A Conversation Between FINNEAS and Olivia O’Brien: On Beyoncé and Songwriting, Mostly.

Olivia O'Brien x Finneas
Olivia O'Brien x Finneas
Olivia O’Brien and FINNEAS, two of music’s most exciting names today, talk Beyoncé, songwriting, which songs they wish they’d written, and social media etiquette.

— —

Music has arguably never been as exciting as it is today, with new talents having the means to make music from their bedrooms at no cost, and the internet allowing us to discover our favourite new artists with just a few clicks. But in this era of over-saturation and short attention spans, how do you make something that matters and, more importantly, something that sticks? There’s no specific answer to this question, but if you make something fresh, honest, and pour your whole heart into it, you have a better shot than most at doing just that.

Case in point: Olivia O’Brien and FINNEAS (née Finneas O’Connell), two artists who embody exactly what music wants and needs right now. O’Brien rose to the spotlight with smash hit “i hate u i love u,” a collaboration between herself and gnash. Her debut EP It’s Not That Deep (Island Records), features a selection pop-infused, R&B tracks, with lyrics that beautifully explore O’Brien’s raw vulnerabilities. What results is a contemporary, relatable body of work that leaves you begging for more.

Meanwhile, Finneas O’Connell embodies the saying triple threat, being an extremely prolific songwriter, producer, and performer. His singles provide the listener with a sonically diverse musical palette – ballads like “Life Moves On” and “Break My Heart Again” completely suck you into his world and make you feel the pain of heartbreak, while “Heaven” reveals a more sultry aspect to his sound, and “New Girl” and “Landmine” show us his take on more mainstream pop. As co-writer and producer with sister Billie Eilish, O’Connell has penned certified Gold single “Ocean Eyes”, produced a song with Vince Staples, and performed on stages on almost all continents.

It’s an exciting time for both acts, with O’Brien gearing up to release her debut album, securing exciting festival slots, and at the same time recruiting artists like G-Eazy to remix her song, while FINNEAS shows us just how much he’s capable of with the release of monthly singles, touring the world with his sister Billie Eilish, and producing and writing songs with artists like Khalid and Jessie Reyez.

“RIP” – Olivia O’Brien ft. G-Eazy & Drew Love


Atwood Magazine felt really lucky when we found out that Olivia O’Brien and FINNEAS, two of our favourite artists, not only know each other, but also have worked together, and like each other a lot. Celebrating the release of O’Brien’s “RIP” remix featuring G-Eazy and Drew Love, and Aire Atlantica’s remix of FINNEAS’ “Landmine,” both dropping today (June 29, 2018), we asked FINNEAS and Olivia O’Brien to sit down for a conversation, moderated by Atwood, where FINNEAS had prepared a few questions for O’Brien to tackle.

“Landmine” (Aire Atlantica remix) – FINNEAS


What resulted was a refreshing and honest conversation between two friends where they touched on everything from the superficiality of social media, to Beyoncé’s overall brilliance, to whether or not they block their exes during an argument. Atwood Magazine is proud to bring this to you today. And while you’re at it, enjoy Atwood‘s specially curated playlist with our Olivia O’Brien and FINNEAS’ releases.

Olivia O’Brien x FINNEAS: A playlist by Atwood Magazine

OLIVIA O’BRIEN x FINNEAS

FINNEAS: Hi Olivia!

Olivia O’Brien: HI!

FINNEAS: I can’t believe you’re awake right now, because I wouldn’t be awake if I was in LA right now.

Olivia O’Brien: Yeah, I’m in bed so…

FINNEAS: That’s more than okay, I do all of my interviews after waking up. How’s your week been?

Olivia O’Brien: It’s been okay. I was in the studio for three days in a row so I’m really, really tired.

FINNEAS: I’ve prepared some questions for you, can I ask you some questions?

Olivia O’ Brien: Yeah, of course.

FINNEAS: This is a weird kind of gossipy question, but I was curious. Do you block your exes on Twitter, Instagram, etc or do you stalk them?

Olivia O’Brien: It kind of depends, I kind of go back and forth. If someone does something I’ll be like “Okay, I’ll just immediately block them” whatever, then a few days later I’ll be like “Hmmm maybe I should text them”. Right now I’m blocked by some guy that I like and that’s a new experience because I’ve never actually been blocked.

FINNEAS: Wow so you and I are in the exact same situation, which is that when I get into an argument with like an ex or whatever, I’ll say something then I’ll block them so I can’t get a response, then three days later I’ll feel apologetic and unblock them and be like “Hey, sorry that wasn’t cool”. But currently I am blocked by my ex.

FINNEAS: So I’ve been listening to a bunch of your music and right now my favourite song of yours that’s out is “Fuck Feelings.” I remember talking to you about when you wrote it and I think, if I’m correct, you said you wrote it because you said you had an A&R conversation and she’d said “Don’t swear” and you just wrote, “Fuck Feelings” (laughs). Is that true?

Olivia O’Brien: (laughs) Yeah. She told the producer “Whatever we do today, just make sure there are no curse words in the hook” and I was like “Okay, well” then I wrote “Fuck Feelings” (laughs)

FINNEAS: (laughs) But you know, this is why Island Records is happy to have you on their roster, because that’s who you are and that’s the best part about you, that you’re obstinate. But my favourite part about that song is that it has an ambiguity, I feel like I can equate that song to anything I’m thinking or feeling. Was there anything that that song was physically inspired by for you?

Olivia O’Brien: Yeah. I don’t remember who I specifically wrote it about to be honest, but I remember being upset with having a crush on this guy and knowing that it would never be a thing and being like “Why do I have to feel like this?” (laughs).

Listen: “Fuck Feelings” – Olivia O’Brien

FINNEAS: Gotcha, that’s the worst. Is there a song that you’ve put out that has made you nervous or worried about the person you wrote about hearing it?

Olivia O’Brien: I think a lot of my new stuff I’m a little more nervous about. But honestly I’m the kind of person that would send a guy like, if I wrote a song about him, “Hey, I wrote a song about you”.

FINNEAS: I definitely do the same exact thing. But if I’ve written a song about a person I’m saying whatever I have to say to them in the best way I can, so I’ll just send them a song, you know?

Olivia O’Brien: Exactly. And I’m so bad at actually talking to people when it comes down to sitting down in person, I cannot do that. So I’ll just write a song about it.

FINNEAS: Have you ever sent somebody a song and have them think it’s about them, but it not be about them?

Olivia O’ Brien: Hmm… I’m not sure. I feel like that probably has happened.

FINNEAS: That happens a bunch to me with any of the more romantic songs I’ve written. If they’re like “What are you working on?” and I send a girl, like I have this song “Hollywood Forever” and every girl I’ve sent that to thinks it’s about them.

FINNEAS: I feel like you’ve met a terrifying amount of famous people and I’d imagine getting starstruck is probably not part of your regular routine when meeting people, but is there a person that was really unlikely that made you starstruck? Like someone who most people wouldn’t be super impressed by but you were like, “Oh my God, I’m meeting whoever”?

Olivia O’Brien: Hm, honestly like, not really. I feel like if I met Rihanna I’d freak out. Rihanna or Beyoncé.

FINNEAS: They seem pretty extraterrestrial. I watched the livestream of Beyoncé’s Coachella performance and I was like “This is the best live performance of anything I’ve ever seen”.

Olivia O’Brien: Yup. How does the dance that well and sing that perfectly and look that good all at the same time? It doesn’t make sense.

Olivia O'Brien © Nesri Danan
Olivia O’Brien © Nesri Danan

FINNEAS: She never even sounded out of breath.

Olivia O’Brien: I know! And no note was even slightly flat. It was perfect.

FINNEAS: I just felt like Beyoncé raised the bar in such a terrifying way, she set such a new standard. If I was an artist that might headline Coachella next year I’d be nervous.

Olivia O’Brien: Yeah.

FINNEAS: I don’t want to follow Beyoncé, she’s so good.

Olivia O’Brien: Did you not go to Coachella this year?

FINNEAS: I didn’t. I was coming off this bender of like 13 weeks of touring straight and the idea of more shows, even if we weren’t playing them, sounded exhausting to me so I just stayed home and ate a lot of açaí bowls

Olivia O’Brien: Yeah, I mean you probably had more fun than I did.

FINNEAS: (laughs) I feel like the most coverage I saw of you at Coachella was on Devon Carlson’s Instagram story, there was a lot of Olivia O’Brien going on.

Olivia O’Brien: Oh my God, yes. I saw her at The Neighbourhood’s set and I was dancing like crazy. I was so extra (laughs).

FINNEAS: (laughs) That’s so awesome. So I also love your roommate’s friend Drew. How did you meet Dru?

Olivia O’Brien: Ugh, I love Drew. I feel like someone cut our brains in half and then switched them, like I have half of his brain and he has half of my brain, we are the same person. I met him through my other roommate Maddi, she was dating this guy years ago, and he told me he was trying to be a producer and then he introduced me to Drew and we wrote one song together with this guy. It was not really anything, we just started becoming better friends, and I became better friends with Maddi – this was before I moved to LA – and then when I moved here they were basically one of the only people that I knew, and we just immediately became best friends, it was the best thing ever. And now I’ve lived with her for a year and a half.

FINNEAS: He’s great, and I feel like the two times we worked with him together he’s really good at filling whatever the empty space is, which I really appreciate. It’s not like trying to do something while you’re doing it.

Olivia O’Brien:  He adds the perfect amount of what I need in a collaborator when I’m writing.

FINNEAS: So you started writing songs at what age? Really young right?
FINNEAS © Cameron Postforoosh
FINNEAS © Cameron Postforoosh

Olivia O’Brien: Hm.. I mean I have like little songs that I wrote when I was 7.

FINNEAS: Oh my God, seven?!

Olivia O’Brien: It was horrible.(laughs)

FINNEAS: I was also trying to write songs at a really, really young age but they were so abstract, just the way a young kid talks and a couple notes on the piano and a lyric, no melody. But at the time I remember being like “Mum, this is the song. This is my song”. I was more proud of those songs than I’ve ever been of any song.

FINNEAS: Do you have any specific reference points of songs that made you want to write songs, from when you were young? What was the first thing you were listening to on your iPod?

Olivia O’Brien: When I was really little my mum used to always play Beyoncé, the I Am… Sasha Fierce album, so I always had that image of a strong female singer, a performer, strong lyrics, I always wanted to be that.

FINNEAS: That’s so awesome. I feel like that’s a good era of music to grow up listening to, to be inspired by. I was nerding out on Beyoncé the other day and I was reading her tracklisting, who produces her stuff, and Beyoncé’s just always involving the coolest people to be part of her project. She reminds me of Kanye West in that way, where Kanye will have a song and he doesn’t even come in until like the third verse but you’re like “Oh, I love that Kanye song”. It’s more about an artist’s vision than it is them being part of everything.

Olivia O’Brien: Yeah. She’s just so good, she’s so good at everything.

FINNEAS: Is there a song right now that gives you song envy? That you’re like, Ah, I wish I’d written that.

Olivia O’Brien: Oh yes, “Figures” by Jessie Reyez.

Watch: “Figures” – Jessie Reyez

FINNEAS: Swag. That’s funny you say that, because a song that I feel like gives me song envy is “Gatekeeper” by Jessie Reyez.

Olivia O’Brien: Yeah, you told me that!

FINNEAS: She’s so good. Have you written with her yet?

Olivia O’Brien: No, not yet. I just met her a few weeks ago and we did that whole Instagram follow thing so hopefully in the future.

FINNEAS: Well you are labelmates.

Olivia O’Brien: Yeah, and also I’ve been working with a writer who actually wrote “Figures” with her.

FINNEAS: She’s an incredible co-writer, Billie and I worked with her two or three weeks ago, she’s just a beast. She just churned out lyrics, I don’t even know if she wrote things down, she was spitballing, it was all very her, had a lot of attitude. I feel the same way about you, it’s fun to work with an artist and have the artist be the thing that you like about them, does that make any sense? I feel like sometimes you can love a song and if you work with the artist you’re like, well you’re this amazing singer but the song was maybe another writer who came in and wrote it whatever. And I feel like you and Jessie, when I worked with you I was like “Oh she’s the thing people like about her”, which is a wonderful thing.

Olivia O’Brien: Well thank you. She’s amazing.

Watch: “Gatekeeper” – Jessie Reyez

FINNEAS: If somebody told you that you were their favourite artist, I assume people have told you that already a bunch, how do you handle that? Is that a vote of confidence, does it inspire you, does it scare you?

Olivia O’Brien: I don’t know! I think I’m at a point in my life that when people say things about me, I don’t take it to heart. Especially when it’s through social media it almost doesn’t feel real, it doesn’t filter into my brain.

FINNEAS: I think it’s really true, I feel like social media, as nice as it can be, carries so little weight.

Olivia O’Brien: But then if someone says something mean to me I’ll freak out. I’ll have way more people say nice things than mean things, but mean things always stick with you. It’s so weird, I don’t understand. 

FINNEAS: I know, I feel the same way, I know Billie feels the same way, pretty much everyone I know feels the same way. I was having a conversation with a friend of mine the other day and I posted our text conversation yesterday or the day before, it was about kind of isolation and social media, and it kind of ties into the idea of shitty things sticking out to you. Because touring all the time, travelling, working as hard as Billie and I do and as you do, I found that this last year impacted a lot of my long time friendships with people I grew up with in a negative way. They’re either jealous of whatever the opportunities we’re being given are, or don’t understand why we don’t have time to hang out all the time. I guess the silver lining is that I’ve gotten to meet a lot of people who are doing a similar thing to what you and I are doing and I respect them a lot, am an admirer of their work, that’s just really cool. It’s so funny because I posted that, like “This is how I feel”on Twitter and Instagram, and every person I know who’s moderately or severely famous wrote back “I felt the exact same way, ever since I started having success and all”, it was just like a universal “I get it”. And then a couple of my long time friends who sort of inspired me posting that in the first place were super angry about it (laughs) and those are the ones I paid most attention to. It’s kind of backwards, the small percentage. Getting criticized on Twitter by 10% of the people commenting, those are the ones that affect you the most.

Olivia O'Brien © Nesri Danan
Olivia O’Brien © Nesri Danan

Olivia O’Brien: Yeah, I’m actually taking a break right now. I’m still on Instagram a little bit but I deleted the Twitter app of my phone because I feel like every time I go on Twitter I just feel sad. I don’t know, there’s a whole culture on Twitter that people can say whatever the fuck they want. When people see you have followers they’re like “Oh, this person won’t see it, they won’t be affected by it”, they almost don’t view you as a real person.

FINNEAS: They completely don’t view you as a real person. Billie isn’t on Twitter now because of the same stuff, and I don’t have enough followers to merit that at all. But I posted something a couple of months ago, I think in January, and some hate comment was like “Your music is trash” or some shit. And it bothered me, so I went through their Twitter profile and I saw they had a link to a cover, and I think it was a Panic! At the Disco song that they were covering. I was like “Here we go”, I was going to watch their cover video and slam them I guess, I didn’t know what my goal was in this moonlight 2 in the morning Twitter tirade I was on, but I watched their cover and it was gorgeous, it sounded amazing. And I replied to their comment like “I just watched your Panic! At the Disco cover, your voice is really beautiful” and they wrote back like “Omg thank you I’m such a fan!” (laughs) I was like “What the fuck?” I was so annoyed by it.

Olivia O’Brien: Something so similar happened to me. Some person was commenting on literally all my photos, I recognized the name, commenting some random mean thing on all my photos and I finally replied to them being nice about it and they were like “Omg thank you so much for replying, I was being mean for attention, I’ll tell all my friends you replied” I was like “What?!”

FINNEAS: It’s literally insane.

Olivia O’Brien: She said “I was being mean for attention”! Like what?

FINNEAS: I went a step further, I was like “your cover’s great” and they said “omg thank you I’m such a fan” and I wrote back “No problem, I can see from your Twitter that you live in The Netherlands and we’re going to be on tour in Amsterdam next month, is there any restaurant we should go to?” and he wrote back “Oh there’s so many good ones! Can we hang out when you’re in The Netherlands?” and I wrote “No! You were so mean” just absolutely not. And that was the last I heard. It was a very weird experience. But what do you have going on today?

Olivia O’Brien: It’s my day off, I actually might go shopping. Whenever I’m in the studio I feel like I just get sucked into a crazy mindset and afterwards I feel so, so, so drained if I’m there for multiple days. Even when I’m on tour I’m not this tired. I feel so mentally and emotionally drained after writing. And it’s only been three days but I wrote three really good songs so I need to sleep and chill.

FINNEAS © Cameron Postforoosh
FINNEAS © Cameron Postforoosh

FINNEAS: It’s like when you do a lot of concentrated writing that day you’re exhausting your brain, it makes sense that you feel worn out by it. If it’s the first day of a few days in a row and you leave the studio exhausted that night I always dread the next morning so much.

Olivia O’Brien: I have a really messed up sleeping schedule and I don’t necessarily have to be anywhere so I can do my work late at night if I want to, so I’m mostly up until 4am and then I’m so tired.

FINNEAS: Yeah I know. Before you got of Twitter I tweeted something about sleeping until 12:30 and you wrote back like “That’s early for me, my life is sad!” which made me laugh. But I relate to that because 12:30 isn’t normal for a person who has a day job but also they’re going to bed at 10pm and I stay up until 3 or 4 in the morning every night and so do you.

Olivia O’Brien: I just love nighttime. I can’t sleep because I just want to get my view of the stars and think about life, I don’t know. So dramatic (laughs).

FINNEAS: So I’ve got one more question - half statement, half question. I talked to you a couple months ago and you told me you were playing Outside Lands this year and you were really excited about it, when was the the first time you went to Outside Lands? Have you been a couple of times?

Olivia O’Brien: I’ve been twice. I went in I think 2014 and 2015. It’s one of my favourite festivals, I love it, I’m so excited. You guys, Billie, are going to be there right?

FINNEAS: We just got added to the lineup, I don’t really even know how that works but I’m super pumped.

Olivia O’Brien: I’m so excited for that, I’ll see you guys around.

FINNEAS: You’ll be all over my Instagram story.

Olivia O'Brien x Finneas
Olivia O’Brien x Finneas

Atwood Magazine: Now I have questions I want to ask the two of you.

FINNEAS: Go for it.

Atwood Magazine: How do each of you approach songwriting, and how did both of your mindsets come together when you were working together?

FINNEAS: That’s a good question. I feel like I try to approach songwriting from different places every time. When I’m writing songs that are going to be for myself it’s always going to be from a very honest place, I want to write songs that express exactly how I’m feeling or something that I’ve been thinking about a lot. When I’m co-writing with someone like Olivia, who’s got this really strong vision and their own voice, I’m just trying to assist. Just like what we were talking about with Olivia’s friend Dru earlier, as a co-writer if you’re writing for someone else, the only thing that’s really important is being a collaborator, just give whatever help you can give and not tread on anyone’s toes. I don’t think there’s anything more annoying than writing a song with somebody else and them coming up with one million bad ideas while you’re trying to write a song. If I’m working with Olivia and she’s crushing a song and is writing the whole song in half an hour, I’m just trying to make the beat for it. But if we’re writing the song together, in the two experiences I’ve had writing with Olivia, she’ll come up with an amazing melody line and lyric concept and we’ll just flesh it out and collaborate on the rest of the song and suddenly it’s finished, it’s a really fast process that I love. A lot of that has to do with how good of a writer Olivia is.

Olivia O’Brien: Well thank you! I think I feel the same way. When I work with you [FINNEAS] you’re so musically talented when it comes to instruments and melodies and all that stuff, which I feel I kind of lack in sometimes. And when I’m writing for me, just like he said, I’ll be really, really honest and I think that’s the most important thing when an artist is writing for themselves because you’re choosing how to represent yourself and your music is what you have to say to the world. I know there’s a lot of people who don’t write their own music out there, but it’s something that’s just so, so, so important to me, I can’t imagine not doing it.

FINNEAS: Totally. And I’d also say as far as writing a song with you [Olivia], like if you’re going to help someone write lyrics that are personal to them you need to at the very least know all of the context of the story. The first time Olivia and I met we talked for two and a half hours and then I thought, after that, that if I was coming up with any lyrics it was more well-informed because I knew Olivia a little better.

Olivia O’Brien: I feel like – didn’t we write another song first? Like we were writing something else, then we talked and we were like “Okay, let’s write this”.

Olivia O'Brien © Nesri Danan
Olivia O’Brien © Nesri Danan

FINNEAS: This is true, we were making a moody song about parties and hating Los Angeles and then we just kept talking about what was going on in your life at the time, and I remember saying like “Do you want to write a love song?” and you were like “Fuck no, I don’t know how to write love songs” and I was like “That’s the hook!”

Olivia O’Brien: It happened so naturally, and I love that song.

Atwood Magazine: So you spoke about LA, and Finneas I know you have a song called “Hollywood Forever” and Olivia you wrote about being in LA and going to all these parties and kind of hating it. I wanted to know if, and how, you think LA informs your songwriting or your music in general?

FINNEAS: I would just say LA is a part of both of our realities, and our writing is very based on reality. In that way wherever you are is going to be a part of your song. I love this writer named Mark Kozelek, he’s from Palo Alto, and he has this whole album called This is My Town and it’s not a tribute album to Palo Alto, it’s just that that is his town and the place where he has experienced what everyone experiences in their lives, heartbreak, best memories, shittiest memories, and for me most of those things have happened in LA, especially in the last couple of years. And I’d assume Olivia spent most of her time in LA in the last 12 months and that just permeates your songwriting. And there’s a lot of stuff to write about in LA, there’s a lot of weird shit in LA.

Olivia O’Brien: I completely agree with that. I didn’t grow up here, but I did my songwriting about here because I saw things I would have never seen in Napa. But I think it’s good, it’s almost made me see things differently and made me expand.

Atwood Magazine: How do you think the live versions contribute to or contrast with the studio versions of your songs?

FINNEAS: I want to hear Olivia’s answer to this before I even come up with one.

Olivia O’Brien: I’m working on my album now so I’m thinking what new songs I’m going to perform. I honestly have no idea what my stage is going to look like on the next two months. Right now I do an acoustic version, like with my pianist and me singing sitting down with no drums or anything, for “No Love” which I think is really special, and I think it’s my favourite moment.

FINNEAS: Oh I love that song! I love that you do it that way.

Olivia O’Brien: It’s my favourite song that I have out right now so I want to make it really special and focus on the lyrics. I think a lot of times at shows when there’s a lot going on, with all instruments playing at once you can’t hear lyrics very well, and I want that song to be very powerful and have everyone hear the lyrics as best as they possibly can. The rest of it is mostly just little things, like small lyrics and stuff that I think are fun to mess around with. But other than that I think it’s pretty similar.

FINNEAS: I think as far as the very few live shows I’ve performed under my own name, the venue sizes that I’m playing are so small that if I had a keyboardist, a guitarist, and a drummer it would all sound like a mess even if they were all playing awesomely. So I’ve purposefully been playing just me on a keyboard and a guitar, and that’s how I wrote all those songs. The production on the record, that’s the different part, what I’m doing at shows is just exactly how it was written, which is pretty true for Olivia I would imagine in the case of a song like “No Love”. I think for me my favourite part about playing live shows is getting to explain things about the songs that you might not have thought of if you were just listening to the songs. I love to introduce songs in a way that will maybe make someone hear them differently than you would if you had no introduction to them, I really like talking to the crowd, it’s my favourite part.

Watch: “No Love” – Olivia O’Brien

Atwood Magazine: I know you’re both really involved with the music scene in LA, so I wanted to know which artists you think will blow up and we should all be listening to right now?

FINNEAS: Oh yeah, Olivia and I are basicallty the kingpins of Los Angeles music culture. Gatekeepers Olivia O’Brien and Finneas O’Connell.

Olivia O’Brien: This guy Odie, He’s amazing, he just released an album and every single song is so good. His voice is so good, he’s so talented, I’ve been obsessed. I definitely think he deserves to blow up.

FINNEAS: I’ve got to look him up. I’ve been obsessed with this artist Dominic Fike, I got sent a private Soundcloud link of songs that he made somehow when he was in jail and one of them just blew my mind. He just got out of jail and I’ve started writing songs with him, he’s going to be fucking huge, he’s just awesome.

FINNEAS: As a producer with a feature, my original feature answer was Vince Staples but we’ve done a feature with him which was really cool. Now I feel like an Earl Sweatshirt verse on a song would be bonkers, I love Earl Sweatshirt.

Olivia O’Brien: Wow, that’d be so cool. He’s amazing. His verse on “Super Rich Kids”, I know every single word.

FINNEAS: That’s definitely the I’m thinking of when I say Earl Sweatshirt.

FINNEAS © Cameron Postforoosh
FINNEAS © Cameron Postforoosh

Olivia O’Brien: My answer would be Sza, she’s basically my idol, I fucking love her so much. That would be my dream collab, but it will never happen. But I don’t know, I want to work with people that don’t really make the same style of music as me so we are combining lots of different sounds.

Atwood Magazine: Last question: What new and exciting things do you have coming up soon?

FINNEAS: I’ll spend most of the summer on tour with my sister, we’re playing a lot of festivals, Outside Lands with Olivia O’Brien, Lollapalooza, Osheaga… And I have a new song called “Landmine” coming out.

Olivia O’Brien: I love the release schedule that you’ve been on, I wish I could do that, just be releasing, releasing, releasing. I feel it’s really good for fans to be getting new content, it’s satisfying people’s short attention span.

FINNEAS: Thank you for saying that. Yeah it’s mainly modelled off of my own super short attention span, I feel like I get exhausted by full records and I get impatient by people not putting out new music. What do you have coming out Olivia?

Olivia O’Brien: I’m working on my album, so I’m really excited about that. And I have my new “RIP” remix coming out on June 29th with G-Eazy and DREWLOVE, I love them both so much as artists, they’re just great guys I’m so excited for that.

FINNEAS: That’s so sick, Olivia. I didn’t know G-Eazy was on it that’s awesome.

Olivia O’Brien: I’ve just known him forever because we’re both from the Bay Area, and I feel like when you’re from the Bay Area the other artists just adopt you. They’re like “You’re our little protegée now, we’re going to help you out” and I’ve always had this kind of relationship with him, it’s amazing that he agreed to do this. And hopefully we’ll start putting out new music in July, August I’m excited for that. And I’m also doing Outside Lands! And the Billboard Hot 100 Festival and Bumbershoot.

FINNEAS: Oh shit. Bumbershoot’s going to be awesome. I’m jealous.

Olivia O’Brien: I’m so excited. That’s a festival I’ve been wanting to go to for a while.

FINNEAS: It’s been so awesome talking to you Olivia, thank you so much.

Olivia O’Brien: You too! Have fun and good luck with everything.

— —

:: purchase/stream RIP Remix here ::
:: purchase/stream Landmine Remix here ::

— — — —

Olivia O’Brien x FINNEAS

— —

RIP Remix © Olivia O'Brien

Connect with Olivia O’Brien on
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

Landmine Aire Atlantica Remix - FINNEAS

Connect with FINNEAS on
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter

Discover new music on Atwood Magazine

Olivia O'Brien ? Nesrin Danan 
FINNEAS ? Cameron Postforoosh

:: Stream Olivia O’Brien ::

Hate, Love, Boys, and Trust with Olivia O’Brien

:: INTERVIEW ::

:: Stream FINNEAS ::

Wholehearted Obsession with FINNEAS

:: INTERVIEW ::
More from Nicole Almeida
Cheesesteaks, Catharsis, and Clean: Soccer Mommy Live at Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia
Soccer Mommy has just started to ride the wave of her success....
Read More