Why are we trying to pit Billie Eilish and Finneas against everyone?

It’s been a big year for mega-talented siblings Billie Eilish and Finneas. I feel like this could be said every year of Billie’s life since she was 16, but this year, in particular, has been mammoth.

From wins at the Oscars and Grammys, to the release of Billie’s third studio album Hit Me Hard And Soft and performing at the Paris Olympics closing ceremony, the dynamic duo have continued to make their mark on the music industry and pop culture.

Yet lately, the siblings have had to defend themselves against the media and internet speculation, shutting down the inference that the two have negative opinions regarding their industry peers.

Firstly, there was their Spotify interview.

To promote Finneas’ new album, For Cryin’ Out Loud!, the pair filmed a 35-minute conversation in which they discussed all things songwriting, production and creativity.

While it all felt somewhat innocuous, a specific clip of the interview has been particularly scrutinised. 

Posted on TikTok by user by account Stay In The Know, the minute clip was covered by text that read “Billie and Finneas stay shading other artists like Taylor, Sabrina, Olivia etc”.

In the footage, the two discuss lyrics, and the fact that it’s currently “really popular to sing about the most specific stuff”, with Finneas referring to the method as “very, kind of, pedestrian songwriting”.

“Well you can also see right through it and know exactly who it’s about, too,” Billie adds.

“It’s, you know, totally great but I think it’s becoming a little oversaturated,” Finneas says, before sharing that his favourite music is emotional yet vague, which is what he aimed for on this album.

Not once in the clip is an artist named, so to include the text with some of the biggest pop musicians in the world was a bold (not to mention, misleading) move from the creator. So bold, that Finneas was forced to comment.

“No shade to any of those artists –- they all have written unbelievable songs,” he wrote on the video, his comment garnering 12.2k likes.

While many users pointed out that they saw no disrespect from Finneas and Billie, others either listed examples of the Eilish’s’ work that made this opinion seem hypocriticall, or furiously jumped to the defence of the listed artists.

Then, there was the Los Angeles Times interview published last week. The profile is glowing, listing their impressive achievements and examining their creative dynamic. However, there’s one question music critic Mikael Wood asked that has been making headlines since: is Billie threatened by the success of other artists (namely Chappell Roan, Charli XCX and Sabrina Carpenter  –-  aka 2024’s Holy Trinity).

“Are you kidding me?” Billie exclaims in the interview. “I’m so happy for these bitches. It’s a crazy world when you get to the level they’re experiencing right now, and they’re doing great. Fans are drawn to them because they’re fucking awesome.”

While tall poppy syndrome isn’t mutually exclusive with the Eilish siblings, there does seem to be some sort of pattern forming in which Billie (in particular) gets torn apart and is forced to clarify her words and actions.

Earlier this year, after she commented on the wasteful and calculated nature of special edition vinyl albums, the internet almost instantaneously declared a feud between Billie and Taylor Swift. Again, though she didn’t name Taylor, nor any specific artist, the internet took her words and assigned them where they wanted to.

Billie was forced to speak out, posting a statement via Instagram stories that she was referring to “industry-wide systemic issues” and not anyone specifically.

When Billie collaborated with Charli XCX on the Guess remix, a video was posted on TikTok (since removed) that suggested Billie’s verse was “high-key predatory”, and that Billie was both “queerbaiting” and “reducing girls to mere objects, all in an effort to convince the masses that she’s actually into them.”

While Billie stayed quiet, Finneas jumped in the comments to defend his sister.

“I got to watch the entire internet slam my sister for queer-baiting for an entire year when in reality, you were all forcing her to label and out herself,” he wrote emphatically.

In her recent Vogue profile, Billie shared that she has “a history of being too open and too honest, and that’s too often come back to haunt her.”

“I wish no one knew anything about my sexuality or anything about my dating life,” she told the magazine. “And I hope that they never will again. And I’m never talking about my sexuality ever again. And I’m never talking about who I’m dating ever again.”

This is in reference to her Rolling Stone profile from April, in which she openly shared intimate details, particularly her love of self-pleasure. “I guess I also underestimate that things I say will be blown up into the biggest news of the whole world.”

Though Billie and her brother are revered and adored by critics and fans alike, there seems to be some underlying animosity directed towards them, as if we’re incapable of giving the pair the benefit of the doubt. And I don’t love it.

So, until either of the Eilish siblings say something pointed or problematic about someone in particular, I’ll be here blasting ‘Birds of a Feather’ and letting them live their lives.

Written by Lil Friedmann, who has listened to ‘Birds of a Feather’ six times while you read this article. You can follow her at @lilfriedmann on socials.

Image credit: @billieellish + Punkee