FINNEAS, the producer, provides a unique sound to Billie’s music as well as other artists’ and his own. The more you listen to him, the more his sound is recognizable. One aspect of his producing that strikes me is how he puts ordinary sounds in the music, and it’s the how that I love. In Billie’s song, “Watch”, if you listen closely, there is the sound of matches being lit. How that sound came alive was not just a computer: FINNEAS and Billie actually lit matches in their bathroom and recorded the sound. FINNEAS then took that sound and incorporated it with the mixes on his computer. Furthermore, in FINNEAS’s “Hollywood Forever”, there are crickets chirping. Again, he opened his window (where he and Billie produce their music) and recorded live cricket chirps to add to the song. He heard crickets and thought, That’s a cool sound. What did he do? He recorded it and put it in a song later. I love how FINNEAS uses everyday noises and incorporates it in his music— it makes it more authentic and personable by adding meaning to the song and also allowing the listener to feel like they are in the song. Not many producers use sounds that you hear everyday or in life in general, and that’s what makes him special.
Another thing that makes FINNEAS a mastermind is his lyrics. Personally, I consider myself a poet— I mostly whip up a poem when I’m feeling either really happy and really sad, so I have a strong appreciation for lyrics. FINNEAS’s lyrics are a model for how I want to write and also make me less alone. In his song, “I Lost a Friend,” he captures the pain of losing a friend that he never thought he’d lose and he described it in a way that most people can relate to; for instance, he sings, “I lost a friend/Like keys in a sofa/Like a wallet in the backseat/Like ice in the summer heat.” While these lyrics don’t seem too grand, he creates a scenario that many people can relate to: you lose things that are uncontrollable…so even if you haven’t lost a friend, in a way, FINNEAS creates lyrics that help understand the pain that he is going through. Another example that I want to touch upon is Billie’s “When The Party is Over,” which he wrote. This song, at least from my interpretation, represents how your inner demons can prevent you from opening yourself up. FINNEAS captures it best when he writes, “Don’t you know too much already?/I’ll only hurt you if you let me/Call me friend but keep me closer (Call me back)/And I’ll call you when the party’s over.” Here, FINNEAS describes how being locked up raises a lot of barriers and with Billie’s voice, it adds an eerie feeling, almost like hopelessness (it’s also why FINNEAS and Billie make a heck of a duo). When I listened to that song for the first time I thought, Wow I relate. Other lyrics that FINNEAS wrote that I love in general are: “Am I in your head?/half as often as you’re on my mind,” “I don’t want an education/From anybody else tonight/And I don’t want to change the station/Cuz you’re the only one I like” and finally, “Thought you wanted me tied down/It started to chafe/But it’s easy to see now/You just wanted me safe.” Long story short, he’s a talented-ass man.
