Source: Billboard
Saturday 31 July 2021 10:46:09
From one young star to another! Billie Eilish, who just released her highly anticipated sophomore album Happier Than Ever Friday (July 30), shares that she’s had some help dealing with her massive fame at a young age from someone who understands — Justin Bieber. During a chat on SiriusXM Hits 1’s Morning Mash Up the day of her album’s release, the 19-year-old revealed that the “Stay” singer, whom she calls “just the sweetest baby ever,” reaches out to her to lend his support.
“He’s a good friend of mine,” she shared. “He, you know, has been so helpful for me, in terms of just, like, dealing with fame. And he’ll call me sometimes and just say stuff that makes me just feel heard, and like there’s somebody else that goes through the same stuff. So it’s really nice to have him.”
In a February 2020 interview with Zane Lowe, the “Lonely” crooner — who was discovered by Scooter Braun at age 13 and signed to a record label in 2008 — shared how he feels protective of the young artist, who was also a fan of his. “I just want to protect her, you know?” he said. “I don’t want her to lose it. I don’t want her to go through anything I went through.”
Like Bieber, Eilish shot to fame at a young age. Her song “Ocean Eyes” was released just ahead of her 14th birthday in 2015, and went viral. She went on to release her critically acclaimed debut album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? in 2019, which earned her five Grammys.
Eilish, whose debut album has been certified four-times platinum by the RIAA, admitted during her interview that she wasn’t expecting to be as successful as she is. “I didn’t think I’d even be close at all,” she confessed. “I didn’t think I’d get anything. … I could never have thought this would have happened in my life.”
And after having to cut her sold-out Where Do We Go world tour short in March 2020 due to the global coronavirus pandemic, the singer-songwriter says she’s ready and eager to perform live again.
“It made me realize how many things that I wasn’t really aware of were as amazing as they were that then the pandemic took away,” she explained. “I think that I never want to not do shows again — that’s how I really feel. … I think I used to be, like, ‘In the future, maybe I’ll not do shows. Maybe I’ll take a year off,’ and I’m like, I don’t have an interest in that anymore.”
Eilish is set to hit the road in support of Happier Than Ever with a world tour that kicks off Sept. 18 in Las Vegas.