If there’s one question Finneas gets asked a lot, it’s which artist he thinks is the “next Billie Eilish.”
The Grammy award-winning producer and artist discussed the topic with Hanuman Welch on ALT CTRL on Apple Music on Tuesday (April 28).
“Well, the only version of that question that I can get behind is who is the next person that will do exactly what they want and be deemed pop music? That verbiage I would understand, but to me it does a disservice to two things. It does a huge disservice to Billie, in that you could be a next Billie,” he explained of his superstar sister.
“It also does a huge disservice to anyone they claim Billie is the next version, you know what I mean? It does a huge disservice to Lorde. It does a huge disservice to Lana,” he continued. “And I think that to me it was like, it’s not cyclical in that way. Billie was nominated for album of the year, the same year Lana was. It’s not like you pass the torch and then you just retire.”
“I think the whole response to our art being so positive is that it rings true and it feels a unique thing and I feel that was the thing that we strive for in the beginning was to not conform to any preconceived notions of what we should be doing,” he concluded. “And I think Lorde did the same thing. I think Lana has done the same thing. They’ve both been influences of ours, for sure. I also was like, ‘Isn’t she a little new- .. for there to be a next of any?’ Do you know what I mean? Imagine if somebody was like, ‘Who’s the next Timothée Chalamet?’ It’s like, he’s currently Timothée Chalamet.”
Listen to the full interview below.