Latest news with #ForCryin'OutLoud!
Extra.ie
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Extra.ie
Billie Eilish's brother Finneas brands Jedward his good luck charm
I guess two is better than one, making Jedward twice as lucky as any of the rest of us! Jedward have been called many things over the course of their nearly two decades long career, but I think this is the first time they've been branded a 'good omen.' US pop singer and Billie Eilish's brother, Finneas, chatted in a recent interview about his good luck charms before a gig, and yes, the twins from Lucan were fleetingly mentioned. I guess two is better than one, making Jedward twice as lucky as any of the rest of us! Pic: Michael Tran / AFP When asked by Capital FM if he had any good luck rituals before a performance, Finneas recounted a story from one of his most recent Irish gigs. 'The other day, before our first show in Dublin of this tour, we kept talking about omens,' he began. ''This is a good omen, this is a bad omen',' the star added. 'We saw a poster for the band Jedward on the wall. We decided that that was a good omen.' Naturally fans were perplexed by the crossover, with many rushing to the comments. 'Finneas knowing who jedward are was not on my 2025 bingo card,' one fan wrote. 'Wait how are Jedward not in the comments yet? Are they okay?' another quizzed. Jedward have been called many things over the course of their nearly two decades long career, but I think this is the first time they've been branded a 'good omen.' Pic: David Fisher/Shutterstock 'What weird fever dream am I in that has finneas talking about @JedwardTiktok' a third penned. GRAMMY-winning producer and songwriter Finneas recently played a headline show in Dublin's 3Olympia on April 14, 2025. The Dublin gig kicked off the UK and European leg of his For Cryin' Out Loud! tour in support of his sophomore album, which lands October 4.
Boston Globe
12-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
FINNEAS spreads his wings on a solo tour
Advertisement Calling from Los Angeles the day before he embarked on a solo tour across the United States – which pulls up to Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'I'm not always living my own advice there,' he says, referencing his aversion to workaholism. 'That's probably a kind of intense way to work.' 'Intense' is the right word to describe the skyward trajectory of O'Connell's career, although he seems to joyfully lean into that intensity. It's been six years since he and his sister became a world-renowned tag team via Eilish's multi-platinum record 'WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?', which included the slinky megasmash 'bad guy.' Understandably, O'Connell says his career has already reached 'somewhere that I never thought I'd get.' For some artists, surpassing all personal expectations before age 30 would incur an existential crisis. Instead, O'Connell says he feels unintimidated by his early success. 'I think your dreams should be linear and you should explore things that are interesting to you – and if you achieve something that you hoped to achieve, you should be proud of that and then maybe try to move on with your life,' he says. 'I don't think you should be trying to always be in some opportune spot or location or something. I think you should just be working on things that you're happy to work on.' Advertisement Finneas performs Feb. 21 at MGM Music Hall at Fenway. Muriel Margaret While the artist hasn't abandoned any one sound or creative medium, his recent output demonstrates that he's not content to tread an award-winning rut, either. Now that O'Connell feels confident with his chops as a pop producer, he embraces being 'a novice in the scoring world.' Composing music for visual media like 'Disclaimer' is a welcome learning experience, one that he likens to developing 'a different muscle group' in a new workout. O'Connell is still doing reps in the pop/rock world, though. 'For Cryin' Out Loud!' balances striking balladry with breezy toe-tappers, true to the Eilish-O'Connell family's knack for molding vulnerability into undeniable earworms. But unlike his 2021 record 'Optimist,' which O'Connell wrote and produced himself, he approached his latest record as a venture among close friends, and invited folks like Bad Suns drummer Miles Morris and Aron Forbes, a longtime collaborator of Eilish, to join him. In addition to singing, O'Connell flexed his multi-instrumentalist skill set across the album, playing keyboard, percussion, synthesizer, guitar, and bass on various tracks. 'For Cryin' Out Loud!' began to take shape in the first week of some studio sessions with his collaborators in Los Angeles, yielding songs like '2001' and the fluttering album closer 'Lotus Eater.' Another early tune to emerge, the drifting and delicate number 'Little Window,' O'Connell says has been one of the biggest joys to play live. O'Connell has previously described the record as 'hyper-collaborative,' although he says his sister remains his 'favorite person to work with in any capacity.' When they perform together – as they did at the Grammy Awards two weekends ago, where he and Eilish played her nominated song 'Birds of a Feather' – the natural ease of their collaboration shines in their stage presence. (It's no surprise that when asked which musical family he wants to go down in history alongside, O'Connell cites the legendary brother-sister duo the Carpenters). The 2021 documentary 'Billie Eilish: The World's A Little Blurry' broadened the view of their relationship to include their parents, thwarting any misconceptions about an unhealthy family dynamic. Advertisement 'People [who watched the film] saw our parents for who they are, which is incredibly thoughtful, kind people,' O'Connell says. 'I think there's a lot of understandable wariness of stage parents, so to speak, in the music industry, and I get that. I would probably be wary of that, too, if I were somebody else. But I think people kind of being like, 'oh, wow, they're really not like that at all' was a satisfying experience.' While the pair doesn't work intimately on his solo music in the same way that they do when crafting Eilish's records, her input is still a valuable resource to O'Connell. 'She's a busy person, so I don't bug her very often about my music,' he says. 'I try to let her, you know, exist. But I always play her stuff if she asks to hear anything – I play it for her and super respect her opinion, so [I'm] always happy to have it. If she has a favorite song, that matters a lot to me, I lean into that one. If she is disconnected from something, I want to know about that, too.' Advertisement O'Connell then hints at a new project that they're currently working on – 'another can't-talk-about-it scenario,' as he explains it. Which is fine, because with his United States tour on the horizon, followed by a jaunt across Europe, O'Connell has plenty on his plate. 'Playing a sold-out tour is dreamy and crazy and amazing to me,' he says. 'I'm playing bigger venues than I thought I would play. We're playing the [Hollywood] Palladium on this tour – which is a nice big venue in L.A. – and a nice big venue in Boston. Again, that's such a joy, and I don't take it for granted.' FINNEAS With Bad Suns. At MGM Music Hall at Fenway, 2 Lansdowne St., Boston, Feb. 21, 8 p.m. $50.75,
