PRODUCER OF THE YEAR NOMINEE FINNEAS O’CONNELL
ON A FUTURE WITH — AND WITHOUT — BILLIE EILISH
INNEAS O’CONNELL’S
down-to-earth pres-
ence — he apologizes
for running precisely
“four minutes late” to
meet me at a Highland Park cafe in
Los Angeles — contrasts with the
high-octane year he’s had: He co-
wrote and produced the explosive
debut album by his younger sister
Billie Eilish’s When We All Fall Asleep,
Where Do We Go?, then joined her
for a world tour. And it doesn’t seem
things will quiet down for O’Connell
anytime soon. He’s nominated for
three Grammys (album, record and
song of the year) alongside Eilish,
and scored two major nods on his
own: best engineered album, non-
classical and producer of the year,
non-classical (for which, at 22, he’s
the youngest solo nominee ever).
Whether or not he collects a
statue, O’Connell is building a
profile in the industry as much more
than Eilish’s super-talented sibling.
His debut EP, the moody Blood
Harmony, came out in October
2019, and he recently expanded his
circle of collaborators to include
Selena Gomez (he co-produced
her comeback single, “Lose You to
Love Me,” which became her first
Billboard Hot 100 No. 1) and Camila
Cabello (he co-wrote two tracks on
Romance). And then there’s his next
big project: launching a publishing
company. “When I started, I felt that
there was this incredible amount of
doubt of my ability as a producer,”
he says, sipping something called a
Mexi Mocha. “I know there’s some
17-year-old who is destroying out
there, and I just want to help.”
The Grammy buzz around When
We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We
Go? has been enormous. What
did you expect ahead of the
nominations?
People surrounding us were like,
“You’ll probably be nominated.” But it
was really stressful because I’m like,
“Does this mean that if we’re not,
people on our team are going to be
disappointed?” The night before was
like going to sleep on Christmas Eve.
[I was] always like, “Listen, if we get
nominated, it’s a big deal to me, and
if we won, it would be a big deal.” I
just want to be honest because some
people act like they don’t care.
Do you think any producers got
snubbed?
Producer was the one [nomination]
I was sure I wouldn’t get — I pro-
duced one record this year. Super-
producers do like six albums. I’m a
little shocked to not see Louis Bell in
the category. If you talk about year-
defining sounds, he’s one of them.
Do producers get the recognition
they deserve these days?
I was just talking to Benny Blanco
about this. We both felt like when
we were growing up, there wasn’t
much emphasis on producers, but
now, there is. I think it’s because the
internet has evolved to where we
can see a lot of credits, so people are
more interested. Kids have tools to
do what I’m doing.
After years of working in relative
isolation with Billie, how do you
approach working with new
artists?
What I really didn’t want to do is work
with other people and have them go,
“Oh, Finneas just does that sound for
everybody.” The Billie sound is only
Billie — I’ll only do that for her. I love
Camila, and the fun part was getting
to make a Camila song. I don’t feel
that anybody would know [that I
produced it]. I mainly try to foster
long-term collaborative relationships.
Even if we sit in a room and have no
good ideas for seven hours, and we
just talk about our lives and get cof-
fee, it’s all part of the process.
What are you expecting from
your first-ever Grammys?
Going in, I’ll just be wide-eyed about
everything, which I think is healthy.
One of the most fun parts of the
community we’re in is that we’ve
gotten to know a lot of people. I love
Lil Nas X, Lizzo and Ezra [Koenig]
from Vampire Weekend. There’s no
competitive spirit. It takes away all
the nervousness — like, “Cool. I get
to see my friends.”
—TATIANA CIRISANO
STEPPING OUT
Amid the younger acts celebrated at the Grammy
Awards will be a much older duo: Richard Rodgers
and Oscar Hammerstein II. The iconic musical-theater
composers are involved with four different nomi-
nees: Ariana Grande, whose “7 Rings” interpolates
“My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music; the
new Broadway cast recording of Oklahoma!, with a
significantly reimagined score, is a best musical theater
album contender; and John Legend and opera diva
Joyce DiDonato both cover “My Favorite Things” on
nominated albums.
Nearly 80 years after their breakout success as
a team — and long after their deaths — Rodgers &
Hammerstein are a hotter pop culture attraction than
ever before, whether in Broadway, pop music (though
not nominated, Chance the Rapper’s “Impossible”
interpolated an R&H tune of the same name from
Cinderella) or TV (the first episode of HBO’s Watch-
men revolved around Oklahoma! songs and refer-
ences). “These songs and shows are timeless,” says Bill
Gaden, president of Concord Music Publishing North
America. (Concord owns the Rodgers & Hammerstein
Organization, which includes the R&H catalog.) “It’s
important that people understand we’re open, and
we’re creative — we want people to look at our mate-
rial in new and different ways.”
Whether or not Grande and Oklahoma! win on
Grammy night, the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organiza-
tion is already cleaning up. (R&H would only win an ac-
tual Grammy as a producer of Oklahoma!) It owns 90%
of the publishing on “7 Rings” and 100% of Oklahoma!
(both the show and music). When an artist like Grande
uses an R&H tune, “we then negotiate ownership of
the new song,” says Gaden. “We participate as writers,
as does Ariana.” That Grande ceded the majority of the
song’s publishing revenue to R&H “shows she under-
stands how much the original work informs ‘7 Rings,’ ”
says Gaden. “And from a catalog point of view, it dem-
onstrates the value of amazing evergreen copyrights.”
Because Rodgers & Hammerstein weren’t just
great composers — they were savvy businessmen,
too. “They were smart enough to never let any [of
their own] rights go anywhere else,” says Gaden. That
makes the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization fairly
unique: “We do all rights in-house — so we can mar-
ket the brand and think about the bigger picture.”
And the organization is indeed actively marketing
its composers’ music like a publisher for an active
songwriter would: Its social media team regularly
searches for famous artists who might be interested in
R&H songs. Even Frito-Lay recently arranged a synch
license for a commercial featuring a new version of
“My Favorite Things” sung by Anna Kendrick (albeit
one with lyrics like “Bags of Tostitos with salsa and
queso/Lay’s and Doritos if I have my say-so”). “The
stars are aligning for us,” says Gaden. “It’s up to us to
continue that momentum.” And “nothing,” he adds,
“does that like a Grammy.” —REBECCA MILZOFF
THE NOT-SO-NEW KIDS
ON THE BLOCK
Eighty years after their heyday,
Rodgers & Hammerstein
are all over the Grammys
O’Connell
154 BILLBOARD • JANUARY 25, 2020
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