Pollstar 2019 Festival Hotstars: Billie Eilish

Tim Mosenfelder / Getty Images – Billie Eilish
Straight Outta Highland Park: Billie Eilish performs at Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival on June 9, 2018, in Manchester, Tenn.

Although the improbably named Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O’Connell won’t turn 17 until December, her career is already in full swing, with an EP released on EDM stalwart Justin Lubliner’s Darkroom Records imprint through Interscope and an upcoming debut album slated for next year. She just previewed its first single, “you should see me in a crown,” with a creepy-crawly video featuring very scary-looking spiders crawling up her body and out of her mouth.

This summer, Eilish proved to be a festival stalwart with appearances at several, including Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo, with Tyler, The Creator’s Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival and three sold-out dates at L.A.’s Fonda Theatre next. 

She is the supporting act for several dates on Florence + the Machine’s “High as Hope” tour, including January shows in Australia. Eilish is also slated to appear at New Zealand’s Laneway Festival, and three shows at London’s O2 Shepherd’s Bush next March, capping a sold-out three-month Euro tour. This year, she’s already embarked on a pair of U.S. solo tours, including the instantly sold-out “1 On 1,” starting Oct. 20 at Fox Theater in Oakland, Calif.

Paradigm Talent Agency’s Tom Windish reveals Eilish’s 2019 schedule includes “a good number of festivals in Europe,” with only one or two in the U.S. “We expect those performances will have huge crowds based on everything we’ve seen thus far,” he says. “She sold out both the U.S. and U.K./European tours in less than an hour. And her social media numbers are staggering.”

Eilish, with 6.1 million Instagram followers, was raised by a pair of actor/musicians in the L.A. suburb of Highland Park, and collaborates on her music with older brother Finneas O’Connell, who wrote and produced the brooding ballad “Ocean Eyes.” 

After posting the song about reaching out to an ex-lover on SoundCloud in 2016, she was suddenly a hot property and the track was certified platinum by the RIAA. Another single, “Bellyache,” went gold, as did “Lovely,” a duet with Khalid featured on Season 2 of the Netflix hit “13 Reasons Why.” 

Eilish’s debut EP, Don’t Smile At Me, topped Billboard’s U.S. Heatseekers chart and cracked the Top 40 on the album tally. Apple Music’s UpNext and Vevo’s LIFT series have placed their imprimatur on the young singer-songwriter.  

“Billie’s honesty and transparency shine through,” said Vevo VP of Original Content and Production Ed Walker. Eilish is also flexing her activist muscles by joining with L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti to encourage students to register to vote in the November elections.