- Singer Billie Eilish is best known for her edgy, streetwear-inspired style, and her moody songs like “Bad Guy” and “Bury a Friend.”
- But the singer, who recently turned 18, is more than just a pop hitmaker.
- Before she got into music, Eilish worked at a stable to help finance her riding habit, and provided background vocals for films like “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” and “X-Men.”
- The teenager is also a lifelong vegetarian-turned-vegan who loves animals.
- Visit Insider’s homepage for more stories.
“Bad Guy” singer Billie Eilish is known for her edgy style and moody, genre-defying songs, but there’s more to the pop star than meets the eye.
Eilish, who turned 18 on Wednesday, was raised by actor parents in Los Angeles, and even went to a few auditions herself before making it big as a musician.
And her first single “Ocean Eyes,” which quickly went viral after she posted it to SoundCloud in 2016, was originally written for a dance class.
Here are 11 things you probably didn’t know about Billie Eilish.
Eilish frequently texts with Drake — and also has contact info for Ariana Grande, Hailey and Justin Bieber, and Avril Lavigne in her phone.
"Drake is like the nicest dude I've ever spoken to," the singer said in an interview with Vanity Fair earlier this year. "I mean, I've only like, texted him, but he's so nice. He does not need to be nice, but he is."
Eilish also revealed that she has contact info for a variety of other stars, including Kid Cudi, and Teyana Taylor.
Her favorite color is black, and her favorite movie is 2013's "Fruitvale Station."
"Black is the only time I can go through the airport and be fine," Eilish said in the same interview. According to the singer, being in the airport is normally like a meet and greet, "but if I'm wearing a black beanie, and a black shirt, and some black pants, and some black shoes, I'm pretty good."
The teenager also said, without hesitation, that her favorite film was 2013's "Fruitvale Station," which focuses on the real-life shooting of black teenager Oscar Grant by a transit police officer in Oakland, California in 2009.
Eilish was a huge Belieber back in the day.
In July, the singer posted a hilarious throwback photo of her as a child, standing in front of an array of "Believe"-era Bieber posters.
According to Eilish, her love for Bieber began when she was 12, and the singer even sent him a DM a year later in 2014. Although Bieber didn't end up answering her original message, the two went on to collaborate with a remix of Eilish's "Bad Guy" that they released earlier this year, and even met up at Coachella in April.
The 17-year-old is a huge fan of NBC's "The Office."
Eilish is such a big fan of the NBC comedy, she even sampled dialogue from a season seven episode in her song "My Strange Addiction."
The audio features the voices of Michael Scott (Steve Carell), Andy Bernard (Ed Helms), Jim Halpert (John Krasinski), Ryan Howard (BJ Novak), Kelly Kapoor (Mindy Kaling), and Kevin Malone (Brian Baumgartner) as they perform Scott's screenplay "Threat Level Midnight" - which famously includes a dance called "The Scarn."
"When we made the beat for 'My Strange Addiction,' it reminded me of the song they play when they do the Scarn dance," Eilish said to MTV News of her decision to feature the dialogue in her song.
"I thought that was really funny, so we literally just ripped the audio from Netflix and put it in the song, not at all thinking that they would say yes to it and we'd be able to put it out. Also, it's about strange addictions, and 'The Office' is mine."
Eilish has been open about her struggles with Tourette syndrome and synesthesia.
The singer frequently discusses her mental illness in interviews and on social media, and has also talked about her experience with the syndrome while appearing on "The Ellen Show" in April.
Eilish said that being more open about her disorder has helped her connect with her fans.
"I think I also really learned that a lot of my fans have it, which made me feel kind of more at home with saying it, and also I felt like there was a connection there," the singer said to Ellen.
And in an interview with Rolling Stone, Eilish also opened up about her experiences with synesthesia, a neurosensory condition in which one sense is perceived along with additional senses. Or, as Eilish explained, "Every person I know has their own color and shape and number in my head, but it's normal to me."
She originally recorded her hit single "Ocean Eyes" for a dance class.
Her brother and frequent collaborator Finneas wrote the song in 2015, and Eilish originally recorded it for her dance teacher, who'd asked for a song she could use to choreograph a routine.
But after "Ocean Eyes" was uploaded to SoundCloud, it quickly went viral, and essentially launched Eilish's career as a pop artist.
Billie's full name is Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell.
Eilish's parents Maggie Baird and Patrick O'Connell, who are both actors, apparently wanted her first name to be "Eilish" after they watched a documentary about conjoined Irish twins, Katie and Eilish Holton. But when Baird's father Bill died during her pregnancy, they decided to name their daughter after him.
And Eilish's unique second middle name came about after her brother Finneas, who was four at the time of her birth, became dead set on calling her "Pirate."
Before she was a famous pop star, Eilish provided background vocals for movies like "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" and "X-Men."
Although Eilish tried her hand at acting, she didn't have much patience for the audition process. Instead, she enjoyed "looping," or recording background dialogue for group scenes in films.
"I did 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid,' 'Ramona and Beezus,' 'X-Men,'" Eilish told Rolling Stone. "It was fun - a bunch of kids in a room yelling random things, and then we'd have a break and get snacks."
Billie is a lifelong vegetarian who went vegan in 2014.
In a Tumblr post from 2018, Eilish explained her reasons for making the switch to a vegan lifestyle.
"I love animals and I just think there's no point in creating something out of an animal when the animal is already there. Leave animals alone," she wrote. Eilish also revealed that she's lactose intolerant and as such, her skin doesn't react well to dairy.
Eilish also told outlet Montreality in 2018 that since she'd grown up a vegetarian and had never tasted meat, it wasn't a big deal for her to become vegan.
She was homeschooled, and passed her high school equivalency exam when she was 15.
Eilish's parents were former actors who left their careers to homeschool the singer and her brother Finneas. They didn't have a formal curriculum - instead letting the siblings focus on whatever topics interested them the most - but Eilish passed her equivalency exam and graduated high school when she was just 15.
The singer used to work at a stable to fund her horseback riding habit, and has continued to ride as a means of improving her mental health.
When she was younger, Eilish worked at a nearby stable in exchange for riding lessons, since her family couldn't afford to pay for them upfront, but eventually stopped because she felt others looked down on her for being "the poor girl around the stable."
But as her fame has grown, Eilish has found refuge in horseback riding once again, telling Rolling Stone, "It's more for my mental health than like, a hobby."
"Horses are the most therapeutic animals," she said to Elle in an interview from September. "Horses and dogs. And cows, dude. People eat those - that's crazy."