Billie Eilish rocks out with James Cordon on Carpool Karaoke. (Photo: YouTube/ScreenCap)
Billie Eilish, who just turned 18 (Dec. 18), hit the road–not on tour–but with James Cordon in an uproarious ride for “Carpool Karaoke.” She ran through some of her top hits and provided running commentary on her life growing up.
Hard to believe, sure, but Eilish said she was a mere six years old when she began making up songs. Well, maybe not so hard.
She was cranking out hit songs at 15. Her single “Ocean Eyes” burned up SoundCloud and led to a record deal with labels Darkroom and Interscope Records.
Records.
The duo kicked off the drive with another hit song, “Bad Guy,” the fifth single from her debut studio album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
“So you’re a tough guy
Like it really rough guy
Just can’t get enough guy
Chest always so puffed guy
I’m that bad type
Make your mama sad type
Make your girlfriend mad tight
Might seduce your dad type
I’m the bad guy, duh”
“This song is literally like two notes! Don’t have to try,” she said coaxing Cordon to sing the chorus.
With release of the album, Eilish was instantly compared to the White Stripes, Lorde and Fiona Apple.
She revealed her shock that Billie Joe Armstrong, frontman rock band Green Day is a fan. They met last year.
And, double shock that Justin Bieber is, too. They met at the Coachella music festival.
“Well, if I can be honest with you, for like all Coachella weekend, I was like, ‘Don’t surprise me with Justin Bieber. I can’t take it. I can’t have to do this show and Justin Bieber’s gonna be there,” she recalled.
“And so we go to see Ariana [Grande], and I was just standing there, and we were just watching the set, and I was rocking out ’cause I love Ariana, and I saw… ‘Cause I know what Bieber looks like. I know his body language, I know how he stands, I know where he wears his pants,” she added.
“So I look over, and I just was like…” she said with a face that captured her astonishment.
“And he just stood there! He didn’t even come near me. He just stood like five feet away from me, perfectly still, and he just was like [staring]. And he had the face mask, so all I could see were his eyes, but they were his eyes.”
The exchange provided a neat segue to Bieber’s big hit “Baby,” singing a Capella .
Billie then picked up with “All the Good Girls Go to Hell,” the sixth single from her debut album. (In fact, that’s Billie’s only album.)
It was released in March to critical acclaim and was a commercial success as well.
She reaped a bushel of nominations at the 62nd Grammy Awards, including Best New Artist, Album of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Album.
“Bad Guy” was nominated for Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance.
The Grammy nominations are pending, but she’s already won New Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards and Album of the Year at the Apple Music Awards.
Eilish is also pretty down with the ukulele. Corden pulled one out from the back seat, and Eilish strummed a couple of songs from her adolescence.
“I wrote my first song on the ukulele with my friend. I think I was 7,” she said.
They followed up with “Ocean Eyes.”
“That song is the reason that I have the life I have,” she said. It was written and produced by Eilish’s older brother, Finneas O’Connell, who plays in her band.
“Last year, one of my teachers asked if I would either write a song or have my brother write a song to choreograph a dance to. I was like, ‘yes, that’s such a cool thing to do!’ Then, my brother came to me with ‘Ocean Eyes,’ which he had originally written for his band” she told Teen Vogue.
She posted it on soundcloud, and, well, the rest is history. “We had no intentions for it, really. But basically overnight a ton of people started hearing it and sharing it,” she said.
They also make a stop at Billie’s home. She recorded her first album in her bedroom studio. Mom got in the act, too.
Then, they got back in the car and sang “When the Party’s Over.”
Check out her appearance on Carpool Karaoke” and two of her music videos.