Billie Eilish’s was named Variety’s Hitmaker of the Year at our annual Hitmakers event in Hollywood on Saturday. Which also featured Lil Nas X, Kacey Musgraves, Tyga, YG, Ellie Goulding and others. She thanked many people, including her brother and colleague Finneas — for sharing the welcome award she received on stage — with her family, her team, her managers, her label, and even some messages. He was introduced by Variety’s Jem Aswad, who wrote the Eilish cover story this week; The acceptance of him and Finneas follows speechfully.
“Thank you so much, Variety — thank you for not fooling me like everyone wants to do on TV — love that,” he began. “Thank you guys, for coming. I want to thank my entire team and everyone for listening to me. I never meant to take a hit, and I know it’s the Hitmakers Award — it’s crazy that You can do one without meaning.
“And indeed,” he continued, “while we were working on the album, someone told me and my brother Finneas, my co-authors, that there was a hit on the album. I don’t know what was supposed to happen, I don’t see how that should have helped anyone — but that idiot was wrong! It’s crazy sitting here with my mother and father and brother and my team that I love so much, and [rappers] YG and Tyga are here, and what the hell? I grew up on them Ua! I grew up on so many people in this room.
“I wanna thank my team, my label, managers Danny [Rukasin] and Brandon [Goodman], who has always trusted me, my label guy Justin [Lubliner, of Darkroom Records], who was like the only person I trusted to begin with — and that’s no shade to anyone, but I feel like he saw something in me. I want to thank Alex Baker, my PR; I don’t think she gets enough credit for what she does.”
She also thanked Chelsea Dodson and Michelle Interscope from the creative team “Believe me and give me what I wanted and thinking it was a good idea – I know it wasn’t straightforward to find those good ideas Thank you for assuming they were “as well as day manager Laura, Interscope president and CEO John Janick and EVP Steve Burman for their day, and then calling Finneas Forum to “The Get yer ass!”
He said, “A big thank you to my older brother Finnes.” Finneas is my best friend, my older brother, he is four years older than me, and we have been quite best friends forever. We started making music together when I was 13, and he was 17; He produces everything. He is the only reason I am anywhere in the whole world, and he is probably the only reason I am alive.
Finesse then took the mic and said, I would like to thank Billy for being naive in his confidence at the age of 17, who had no idea what he was doing. It was incredibly ambitious, and you thought every thought I had was the best idea, and I couldn’t be more proud of every song that I made with you.
He concludes, “There are too many bulls about me — articles now, about how I’m not ‘just’ Billie Eilish’s brother.” Just being Billie Eilish’s brother is all I ever want to be. I love Billy more than anything else, and I am so thankful for you, and I love you.
Eilish then returned to the mic with a message to all of the creatives and executives in the room. He said, “One more thing.” The last thing I want to say is that I know there’s a lot of teams here, so managers and labels: Please listen to your artists, even if they have a stupid idea at least out of them. Have heard. It can’t be ridiculous, listen to people and have an open mind and belief, and don’t think that because it doesn’t like everything, it doesn’t mean it’s terrible. “
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