Finneas Reveals Everyday Sounds Hidden in "Bury a Friend" and "Bad Guy"

-Welcome to the show and thanks for talking to me. -Thank you for inviting me. -For those who don't know, you are a composer, performer, producer too. And you've worked with Selena Gomez, Camila Cabello, Halsey, and I think the most famous is probably your number one collaborator: Billie Eilish, your sister. -That's how it is. -When did you and Billie first realize that it would be good to work together? -Well, I always knew she had an incredibly beautiful voice. But he didn't want to force her into child labor. So I waited until she wanted. Know? -How much older are you than Billie? -Four years. -Four years.

And you saw it when you were a child. You said, "Oh, she's got something." -Her voice was always much better than mine. And it's like one of those things where you're like, "Oh, yeah. That's just the way it is, huh?" And then when she seemed interested in recording, I said, "Well, let's try some things." -And what did you do? You just put something... like, where did you perform and what did you post? -Well, the first things we did we lived on the SoundCloud website. -Oh yeah. -We made a song that, hopefully, people don't know very well because we're not very excited about it.

And then we did another one that hopefully people don't know very well either. -You don't need to say the names. -And the third one we did was "Ocean Eyes", which people heard. -And how many people... When did you realize: "Oh, we have something here"? -Well, we turned it off because we didn't have a schedule. We weren't on a label or anything like that. We published it one night and then we went to bed and woke up the next morning and it had like 1,000 works and we were like, "I don't know 1,000 people. Do you know 1,000 people?" But it was actually...

Looking back, it was very gradual in terms of that. But that's what made it so fun. You know what I mean? I always feel a little bad for someone who wakes up to about 10 million views singing in a Walmart. -Yes, yes, I understand what you are saying. -It seems like it's going so fast that you don't have time to appreciate anything... Like a thousand per ton. If you had 1,000 people in your house, you would say, "Please leave." -This is true. But look what you end up doing. Their debut album, "When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?" debuted at number one and has been streamed over 15 billion times worldwide. 15 billion times.

But the way you construct a song is very interesting. I was asking you about this. You told me you would record different

sounds

and Billie would record different

sounds

. And you were like, "Hey, can we use this in the song?" -Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, because computers and everything have become so much cheaper and more accessible, I feel like a lot of music producers have the same toolbox. And I think, as a producer, I always want something that sets my stuff apart. So I'll walk around with just an iPhone, but sometimes I carry a small mobile recorder.

And if I hear an interesting sound, I just record it, and then I listen to them and say, "I wonder how I can use that." So, there's a song by Billie called "Bury a Friend." And we both have Invisalign, dental straighteners. And she was at the dentist, and they were grinding... They put these accessories on your teeth, and they were grinding theirs with that horrible, like... Like, whatever ASMR is, it's the opposite of that. The most unpleasant thing... -Oh, yes. -Like… Like, that sound. -Yeah. It's in your head. -She came home from one of those dates and said, "I recorded it," and I said, "Great." And we corrected it in "Bury a Friend." -Let me show you guys.

Here's the sound Billie recorded. This is the drill. Ready? -When it's in your brain, that kind of feeling. -Just playing that really hurt my head. My teeth hurt. Alright, that was it. And this is "Bury a Friend," and you can see if you can hear it. ♪ -Calling security, keeping your head down ♪ ♪ Bury the hatchet ♪ -Wow. -Just a little texture thing. -Wow that's impressive. Now I have one here that says "crosswalk." What is a "pedestrian crossing"? -So, we've been around Australia a couple of times, which is really beautiful, and in Sydney and Melbourne, when you stop at a traffic light and press the button to cross the street, which...

Here's my survey that I'm conducting. Do you think those buttons? -First of all, you are not conducting a survey. -I'm conducting a survey. You're the first person I'm surveying. Do you think the buttons... -Sorry, I'm busy right now. -Yes, I'm sorry. -Do you think the buttons in the corners are useful for something or do you think they are just for us? -They are only for us. It's almost like the elevator door closes. That doesn't do anything. -True, absolutely. -It is not attached to anything. Press it as much as you want. And finally the door will close. -The superintendent says, "Yes, I put them in.

I count them every day to see how many idiots there are." Anyway. -But I do press the button all the time. -Oh, yes, me too. You press it again and again. So when you're on a corner in Australia, you press the button and when the walk signal comes on, you hear this rhythmic sound that I love and that Billie loved. And then we recorded it and it sounds like this. It has like a rhythm. ♪ -Feels like the white-winged dove ♪ ♪ Sings a song, sounds like it's singing ♪ ♪ Ooh, baby, ooh-ooh ♪ -Perfect. -Wait. That's weird. Wait. Does that happen in Australia? -It's just that every time you cross a street in Australia, you hear that. -Wow.

Alright. Then you use that for the song "Bad Guy." -Yes, what people think are top hats in "Bad Guy" are actually just that. ♪ -Duh ♪ -Here's the -- -Wow. Wow! -Here's the bonus, is that we then went back to Australia after the album came out. And we brought our dad for the first time. The first two tours, we couldn't bring our... we just didn't have enough equipment to bring because we had our dad on our team, and we brought our dad with us, and we brought him. Australia. It was his first time. And he says, "Look at these crosswalk sounds." He says, "How cool are these sounds?" And I said, "Yes, yes." And I said, "Look at this." I played him "Bad Guy" and he said, "What?" -And you say... -Yes, it was great.

It was a good revelation for Pops. -You say: "Duh." Come on. -That's why he has a show.