The multiple award-winning artist offers insight into the importance of taking inspiration and making it your own.
Welcome to Sound Advice, the weekly interview series spotlighting artists’ creative process and their SoundCloud journey. We’ll get the inside knowledge straight from the source on how musicians, producers and creatives are leaning into everything Next Pro offers to elevate their sound, reach the right audience and catapult their careers.
To take a glimpse into the Billie Eilish universe is to witness a creative mind at work. Deeply committed to her craft, Billie has often been described in the media as a once-in-a-generation talent, first sharing her music on SoundCloud at the age of 13, ascending from bedroom recordings to festival headliner in record time. Throughout the course of her career, the Los Angeles native, now 22, has built and nurtured a community of fans that have grown up alongside her, all while continuing to explore the depths of her songwriting prowess, tap into different creative influences and try new things. From aspiring artist to grassroots SoundCloud sensation to global superstar, Billie first got her start recording music in her bedroom and has since gone on to build her discography, tour the world and receive notable accolades, including nine Grammy Awards and two Academy Awards.
While there is much to learn from Billie and her journey as an artist — from her dedication to the process of making art to her openness to experiment across sounds and styles — her new album, ‘HIT ME HARD AND SOFT,’ exemplifies her tried-and-true ability to bring fans into her world, letting her music speak for itself and inviting others to draw their own connections or interpretations. Much like the album title suggests, the 10-track collection explores the duality of hard and soft, both lyrically and sonically, with this cohesive collection of tracks written, recorded and produced together with her brother and sole collaborator, FINNEAS.
Released on May 17, 2024, the album joins Billie’s ever-evolving catalog, following up her 2021 sophomore album, ‘Happier Than Ever,’ and her 2019 debut album, ‘WHEN WE FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?’ Arriving nearly a decade after Billie and FINNEAS first uploaded “Ocean Eyes” to SoundCloud in 2015 — with the track garnering over 10,000 plays within hours of being uploaded to the platform — the indie pop phenom’s third studio album sees her refining her signature genre-defying sound, all while exploring new emotional territory and taking her day-one fans along for the ride. From the beginning, Billie has emphasized the importance of connecting with her audience, utilizing features on SoundCloud such as comments and reposts to build a loyal following and engage her community.
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For a special edition of Sound Advice, Billie spoke exclusively with SoundCloud to share some sage wisdom about today’s creative landscape, noting, “You know, we live in a time where anyone can make anything. And I think that, with that being said, make anything.”
Embodying that exact mindset, Billie recently surprised fans days after releasing ‘HIT ME HARD AND SOFT’ with an extended edit of the album cut, “L’AMOUR DE MA VIE,” reworking the emotive ballad into a club-ready banger. In addition to showcasing her dexterity as an artist, the extended edit also exemplifies the limitless possibilities of releasing different versions of songs, including remixes, edits with featured guests or collaborators, or versions that play with length or tempo (such as creating sped-up or slowed-down versions). Releasing stems or isolated vocals is another way to give a track or project new life, inviting other artists to create an edit or remix and experiment with different ideas and keeping audiences engaged.
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Detailing tips for fellow creatives and peers, Billie continued, “I would say my one piece of advice: Try not to just copy people. I think that there’s a kind of invisible line that people don’t really talk about enough between inspiration and just cloning. And what I think is frustrating, when people are mad about somebody being inspired, is it’s amazing to be inspired. All you have to do is just take the inspiration, and just flip it and make it yours. Make it your own.”
With her creative practice centered around foundational themes of honesty, vulnerability and authenticity, ‘HIT ME HARD AND SOFT’ displays Billie applying her own advice, pulling inspiration from genres including pop, alternative, indie and electronic, and interpreting those influences through her own distinctive lens and experiences. Billie also makes it clear that she believes it’s “really good to be inspired,” explaining that having an idol and people you look up to is an important part of the self-discovery process.
As a final takeaway, Billie concluded,
“You don’t have to worry about making something no one has ever made in the history of life. Just make exactly what you want to make, but try to make it your own.”
Throughout her career, Billie has remained vocal about SoundCloud’s impact on her trajectory as an artist. SoundCloud is where she first found her voice, experimented with her sound and garnered her earliest fans. After experiencing viral success with “Ocean Eyes,” Billie continued building momentum on the platform. In 2016, she released her second single, “Six Feet Under,” using SoundCloud to connect with fans while industry insiders and media outlets began to take notice. After signing with Interscope/Dark Room Records in 2017, Billie released her debut EP, ‘dont smile at me,’ which reached No. 14 on the Billboard charts. Later that year, Billie released “bitches broken hearts” on SoundCloud, with the b-side going on to amass over 34.9 million plays. While continuing to evolve her craft and grow as an artist, SoundCloud helped launch Billie’s career with its global reach, community focus and real, direct connection with fans.
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Coinciding with the release of ‘HIT ME HARD AND SOFT,’ Billie reconnected with SoundCloud to celebrate the full-circle journey, partnering with the platform for a first-ever SoundCloud takeover. As part of this collaboration, for the first time ever, all SoundCloud users received access to Billie’s new album in its entirety. To commemorate the fans who were there from the beginning, SoundCloud created a dedicated landing page recognizing Billie’s “First” fans, starting from the release of her 2015 SoundCloud upload, “Ocean Eyes.” Additionally, to mark the company-wide creative takeover, SoundCloud collaborated with Billie to rework its logo to feature the blue pantone color from the album, with this change taking place across web, iOS, Android, socials and more.
Check out Billie Eilish’s full Sound Advice feature in the video above, and explore https://soundcloud.com/partner/billie to delve into her SoundCloud success story and experience her complete music catalog. Subscribe to the Sound Advice newsletter for a weekly dose of ideas of how to engage fans and turbo-charge your artist profile with Next Pro.