Finneas opens up about his work experience with Billie Eilish

Finneas O’ Connell opened up about his musical family background and his experience working with his sister, Billie Eilish.

During a discussion with Anthony Willis as part of the 2026 Tribeca Film Festival: Storytellers series on June 9, O’Connell, 28, opened up about his musical roots and the early days of working with his sister, Billie Eilish.

He further noted, “I really have always wanted to make music for a living. I think I knew that from the time I was like 10 or 11 and I went and saw Green Day play a concert, and I thought, ‘I can’t believe that’s a job. I want to do that job”.

O’Connell began working with Eilish when he wrote and produced her debut song, “Ocean Eyes,” which they uploaded to SoundCloud. He has since co-written and produced all of his sister’s albums so far and also expanded into working with other musicians.

In addition, O’Connell has a successful solo career with albums including For Cryin’ Out Loud! and Optimist.” In the early portion of my professional life, so to speak, Billie and I started making music when we both still lived at home. I’m 18, she’s 13. That’s when we started collaborating,” O’Connell recalled of his and Eilish’s beginnings in the music industry. “We started putting things on SoundCloud.”

He added, “So, at 18, I had decided already not to go to college, which was getting some raised eyebrows, not from my very supportive parents, but from kind of everyone else. And I was like, ‘Oh s—, now I have to figure this out.’ And then that song started to do well, and I think I was like, “Oh, here’s my chance now, I really don’t want to mess this up. I don’t want to lose this opportunity.’ ”

O’Connell recalled feeling “sort of stressed out the whole time” because he “didn’t want to lose that momentum.”

“It’s tough because, of course, it would have been nice if I could go back in time and say, ‘Hey, relax. It’s going to be better than you could ever imagine it’s going to be,’ he said. “But also I’m sure I wouldn’t have stayed up all night every night working if I hadn’t had that sort of like, ‘I can’t mess this up, I can’t mess this up.’ So, you know, it’s a challenge there.”He explained that his dad worked in construction while he was in high school and would leave for work early in the morning. “I would be up, I’d still be up from making music all night, and we’d interact in the kitchen,” O’Connell said. “I’d be like in the kitchen getting a snack.” Eilish saw a rise in the pop realm that took off from there.

“I think that Billie is so popular and has so many fans that I’m like a little expansion pack,” O’Connell joked.

“That’s just the way that I think about my life,” he explained. “It’s mainly to instill a real gratitude for the amount of exposure that the work I’ve gotten to do with my sister has garnered. I feel lucky that that exposure has bled over to me a little bit.”

O’Connell continued, “I don’t say this as some kind of self-pity thing. I just feel really grateful to be riding the coattails.” O’Connell also spoke about serving as composer for the second season of Netflix’s Beef series. He further noted, “I think one of the things I’ve learned to love the most about doing scores for film and television is that I think one of the things I’m always trying to get away from in my creative life is preciousness”.

Near the end of the conversation, O’Connell was asked who his dream collaboration would be. He instantly had an answer in mind: Rihanna. Even though he would love to work with the “Umbrella” singer, O’Connell said he still feels a little shy. “I’m taking notes from a distance so I can just keep doing that also,” he told Willis.