Billie Eilish: From e-girl to Icon: The Unofficial Biography

by Adrian Besley

With a number one album in multiple countries and over 53 million Instagram followers, Billie Eilish is a global star. She has collaborated with Justin Bieber and Khalid, headlined at Glastonbury and Coachella, and has appeared in Calvin Klein ad campaigns. In a short career she has become an icon to Generation Z. In 2020, she will embark on an already sold out tour spanning North and South America and Europe, which will raise her profile even further. Billie grew up in a close-knit family - her brother Finneas still writes and produces her songs - in Highland Park, a suburb of LA. Home-schooled and encouraged to express herself, she was a promising dancer until musical success came literally overnight in 2015. 'Ocean Eyes', a song uploaded to SoundCloud for her dance tutor, received a thousand plays in twenty-four hours. The thirteen-year-old's ethereal singing voice was intoxicating and the track went viral. But she was no one-hit wonder; over the next year, Billie and Finneas produced a series of eclectic but equally bewitching tracks, such as 'Bellyache', 'Idontwannabeyouanymore' and 'My Boy', resulting in the Don't Smile at Me EP which broke the top twenty in over a dozen countries. Her new fans discovered an artist who, undaunted and even emboldened by her youth, had something to say about independence, veganism, mental health, body image, love and the maelstrom of teenage life.This book follows her journey from singing in her bedroom to performing at massive arenas around the globe. It reveals the story behind the hits and explores what makes Billie Eilish the most extraordinary teenage star in the world.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction, Music

245 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 11, 2020

About the author

Adrian Besley is a freelance writer and former copywriter for the BBC. He is the author of many non-fiction titles, including EXO: K-Pop Superstars, Blackpink: K-Pop's No.1 Girl Group and the forthcoming Billie Eilish: From e-girl to icon, as well as 5 Seconds of Summer Confidential and a series of top-selling YouTube books, including YouTube World Records.

Reviews

[lily ✿ · Rating 2 out of 5]

my mom brought this home for me because she knows that i like billie (and, despite being freaked out by the cover of ‘when we all fall asleep, where do we go’, she does too.) as a fan of her music but not necessarily her personal life, i certainly learned some cool fun facts about billie, particularly concerning the creation of and inspiration for her songs. however, it came across as incredibly boring at times, with so much detail being put into describing her outfits and other mundane things that i didn’t much care about.

[Siem · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bij de bieb zag ik dit boek en dacht ik: misschien leuk om te lezen.
Het is een biografie, maar niet door Billie zelf geschreven (dat vond ik pijnlijk, maar ach ja ik had het boek toch al in huis). Het boek was best interessant, maar het ging veel te veel in op de details van nummers (ik snap daar niets van). Dus las ik er maar een beetje door heen.
Ik geef het maar twee sterren.
Ik ben door dit boek wel weer helemaal in mijn Billie era, erg fijn. 🎶

(Biebboek, NL)

[Ксенія Шпак]

Якось так:)

[Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

De schrijfstijl was echt verrassend goed, maar ik ben altijd een beetje sceptisch over biografieën die geschreven zijn zonder input van de artiest want dan kan je net zo goed een wikipedia pagina opzoeken en die lezen dan heb je hetzelfde resultaat HAHA

[Rylie · Rating 3 out of 5]

great biography, i used this for a project for an English and Social Studies project, but it only goes up to about the 2020 Grammys. this books is great if you want to learn about her early life, but otherwise it was quite useless for my project

[Helena Maling · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ma teadsin varem Billiest vaid üksikuid fakte, kuid nüüd tean palju rohkem kuidas see 14!!!! aastane noor samm sammult maailma tippu jõudis!💚 Natuke üldine ja pealiskaudne, oleks tahnud rohkem sellist deepi juttu ka.

[Victor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Si te gusta Billie Eilish y no te gustan las biografías densas que se enrollan en cosas que no tocan, te recomiendo mucho este libro. Es muy ligerito de leer, y en unas 200 páginas resume muy bien la vida sobretodo artística de Billie. Cuenta alguna anécdota que está chula y no se enrolla demasiado en ellas. El único problema (para mí es bastante grave) es que la traducción del libro al español es un poco pobre, tanto que parece que hayan puesto el libro en el Google Traductor y le hayan dado a "traducir". Hay muchas expresiones que suenan raras al traducirlas literalmente. Aun así el libro se entiende.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book, a joy to read and from someone who loves her music and has also been intrigued about her story, it was very enjoyable.

[KARATAD · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jeszcze bardziej pokochalam Billie dzieki tej ksiazce. Mimo ze jest to nieoficjalna biografia to mam nadzieje, ze autor nie skłamal na zaden temat.

[lils · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5

[Ninbooklover · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5/5🌟

I bought this because it was cheap (€3,99) and I do like Billie Eilish.

If you follow or know her songs then this book is interesting but alot you would know already I think. I enjoyed it and finished it in 1 sitting. It's really easy to read and interesting how the James Bond song was made.

If you like her or want to know more about her then go read this book.

[Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of Billie's so obviously picked up this book when I saw it. The information was mostly stuff I already knew but was still fun to read. I'd say you should defiantly read it if you want to find out more about her music journey and personal life.
I did get in for £4 so the fact that I knew most of the information anyway didn't matter to me as its just a good item to add to my endless collection haha!

[mil🧸 · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5⭐️

[Claire · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ho letto questo libro perché sto preparando un saggio su Billie Eilish e sulla gestione della sua immagine come popstar.

Il resoconto del libro è molto completo: l'autore segue tutte le "gesta" di Billie dall'infanzia fino al 2020.

Vengono raccontate le origini di Billie, gli esordi, i concerti, la creazione degli album, dei singoli e dei video.

I fatti sono elencati in ordine cronologico e l'accento è sempre sui valori di autenticità, talento, creatività e straordinarietà che sono alla base del racconto di Billie come mito della musica pop.

Si tratta chiaramente di un volume scritto con toni entusiastici e "da fan", per i fan. Nonostante questo la ricchezza aneddotica di fatti elencati ne fa un resoconto davvero completo per chi voglia stabilire una timeline del percorso di Billie e anche per chi avesse bisogno di uno spunto da cui partire per poi muoversi verso una critica maggiormente approfondita di testi e video delle canzoni dell'artista (di cui si accennano in modo molto chiaro tutte le tematiche).

[Alison · Rating 4 out of 5]

This biography was informative and interesting enough to keep even an adult reader captivated about the rise to stardom of Billie Eilish at the young age of 13 on the internet with “Ocean Eyes”. The way the author describes Billie Eilish’s songs, makes one hop onto YouTube to watch each music video to compare whether or not the author did the song proper justice. Did you know her middle name is Pirate which came from her older brother? It is appropriate for tween readers, but does occasionally discuss Eilish’s mental health struggles which may not be understood by all readers but is still important for them to be aware of.

There are no citations for sources used but Besley notes in the acknowledgement section at the end of the book how “the openness and honesty of Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell in interviews” as what made his research and writing possible. Seeing as media articles cannot always be completely correct, one would want to suggest to students who are writing about Billie Eilish to not use just one source, like this book.

[Annette Heslin · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Biography of Billie Eilish is described and detailed to the last detail. From a young teenager (13) who was singing and recording music with her actor/musician brother Finneas and they have hit success. Winning many awards between them.

I have never heard of Billie Eilish before, and ironically since reading this book, her name and concert tours have been popping up. Probably a coincidence and I have just started to take notice.

However, Billie herself sounds like an interesting person. The writing depicted just felt like someone has researched her life from papers and magazines. It never once felt like something directly answered by Billie herself. It was too factual for me to appreciate.

[Nienke]

Ik vind het lastig om echt een ster beoordeling te geven aan een biografie, aangezien het natuurlijk gewoon haar leven is wat word verteld.

Als ik puur kijk naar de opbouw van het boek vond ik het niet heel goed. het was erg chaotisch. In het begin van het boek was het nog wel chronologisch, maar later in het boek werd alles een beetje door elkaar verteld. Veel gebeurtenissen kwamen dan ook vaker naar voren in dit boek en dat had van mij niet gehoeven. Op een gegeven moment dacht ik "ja dit weet ik nu wel".

Ook is de biografie geschreven zonder input van de artiest zelf. Het voelde daardoor minder persoonlijk en leek het een beetje alsof je dit gewoon vanuit Wikipedia las.

Dus geen ster beoordeling, maar niet echt goed geschreven.

[I'mogén · Rating 3 out of 5]

Been a fan of her music since Ocean Eyes, but I think I head it a few years later, so it was good to read a little bit about how she came to fame, her beliefs and experience with the industry. 

I loved the relationship with her and Finneas, I always get a little chocked up when they're singing together. 


It probably would have hit harder had it been Billie who wrote it or had input, but this was still a sound biography, with a lot of information that was new to me.


Pick it up, give it a go & enjoy

[Jacky · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5
Ok, know more about her than before I embarked on this biography of sorts but did not enjoy Adrian Besley's style of documenting/ writing. It got a little boring after a few chapters.

Enjoy her music, still on my biography/ memoir reading spell coming straight from the superior Me by Elton John. I should get the biography written by Billie Eilish herself huh. Didn't know there was one till just.

[Nieke Klijnstra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting to know what also happens behind the scenes at billie eilish. I don't like biographies very much myself. The book was fun to read at times, but later it became more and more boring
NL=
Interessant om te weten wat ook achter de schermen gebeurdt bij billie eilish. Ik hou zelf niet erg veel van biografieën.het boek was soms wel leuk om te lezen maar later werdt steeds saaier

[Oliviaxbooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

En tant que fan de Billie, j’ai beaucoup apprécié ce livre qui m’en a appris beaucoup sur sa vie personnelle.
Il y avait également des anecdotes très intéressantes sur la façon dont-elle a créer chacun de ses sons avec Finneas.

[Cristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un gran libro para cualquier fan de Billie, realiza un recorrido por la artista contando acnedotas , recopilaciones de citas de entrevista. Haciendo un recorrido a lo largo de su carrera .

Además, incluye imágenes.

[Jasmine Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

i’m only rating it a 4⭐️ because i already know everything in it but that’s just coming from a billie fan!
for someone who’s just getting into her music or for someone who doesn’t listen to her and is just reading it for curiosity it’s a cool book i had fun reading it on holiday :))

[Matilde Chicharro Randet · Rating 4 out of 5]

4'5/5⭐

[Elina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too much Wikipedia

[Zosia Eichh]

love it

[Annette · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great way to get to know her, the author does repeat himself often. But I began to like her even more than I already did!

[Femke Hogenstijn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Leuk om over haar te lezen, maar geen heel bijzonder boek.

[Emiko Emi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Książka na prawdę przesuper, dowiedziałam się wielu ciekawostek o życiu Billie jednak uważam, że tak długie opisy jej ubrań na prawdę nie były zbytnio potrzebne xD

[Vic_story · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fajne