Finneas O'Connell

Finneas Baird O'Connell was born on July 30, 1997, in Los Angeles, California, to actress and screenwriter Maggie Baird and actor Patrick O'Connell, both of whom are also musicians. O'Connell is of Irish and Scottish descent. In 2010, at age 12, he took a songwriting class with his mother and began writing and producing songs.

Songwriting and producing

O'Connell has said his experience playing characters helped with writing music for his younger sister, Billie Eilish, because he writes from her perspective and for her vocal range. He stated: "Being able to hear an artist and emulate them has been a huge part of being successful as a producer and co-writer". When he writes for his sister, he wants to "write a song that I think she'll relate to and enjoy singing and empathise with the lyrics and make her own", and when he writes with her he tries to "help her tell whatever story she's trying to tell, bounce ideas off of her, listen to her ideas."

Similarly to other artists, if you're writing and you know that someone else's voice is going to be the voice telling the story, it should be a language that fits them. ... Everybody has a different vocabulary, a different way of putting sentences together, and the easiest way to tell if a song wasn't written by someone is if it doesn't fit their vernacular, so I try to match whatever I'm helping them make to whoever they seem to be. A lot of that also ... is asking an artist how they feel about it. If you come up with a line, even if an artist really likes it and is like 'That's a really cool line,' it's like 'Yeah, but can you wear it? Is it a thing you'd feel comfortable with singing every time?'

O'Connell had written and produced the song "Ocean Eyes" originally for his band, but he gave it to Eilish when her dance teacher asked them to write a song for a choreography. They posted the song on SoundCloud, garnering praise from various websites. O'Connell's manager reached out to him in November 2015 to talk about Eilish's potential. O'Connell then helped Eilish sign to the A&R company Platoon. He co-wrote and produced Eilish's debut EP Don't Smile at Me (2017), which peaked at number 14 on the US Billboard 200. O'Connell also co-wrote and produced Eilish's debut studio album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (2019), which debuted atop the US and UK charts. He won the 2020 Grammy Awards for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical; Record of the Year and Song of the Year for Eilish's "Bad Guy"; and Album of the Year and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical for When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?. Eilish's subsequent albums Happier Than Ever (2021) and Hit Me Hard and Soft (2024) were also co-written and produced by O'Connell.

He has also been known to work with Grammy winners the Coutinho twins (Mason and Jules Coutinho). He produced the 2019 single "Lose You to Love Me" by Selena Gomez, which peaked at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, and two tracks on the 2019 album Romance by Camila Cabello. He also produced "Moral of the Story" by Ashe, and collaborated with John Legend on an unreleased song. O'Connell composed the scores for the 2021 teen drama film The Fallout and the 2022 black comedy film Vengeance.

Solo music career

He is the lead singer and songwriter of the band the Slightlys, which played the Warped Tour in 2015. His first solo single, "New Girl", was released in 2016, with the music video released in 2019. In 2017, he released the single "I'm in Love Without You", and eight singles in 2018: "Break My Heart Again", "Heaven", "Life Moves On", "Landmine", "Hollywood Forever", "College", "Luck Pusher", and "Let's Fall in Love for the Night". In early 2019, O'Connell played his first sold-out headline shows in New York and Los Angeles.

His debut EP, Blood Harmony, was released on October 4, 2019. The EP's first single, "I Lost a Friend", was released on June 25, 2019, while the second single, "Shelter", was released on August 22, 2019, and the third single, "I Don't Miss You At All", on September 20, 2019. In October 2019, he embarked on his first headlining tour, in five cities in the US, in addition to a performance at Austin City Limits.

On August 7, 2020, he released a surprise deluxe version of Blood Harmony, featuring two new tracks, "Break My Heart Again" and "Let's Fall in Love for the Night (1964)", the latter being an alternate version of the sixth track, "Let's Fall in Love for the Night". About two weeks later, O'Connell released a single titled "What They'll Say About Us". It peaked at number 17 on the US Billboard Alternative Songs chart. On October 21, O'Connell released his single "Can't Wait to Be Dead" about his love-hate relationship with the Internet, along with a visual directed by Constellation Jones the following day.

O'Connell is one of twelve artists featured on Ringo Starr's 2021 EP Zoom In, contributing backing vocals to the song "Here's to the Nights". On March 2, 2021, O'Connell and Ashe released a collaboration titled "Till Forever Falls Apart", which he co-wrote and produced. On August 5, 2021, O'Connell announced that his debut studio album Optimist would be released on October 15, 2021, through Interscope Records, and shared its lead single "A Concert Six Months from Now".

On August 8, 2024, O'Connell announced that his second studio album, For Cryin' Out Loud!, would be released on October 4, 2024, that day he also released the title track as the lead single. On January 24, 2025, he made his Like a Version debut with a cover of the Zombies' "Time of the Season". O'Connell embarked on the United States leg of his 2025 tour in support of For Cryin' Out Loud! on February 13, with a performance in Nashville, Tennessee.

Acting

In 2011, O'Connell played a student in the comedy film Bad Teacher. In 2013, he co-starred in Life Inside Out, written by and starring his mother, Maggie, and directed by Jill D'Agnenica. He had recurring guest roles on Modern Family and Aquarius, and played Alistair in the final season of the musical comedy-drama television series Glee in 2015. In April 2026, O'Connell made an appearance as a fictionalized version of himself on an episode of Beef.

O'Connell lives in the Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles. He was raised vegetarian before becoming vegan. O'Connell has been in a relationship with YouTuber and actress Claudia Sulewski since September 2018. His single "Claudia" was written after the night they met. On September 24, 2025, the couple announced their engagement on social media. They married on August 29, 2026.

Since the start of the Gaza war, O'Connell has been a vocal advocate for Palestinian human rights on and off social media. At the 96th Academy Awards in March 2024, he and Eilish wore Artists4Ceasefire pins on the red carpet; the campaign calls for permanent ceasefire in the Gaza war and the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians. In September 2025, O'Connell appeared alongside Eilish in Together for Palestine video campaign, which urged an end to "the widespread violence and killing taking place in Gaza" and called on global leaders to intervene, with proceeds directed to Palestinian-led organizations providing relief on the ground. On September 15, 2026, amidst the Macklemore-Ed Sheeran tour controversy, he withdrew as an opening act for Ed Sheeran's Loop Tour after Macklemore was removed as an opening act for declaring "free Palestine". O'Connell said, "Artists must not be silenced when they speak up for the oppressed. I have decided to withdraw from my upcoming tour dates with Ed Sheeran. I stand with Palestine and its people."

O'Connell endorsed the Kamala Harris 2024 presidential campaign. On June 8, 2025, he was struck by tear gas while protesting against mass deportations by ICE.

Studio albums

• Optimist (2021)
• For Cryin' Out Loud! (2024)

With the Favors

• The Dream (2025)

Extended plays

• Blood Harmony (2019)

Headlining tours

• Optimist Tour (2021)
• For Cryin' Out Loud Tour (2025)