Billie Eilish graced the cover of Variety’s annual Hitmakers issue, talking about her family, fans and how she took control of her career without losing her soul. See exclusive behind-the-scenes outtakes from the cover photoshoot below.

Photographed at Allee Willis’ Willis Wonderland

  • Uncompromising

    “When I was starting out, one of the only things I heard was that the music was too dark, too sad, too depressing, that it wasn’t happy enough,” Eilish says. “There was this period where all I was hearing was ‘Smile! Talk about how much you love yourself!’ — and I was literally at a time when I didn’t love myself. Now I can, but then, I was a little 14-year-old.”

  • Like a Boss

    “With my friend groups and things I did, I was always the one in charge, the alpha,” Eilish says. “I’ve always wanted to do my own s—, be my own person — not controlling people, but controlling what I’m doing.”

  • The Mighty Finn

    Nearly every song Billie Eilish has recorded has been co-written and produced by her brother, Finneas O’Connell. “I’d be pretty bummed out if I woke up one day and was, like, super famous,” Finneas says. “But the flip side of that is that I want my music to be heard by as many people as possible.”

  • A Family Business

    In addition to writing with her brother, Eilish’s parents, Maggie Baird and Patrick O’Connell, both former actors, are salaried members of the crew, serving as a sort of empowered personal assistant/fan-outreach coordinator and utility player, respectively.

  • Taking Control

    Asked when his daughter’s assertiveness first manifested itself, Patrick says, “In hindsight, you could see it in the 3-year-old — she’s always been a ‘bossy britches,’” he laughs, referencing an old family term. “She has very strong ideas about what she wants artistically. She may be completely clueless about other things, but oh, my God, does she want the lights and the music and her clothes a certain way.”

  • ‘The CEO of Billie Eilish’

    “We take the lead from her and set her up to be in control,” says John Janick, chairman and CEO of Interscope Geffen A&M. “I want artists with vision, who know what they want, and she had that at 14. She’s an old soul with a unique and strong point of view, and she’s like a Mack truck, strong-willed and unstoppable. She is the CEO of Billie Eilish.”

  • Not the ‘Bad Guy’ After All

    Ask the people around her why she’s hit it so big, and the default adjectives are that she’s “real” and “authentic” and “unique.” But Justin Lubliner, head of Darkroom, the Interscope-partnered label to which she is signed, posits a well-articulated theory: “She’s your best friend in high school or college,” he says. “She represents something people want for themselves — to express and connect, to say and do what they want. Her intelligence and the sophistication of her songs connect with adults and remind them of their favorite artists, and young people connect with her independence.”

  • A Hitmaking Duo

    “She’s incredibly generous about it,” says Finneas of their musical partnership. “It’s crazy and cool to me that people are so aware of the creative circumstance.”

  • Dealing With Fame

    Eilish’s rise was the result of a deliberate and strategic three-year process that brought a home-schooled 13-year-old to where she is today. She readily admits she was taken aback by the demands of being groomed for stardom. “I was not prepared for it,” she says.

  • ‘A High Price’

    “The gifts that come from this are great, although there’s quite a high price,” her mother says. “But Billie has a great team and great managers, and me and Patrick saying, ‘That’s too much!’ when it is. Something that’s been helpful has been saying to her, ‘The reason we’re doing this is because you’ve said you want that,’ and I think that helped her to cope with it.”

  • A Fine Line

    ”I forget sometimes that they’re not literally my friends,” Eilish says of her fans. “It’s weird, like, that’s probably the biggest con in it all: that people I’ve never met think I’m really close friends with them.”

  • Iconic

    “Without speaking for her,” her father says, “I believe she wanted to be seen and heard and what she does to matter, like we all do. Now, did she want to lose all of her freedom as a teenager and not be able to go to the mall? No. But she wanted to be iconic.”

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