Billie Eilish Biography: Life, Songs and How She Writes

From a bedroom studio in Los Angeles to ten Grammys and two Oscars, and what her piano-first songwriting can teach a Kurdish songwriter.

Harem Jamal Rashid · October 29, 2026 · 9 min read

Billie Eilish Biography: Life, Songs and How She Writes

Billie Eilish is one of the defining pop artists of her generation, and one of the most interesting songwriters working today. She and her brother Finneas made her first hits in a bedroom in Los Angeles, then went on to win the biggest prizes in music and film. This Billie Eilish biography covers her life and career up to 2026, lists the songs to know, and looks closely at how she and Finneas write, because their method, a piano, a few chords and an honest line, works in any language, Kurdish included.

Quick facts

Full name: Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell
Born: 18 December 2001, Los Angeles, California
Family: mother Maggie Baird and father Patrick O'Connell, both actors and musicians; brother Finneas O'Connell, her co-writer and producer
Genre: pop, alternative pop, electropop, ballads
Instruments: voice, ukulele, piano (Finneas is the main keyboard player in their writing sessions)
Albums: When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (2019), Happier Than Ever (2021), Hit Me Hard and Soft (2024)
Known for: "Ocean Eyes," "Bad Guy," "What Was I Made For?," "Birds of a Feather," "Wildflower"; 10 Grammy Awards and 2 Academy Awards

Early life and family

Billie Eilish grew up in the Highland Park area of Los Angeles in a family of performers. She and Finneas were homeschooled, and their mother taught them the basics of songwriting. Music was part of daily life: the siblings sang, played and wrote songs at home long before either of them had a record deal. At eight she joined the Los Angeles Children's Chorus, and she also took dance classes.

She has said that she was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome as a child. She spoke openly about her tics in a 2022 interview with David Letterman and has returned to the subject since, including in a 2026 podcast conversation with Amy Poehler, explaining that she often suppresses tics during interviews.

Career: from SoundCloud to the Oscars

"Ocean Eyes" and the first EP

In 2015 Eilish uploaded "Ocean Eyes" to SoundCloud. Finneas had written and produced the song, originally for his own band, and Billie's voice turned it into something else. The song spread quickly online and led to a record deal. Her debut EP, Don't Smile at Me, followed in 2017.

When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (2019)

Her first album, made largely in Finneas's bedroom studio, was a global success. "Bad Guy," with its whispered vocal and heavy bass, went to number one in the United States. At the Grammy Awards in 2020 she won all four main categories, Album, Record and Song of the Year and Best New Artist, at the age of 18. She was the youngest artist to do so.

Bond and Happier Than Ever (2020–2021)

In 2020 she recorded the theme for the James Bond film No Time to Die, which won her first Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2022. Her second album, Happier Than Ever (2021), was more mature and more varied, moving from quiet ballads to the explosive title track.

Barbie and Hit Me Hard and Soft (2023–2025)

For Greta Gerwig's film Barbie (2023), she and Finneas wrote "What Was I Made For?," a quiet piano ballad. It won the Grammy for Song of the Year and her second Oscar for Best Original Song in 2024, making her the youngest two-time Oscar winner.

Her third album, Hit Me Hard and Soft, came out in May 2024. It produced "Lunch," "Birds of a Feather" and "Wildflower," and it launched a long world tour that ran through 2025.

2026

In February 2026 "Wildflower" won Song of the Year at the Grammys. It was the third time Billie and Finneas had won that award together, something no other songwriters had done, and it brought her total to ten Grammys. In May 2026 the concert film Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D), co-directed with James Cameron and filmed at her concerts in Manchester, opened in cinemas. She has said she isn't adding tour dates because she has an album to make, and in interviews this year both she and Finneas confirmed they're deep into work on new music. As of September 2026, no fourth album has been released.

Signature works

When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? The dark, playful debut that made her a star.
Happier Than Ever. A step toward jazz-tinged ballads and bigger vocal performances.
Hit Me Hard and Soft. An album designed to be heard from start to finish, with songs that shift mood halfway through.
The film songs. "No Time to Die" and "What Was I Made For?" show how much she and Finneas can do with very little: a voice, a piano, strings, and space.

Billie Eilish's best songs

"Ocean Eyes" (2015). Where it all began.
"Bellyache" (2017). A dark story over a bright guitar.
"Bad Guy" (2019). Her signature hit.
"When the Party's Over" (2018). A slow, layered ballad built on her voice.
"Everything I Wanted" (2019). Written about a nightmare, and about her bond with Finneas.
"No Time to Die" (2020). The Bond theme.
"Happier Than Ever" (2021). Starts as a whisper, ends as a scream.
"What Was I Made For?" (2023). The piano ballad from Barbie.
"Birds of a Feather" (2024). Her warmest love song.
"Wildflower" (2024). The 2026 Song of the Year.

How Billie and Finneas write songs

This is the part that matters most for anyone who wants to write songs themselves.

They start at an instrument, often the piano. Finneas has described a way of writing where you sit down, play something that feels good, sing something over it that feels good, and follow it. "What Was I Made For?" came about exactly like that. After Greta Gerwig showed them a rough cut of Barbie, they sat at Finneas's piano in January 2023. He played a chord progression, they sang a melody over it, and they improvised much of the first verse. The core of the song was written in about half an hour and finished over the next few days.

The lyrics sound like speech. Eilish's lyrics are conversational and direct. She sings the way people talk, often quietly and close to the microphone, and the intimacy is part of the meaning.

Small setup, big ideas. Their first album was recorded at home, not in an expensive studio. Much of the character of their music comes from choices (a whispered vocal, a single piano, a silence) rather than from equipment.

Layers of voice. Eilish often records many harmonies and doubles of her own voice. In many of her songs, the harmonies you hear are her own voice, stacked in layers.

A trusted partner. The siblings write every song together and are honest with each other. Whether a musician is a creator or an interpreter is a question we explore in artist or performer?; Billie and Finneas are firmly both.

Legacy so far

Billie Eilish showed that a teenager with a laptop, a sibling and a piano could reach the top of the music industry without losing her voice. She has used her platform to talk about mental health, body image and climate change, and her success changed what major labels expect a pop star to sound like. At 24, she already has a catalogue that many artists would be proud to finish a career with.

The Kurdish connection

We'll be honest: we found no documented collaborations between Billie Eilish and Kurdish artists, and no official Kurdish-language versions of her songs. Fans share Kurdish covers online, but we couldn't verify any well-known one, so we won't list them.

What she offers Kurdish musicians is a method.

The family studio. Kurdish music has its own tradition of musical families, from the Kamkars of Sanandaj to the family of Qadir Dilan in Sulaymaniyah. We write about both in our pieces on the Kamkars and Qadir Dilan's life and work. Billie and Finneas are a modern version of the same idea: siblings who trust each other and build a sound at home.

Writing at the piano. The simplest way to start is the way "What Was I Made For?" began: a few chords and a melody sung over them. If you want to write a Kurdish song this way, choose chords that respect the maqam. Maqam Kurd uses only ordinary semitones, so it fits the piano perfectly. Our beginner guide to Kurdish songs on piano explains which chords work, and which Kurdish maqams the piano can't play.

Learning from the old songs. Before you write your own, play some classics. Songs like Arami Giyanim show how much feeling a simple melody can carry, just as "What Was I Made For?" does. If you're new to reading scores, start with our guide to reading Kurdish music notation.

Where to start listening

"Ocean Eyes." Hear the voice before the fame.
"Bad Guy." Then the phenomenon.
"What Was I Made For?" Then sit at a piano and try the first chords yourself.
Hit Me Hard and Soft, from start to finish. The album as a whole work.
"Wildflower." The song that won her a third Song of the Year.

Sources

Want to try writing at the piano? Start with a Kurdish melody from our free Sorani sheet music, learn how it's built, and then write your own.

Frequently asked questions

How old is Billie Eilish?

Billie Eilish was born on 18 December 2001 in Los Angeles, so she turns 25 in December 2026.

Who writes Billie Eilish's songs?

She writes her songs with her older brother, Finneas O'Connell, who also produces her records. They began by writing and recording in his bedroom at the family home.

How many Grammys and Oscars has Billie Eilish won?

As of 2026 she has won 10 Grammy Awards, including Song of the Year for Wildflower in February 2026, and two Academy Awards for No Time to Die and What Was I Made For.

What is Billie Eilish's most famous song?

Bad Guy, which reached number one in the United States in 2019, is her signature hit. Birds of a Feather, What Was I Made For and Ocean Eyes are also among her most played songs.

Does Billie Eilish have Tourette syndrome?

Yes. She has said publicly that she was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome as a child and has talked about living with her tics in interviews, including with David Letterman in 2022.