Finneas Talks ‘Beef,’ Billie Eilish and the Evolution of the Record Producer
Categoria: Musica
On Billboard On the Record, Finneas explains how the role of a music producer has changed over time — and how he's seen his own process evolve as well.
Por Billboard | 17/06/2026
Finneas O’Connell is one of modern music’s most respected pop producers. After first becoming known as the producer for his younger sister, Billie Eilish , he’s gone on to become a trusted collaborator for a variety of talents including Justin Bieber , Halsey , Kid Cudi and Ashe . As a solo artist, Finneas has released two albums including 2024’s For Cryin’ Out Loud! and 2025’s The Dream and crafted original songs and scores for film and television. Related FINNEAS on Scoring the New Season of ‘BEEF,’ Speaking Out & Whether There’s an EGOT in His Future Little Mix's Perrie Edwards Posts Stunning Photos of Wedding To Soccer Star Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in Portugal Howie D Embraces His Puerto Rican Roots in 'Coqui': 'I've Held Myself Back, But Now is the Time' In the latest episode of On the Record, Finneas talks about the evolution of record production as an art form all the way back from the days of tape recording to now, when recording is cheap and accessible to all. He explains his own evolution as a producer over the last decade, dating back to his rise during the SoundCloud era to his latest project and how he applies his skills to craft the score for the newest season of the hit TV show, Beef. Check out the full episode of On the Record below on YouTube, or check it out on other podcast platforms here . Read a condensed and edited portion of the conversation below. There’s a Quincy Jones quote where he says, essentially, that the record producer is like the director of film. Do you find that to be accurate for you doing this role today? Finneas: Yeah, I think of that as the same. I also [think] the artist should be the other director of the film. I think that maybe there are artists that are really put together by a committee, and they are given songs that they haven’t written, they’re put in outfits that they didn’t choose, and maybe that’s a different thing, because I would make that analogous to a movie star. But when I work with an artist, I let them be a director over me. If I’m a director, they’re the superior director, because it’s my job to sort of go like, “Yeah, I don’t know, between those two, I like this one better,” but at the end of the day, they’re going to go off and play the song every day for 20 years, so I want them to like it even more than I like it. I imagine there are some artists you work with that don’t have production savvy, so they might struggle to articulate what they’re looking for. Is that a challenging position for you as a producer? There are pros and cons to the lack of technical vernacular, and I’ve said this to Billie a lot lately, because Billie, over the course of the three albums we’ve made, I’ve hipped her to more and more of her own vocal engineering, because she’s got a great ear, and it just makes her life 20 seconds faster all the time… One of the things I said to her like