Billie Eilish Is Far From a Solo Act — Meet Her Songwriter Brother Finneas O’Connell

Keeping it in the family! Billie Eilish became a household name following the success of her songs “Bad Guy” and “Happier Than Ever,” but the singer — whose real name is Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O’Connell — hasn’t been doing it on her own. Her brother and songwriting partner, Finneas O’Connell, has been right by her side through it all.

During an episode of Carpool Karaoke with James Corden from December 2019, Billie revealed that Finneas had claimed years prior that he was going to make her “the biggest pop star in the world.” Mission accomplished!

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Finneas O’Connell Makes His Own Music

Other than writing with Billie, the California native has released his own solo songs. Finneas’ debut album, Optimist, was released in October 2021.

“It’s an album about my world experience, my life experience — it’s an introspective body of work,” the musician explained to V Man magazine ahead of the record’s release. “[It’s about] the things that I was scared of as a kid, and the things I’m scared of as an adult, and how they’re connected.”

Finneas wrote the soundtrack for the 2022 film The Fallout, which was released in an album form.

Finneas Has Pursued an Acting Career

He’s always made music, but Finneas also had brief career as an actor. He appeared in episodes of Modern Family, Glee, Aquarius and more over the years. Not to mention, he voiced the role of Jesse in the 2022 movie Turning Red.

In May 2024, Finneas signed on for an acting role in the Peacock comedy Laid. “Finneas is starting with an acting job on a potentially very cool show and has ambitions to evolve into a writer, producer and director down the line,” a source told Life & Style exclusively in June 2024.

Finneas Is a Taken Man

Finneas and girlfriend Claudia Sulewski have been together since 2018. They live together and are constantly sharing PDA-filled posts on social media.

“It’s not that I can’t imagine my life without you, it’s easy to — it would be a life with infinitely less joy and love and laughter and purpose,” the singer wrote on Instagram in September 2021. “A life I have no interest in. Best 3 years of my life. Happy anniversary my love, I’m so lucky to be yours.”

Finneas shared birthday wishes to his longtime partner in a loved-up February 19, 2024, Instagram post, writing, “Happy birthday to my most precious Claudia who has made the world a better, brighter place since she got here – so lucky you were born when you were, so lucky to be around you.”

Billie and Finneas Are Best Friends

She gave him a special shout-out at Variety‘s Hitmakers brunch while accepting the Hitmaker of the Year Award in December 2019. “When we were working on [When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?], somebody told me and my brother, Finneas, who’s my cowriter, that there was no hit on the album,” she admitted. “I don’t know how that was supposed to help anyone, but that fool was wrong!”

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Billie continued, “A big thank you to my big brother, Finneas. Finneas is my best friend, my big brother, he’s four years older than me and we’ve been best friends forever. We started making music together when I was 13 and he was 17; he produces everything. He’s the only reason I’m anywhere in the whole world and he’s probably the only reason I’m alive.”

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