Billie Eilish’s songwriting and production partner and brother, Finneas, has great news for all producers who get hung up on simple beats and melodies: just go with them.
Sometimes the most obvious ideas are the best; don’t worry about depth and being clever and just go with the flow, he says. It’s great news for those of us who still dream of global success: it’s nothing to do with our obvious lack of talent, looks and advancing years; it’s simply because we’ve been overthinking things…
We’ve all been there - and, OK, maybe not quite with the writing and production chops that Finneas and Eilish are so clearly blessed with – and produced a beat so sparse, or a melody so simple, that we think it can’t possibly lead to a worldwide hit. Yet Finneas’ advice after producing Birds of A Feather – a number one single around the world and second song to be lifted from Eilish’s third album, Hit Me Hard and Soft - is simply, “don’t overthink it”. So that’s where we’ve been going wrong…
Finneas and his sister have, of course, enjoyed quite a ride since the former Eilish unleashed her debut, 10-million-selling and multi-Grammy-winning album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? back in 2019. The duo's approach has always been stripped back and very much utilises a DIY ethic - said album was literally produced in a bedroom using a sub $1,000 setup.
However, in a Mix With The Masters interview, Finneas reveals that the 'keep it simple' approach was still very much alive and well on the duo's third long player and smash hit, Birds of a Feather.
"That's just basically D, B minor, E minor, A," he says of the song's chord structure. "That's the scope of all the chords in the entire song." If, like us, you're already overwhelmed by that chordal complexity, don't fear because the actual structure followed even more quickly. A simple kick pattern, chord change and "slappy delay" vocals later and the song was in place.
"Those four elements being drums, tambourine, 'underlick' and then that super vibey synth, that was [done] within five/ten minutes," Finneas reveals.
As we reported last month, the song actually took a long time to be completed from that point on, with the duo endlessly re-recording parts, but Finneas has clearly learned from the process that the initial ideas are always the best: "Sometimes when you make something and it feels good right away, but it happened real quickly, you tend to overthink it," he says.
Our advice? Go with your first ideas, stop faffing around with chords, and release what you've achieved after 10 minutes of DAW tinkering. And if that and all else fails, drop Finneas a line.
Check out the trailer for the interview here.
