish and her brother and collaborator Finneas, won the Golden Globe for best original song. Hans Zimmer’s 'Dune' won the Globe for best original score. Find the list of all the nominees and winners here.
George Harrison has returned to the top 10 on the Billboard 200 chart for the first time since 1971, following the launch of a new reissue of his former No. 1 album 'All Things Must Pass', Billboard reports. The album, now at No. 7 on Billboard, was newly mixed and reissued in a variety of formats. At the top Billboard spot for the second week in a row, it's Billie Eilish’s 'Happier Than Ever', as the set earns 85,000 equivalent album units in the U.S.
Billie Eilish's new album 'Happier Than Ever' has debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 album chart. Of the 238,000 equivalent units sold, 73,000 of them were vinyl records, the second-most vinyl records sold in an album's first week since 1991. The benchmark is currently held by Taylor Swift's 2021 album 'Evermore', which sold 102,000 vinyls in its first seven days, Billboard reports.
Billboard calculated the incomes of the five highest-paid musicians in the world in 2020. Queen are on the top with $48.7 million of total income, followed by Taylor Swift with $41.4 million, Billie Eilish with $32.8 million, BTS with $31.5 million, and finally Post Malone with $29.7 million.
Among dozens of nominees for this year's Emmys, there are some music ones. Apple TV’s 'Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry' documentary is up for three awards, whereas David Byrne’s HBO special 'David Byrne: American Utopia' has been nominated in eight categories. The New York Times’ docu 'Framing Britney Spears' is up for two awards. Elsewhere in the nominations, Cynthia Erivo picked up a nod for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie, for her role portraying the late Aretha Franklin in the National Geographic miniseries 'Genius: Aretha', whereas Marcus Mumford is nominated for his 'Ted Lasso' theme, in the category of Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music. Check the full list at EW.
Billie Eilish's older brother Finneas O’Connell topped the list of the most successful artists on Spotify last year, Music Business Worldwide reports. Finneas wrote 50% of hits for his sister, as well as released music as an independent artist himself, and co-wrote/co-produced tracks released in 2020 by the likes of Demi Lovato, Celeste, Halsey, and Justin Bieber/Benny Blanco. The second-placed songwriter on Spotify last year is Kid Harpoon, who collaborated with Harry Styles on the latter’s double-platinum 'Fine Line' album.
“Because of the way that I feel that the world sees me, I haven’t felt really desired. But that’s really my whole life, though, so I don’t know if it’s anything to do with fame” - Billie Eilish says in a Vogue interview, where she explains her body-image transition from a girl to a woman. She also discusses the issue of nudity - "Suddenly you’re a hypocrite if you want to show your skin, and you’re easy and you’re a slut and you’re a whore. If I am, then I’m proud. Me and all the girls are hoes, and f**k it, y’know? Let’s turn it around and be empowered in that. Showing your body and showing your skin – or not – should not take any respect away from you”. She tries to understand why men grope women: "I really think the bottom line is, men are very weak. I think it’s just so easy for them to lose it".
Billie Eilish has announced her new album with her new song 'Your Power', with a video she self-directed. On the intimate and delicate track, Eilish sings above acoustic guitar riff about power dynamics in relationships, giving a warning to “try not to abuse your power”. The video sees her alone on a mountain. Her new album 'Happier Than Ever', out July 30, was written by Eilish and her brother Finneas.
This year's documentries 'Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil', 'The World’s a Little Blurry' (about Billie Eilish), 'Framing Britney Spears', and 'Alone Together' (Charlie XCX project) are a part of "a larger reconsideration of how female stars are discussed, hounded, anointed and denigrated – and thus how we judge and value women in public, how we consider ourselves", Guardian writes comparing the four. "As Lovato’s story attests, the appearance of power under the impossible binds of marketable public womanhood, especially for young women – be sexy but sexless, confident but not threatening, empowered but desirable – is a ruse" the G's writer concludes.
Taylor Swift has become the first woman in Grammy Awards history to win album of the year three times - the 31-year-old songstress took home the top prize last night with 'Folklore'. Swift previously won album of the year in 2010 for 'Fearless', at that time, the youngest artist ever to do so, and in 2016 for '1989'. The only other musicians to win thrice are Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra, and Paul Simon, USA Today reports. Beyoncé became the most-decorated woman in Grammys history with her 28th win, while her daughter Blue Ivy Carter, at 9 years old, became the second youngest person to win a Grammy, according to CBS News. Billie Eilish accepted the Grammy for Record of the Year for her song 'Everything I Wanted', Megan Thee Stallion won Best New Artist, H.E.R. took Song of the Year for 'I Can't Breathe', Check out all the nominees and winners here. BBC picks out five special moments from the ceremony, including Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion simulating sex onstage (a Scissor Sisters moment, right!?).
Filmmaker R.J. Cutler talks to Spin about his latest documentary 'Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry', which he started filming in 2018 and finished 2020 on the night of the Grammys (it's out today). While filming he got an insight into her family: "She and Finneas have this arrangement where, if they disagree, one of them will win and the other will lose... They believe that one of them should be right, one of them should be wrong and when the other one agrees to let the other one be right". About their parents: "And you see them living in denial. You just see them hoping that she’s never gonna grow up. Not because they don’t want Billie Eilish to grow up, but because parents don’t want their children to grow up".
Billie Eilish and Rosalía release their dramatic pop ballad 'Lo Vas a Olvidar'; Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou follow their last year's debut collaboration with a new EP - 'Orphan Limbs' is the stand-out track from it; Forhist of Blut Aus Nord shares a sympho/black-metal song 'II'; Vast Aire of Cannibal Ox bites hard on 'Good Fuel'; NYC rapper Marlon Craft releases a melancholic albeit determined political song 'State of the Union'.
Billie Eilish has lost 100,000 followers on Instagram after she posted a drawing she made of women’s breasts and other private parts, Cosmopolitan reports. The 19-year-old Eilish was asked to post “a drawing you’re really proud of”, and she shared a notebook page full of private female parts. In the half-hour since she first shared the photo, Eilish had rapidly lost 100k Instagram followers, to which she reacted in her story - “LMFAOOO y’all babies smh”.
The first full trailer for Billie Eilish’s new documentary 'The World’s A Little Blurry', directed by R.J. Cutler, has been shared. It shows archival footage from throughout Billie Eilish’s life, her looks at life in recent years, some footage of her early performances and more.
A great "time-capsule" video-interview with Billie Eilish for Vanity Fair, with media outlet interviewing her for the fourth year in a row (BRAVO! for VF for recognising a future star in 2017). Eilish talks earnestly about her identity: “For a while now, I’ve been really having an identity crisis a little. I think it was December, I did some radio show performance, and the entire show I felt like I was pretending to be Billie Eilish. Like, I felt — I completely wasn’t looking at myself as myself. I was totally seeing it from not-my-own perspective and it was so weird. Happened multiple times at award shows and whatever. I felt like a parody of myself”.
Billie Eilish and Finneas talk to Song Exploder podcast about how they made their hit-song 'Everything I Wanted'. It all started with a dream in which Billie Eilish dies and observes people (not) react to her dying. They couldn't finish the song, and had returned to it after half a year.
"The design of Eilish’s live stage not only exceeded expectations; it provided effects that would be nearly impossible to pull off at an in-person concert" - CoS writes in a review of Billie Eilish's online show 'Where Do We Go? The Livestream'. Guardian's Alexis Petridis said it was "both striking and entertaining".
Post Malone took home nine 2020 Billboard Music Awards last night, including the top artist prize. Billie Eilish seems to have been on the scene for ages now, but it's actually last year that she came to the music world big-time, so the Best new artist award went to her. Killer Mike took the first-ever Change Maker Award. Check out all the nominees and winners here. CoS argues the telecast ceremony was a "mess", especially Post Malone's performance, who forgot how to lip-sync.
“We have made the best of it. We’ve really done what we should have done” Billie Eilish told Jimmy Fallon during their guest appearance on The Tonight Show about the pandemic. "We’ve made a lot of music. I don’t think we would have made it otherwise, if we hadn’t got this time. So as much as it’s been terrible to have this going on in the world, I think it has birthed some things. We have been really lucky with it”.
Billie Eilish shared a music video for 'No Time to Die', her theme song to the new James Bond movie. The black-and-white clip features scenes from the new film, and it was directed by Daniel Kleinman, who has designed every title sequence for the Bond series since 1995.
Billie Eilish has launched a collection of toy figurines inspired by the videos for her hit singles ‘Bad Guy’ and ‘All The Good Girls Go To Hell’, Rolling Stone reports. The ‘Bad Guy’ doll stands 10.5 inches tall and features a life-like sculpture of the singer in her yellow sweatsuit. The ‘All The Good Girls Go To Hell’ collectible figure measures six inches in height and features fully removable wings. The line launches on October 15.
Billie Eilish has partnered with Fender to design and launch her own signature ukulele called Billie Eilish Uke, adorned with her signature “blohsh” symbol, uDiscover Music reports. The ukulele was the first instrument Eilish picked up at six years old, and she’s since used the ukulele on her own songs. Asked for her ukulele-playing advice, Eilish said: “The rules of ukulele are: If you know three chords, you can play any song. Ever”. It goes fo $279.
Los Angeles has just unveiled its official logo for the 2028 summer games, and it’s also recruited Billie Eilish to design an alternate logo. The LA Olympic Committee has actually brought in a number of different people to design different versions of the Olympic logo - athletes like Gabby Douglas, Adam Rippon, and Alex Morgan, as well as celebrities like Reese Witherspoon, and talk show host Lily Singh. Billie Eilish said about her logo that "The font is the font that I use for my logo. And who knows if that’s going to be relevant in my life in eight years?".
Black Pumas released a version of 'Confines' performed with a string quartet; Billie Eilish released her new song 'My Future', a bluesy pop with a very studio Ghibli video; Mastodon's dramatic 'Fallen Torches' features Scott Kelly of Neurosis; Jorja Smith shared an instant soul classic 'By Any Means'; Toni Cornell, daughter of Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell, did a lovely thing covering 'Black' by Pearl Jam; Greg Puciato of Dillinger Escape Plan shared 'Roach Hiss', a noise-metal song featuring Converge drummer Ben Koller; pop folk singer Matt Berry announced his new album with single 'Take a Bow'; Jyoti dropped a warm jazz-soul hybrid 'Mama, You Can Bet'.
Billie Eilish shared her anger over the killing of Rayshard Brooks in an Instagram post - “man FUCK. watching this video made me so fucking angry”, she wrote aside a photo of Brooks. “FUCK THIS SHIT. JUSTICE FOR RAYSHARD BROOKS. FUCK THIS SHIIIIIIIIT. #justiceforrayshard !!!! WHY ISNT EVERYONE TALKING ABOUT THIS??”, Billie Eilish added. On Friday, Brooks was shot in the back and killed while fleeing after Wendy’s employee called police to report a man sleeping in their drive-thru, Billboard reports. Eilish’s brother Finneas also reacted to the murder via Instagram: "Asleep in his car in a parking lot. Shot to death. Don’t let yourself be numb to this. Don’t let the world stay this way”. In similar news, Beyoncé has shared an open letter on her website to Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, seeking swift justice for Breonna Taylor, the 26-year-old emergency room technician who was killed in her home by Louisville police, Time reports. Also, Barbra Streisand has gifted her Disney shares to the young daughter of slain Minnesota man George Floyd, CNN reports.
"Just last week Billie Eilish told an interviewer: 'sometimes I feel trapped by this persona that I have created'" - NME's Mark, My Words writes, and offers her advice - "History tells her that she’d best change it sharpish, or she’s liable to get lumbered with it for good". The power of an image is paramount in music, Mark says - "If Slipknot drummer Jay Weinberg suddenly developed a debilitating allergy to gimp gear and nail wigs, they wouldn’t ditch the masks in solidarity – they’d be taking forehead measurements for a new drummer".
Billie Eilish has released a short film 'Not My Responsibility' with a spoken-word track addressing public perception and opinion of her body and clothing choices. The video, premiered at the start of her American tour this spring, features Eilish slowly removing layers of clothing before sinking into a dark, viscous liquid that consumes her. “Do you have opinions?” she asks in a voiceover. “About my opinions? About my music? About my clothes? About my body?... Is my value based only on your perception? Or is your opinion of me not my responsibility?”.
The Rolling Stones, Billie Eilish (covering Bobby Hebb), Paul McCartney, Lady Gaga (covering Charlie Chaplin’s 'Smile'), Elton John, Stevie Wonder (covering Bill Withers), Lizzo (covering Sam Cooke), Kacey Musgraves, The Killers, Kesha, Billie Joe Armstrong, Eddie Vedder, Common, Christine and the Queens, Taylor Swift, Jimmy Fallon & The Roots (covering Men Without Hats‘ 'Safety Dance'), John Legend, and many other have performed at Global Citizen’s One World: Together at Home live stream. Watch them all at Global Citizen's YoutTube.
Rage Against the Machine have postponed the first leg of their upcoming reunion tour (March 26 - May 20) due to concerns over the coronavirus; they plan to start playing May 23rd. Billie Eilish has postponed her March US dates - the postponement arrives after Live Nation and AEG, two of the world’s biggest concert promoters, decided to halt all large-scale tours until April due to the pandemic. Canadian Juno Awards have cancelled all 2020 programming. After New York State has banned gatherings of 500 people or more due to the coronavirus pandemic, some NYC venues are temporarily closing their doors, and postponing events. JamFest in Atlanta on April 5, with Taylor Swift headlining, has been cancelled. All events related to this year's LA Pride have been postponed, although it takes place in three months from now, in June. Also, there's American bands having trouble going home from the EU since the US have posed travel restrictions. But, not everything has been cancelled - Kendrick Lamar has been added as Glastonbury headliner, Tool still plan to play the US this March (just one show cancelled so far), mewithoutYou have just announced their farewell tour...
Billie Eilish delivered a powerful message about body shaming as she kicked off her world tour in Miami on Monday night. "If what I wear is comfortable, I am not a woman," she said during a video interlude. "If I shed the layers, I am a slut". "Though you've never seen my body, you still judge me for it. Why?" she asked. The three-minute video was played towards the end of Eilish's 22-song set, immediately before the song 'All The Good Girls Go To Hell'. In the visual, Eilish was seen removing several layers of clothing until she was only wearing a bra, before sinking symbolically under the surface of a black, tar-like liquid.
