Thanks to SoundBetter for supporting this episode of Tape Notes.SoundBetter is the world's leading music production talent marketplace, giving you access to the best mixing & mastering engineers, singers, songwriters, producers, and studio musicians in the industry. You can work with Billie Eilish's drummer, U2's mix engineer, or hire the topliners that wrote on the latest BTS record, these pros are keen to work with Indy artists.Head to SoundBetter.com to find out more.In this milestone 100th episode of Tape Notes, John is joined by the Finneas at Lightship95 Studio, to talk about how he wrote, recorded and produced his album ‘Optimist’ and his new single ‘Mona Lisa Mona Lisa’.Reflecting on the fluidity of his writing process, Finneas talks us through the varied methods and circumstances in which his tracks took shape, from the very first synth sounds that kick-started ideas, to the detailed sonic decisions that helped each element work towards a cohesive goal.Alongside the production masterclass, Finneas looks back on his career so far, discussing his family’s involvement with his music and the impact they’ve had on his creativity. We hear stories from the early days of making music videos with his mum, vocal mic shootouts with Billie, and the essential advice that he still lives by.Listen to find out why mediocrity isn’t a bad thing, how finishing a song isn’t too dissimilar to finishing a meal, and why the correct way to do something isn’t always the correct way.Tracks discussed: How It Ends, Medieval, Mona Lisa Mona Lisa LINKS TO EVERYTHING TAPE NOTES linktr.ee/tapenotes  Listen to ‘Optimist’ here.Listen to ‘Mona Lisa Mona Lisa’ here.OYOY Inc, Interscope Records Intro Music - Sunshine Buddy, Laurel Collective. GEAR MENTIONSArturia FarfisaOutput Analogue StringsFabFilter Twin 2Spectrasonics TrilianSpectrasonics OmnisphereSoundtoys DecapitatorSoundtoys Little AlterBoySoundtoys TremolatorAntares AutotuneNative Instruments BundleNative Instruments MassiveValhalla RoomNeumann TLM103Chandler REDDTelefunken ELA M 251Audio Technica AT2020Shure SM7BShure SM57M-Audio VenomSequential Prophet XNovation UltraNova SynthElektron SynthFender AcoustasonicTube-Tech CL1B CompressorCloud Microphones CloudlifterSweetwater Best Seller ListAbletonLogic ProLogic - Compressor Plugin OUR GEARhttps://linktr.ee/tapenotes_ourgear  KEEP UP TO DATEFor behind the scenes photos and the latest updates, make sure to follow us on: Instagram: @tapenotes Twitter: @tapenotes Facebook: @tapenotespodcast  YouTube: Tape Notes PodcastDiscord: Tape NotesTo let us know the artists you’d like to hear, Tweet us, slide into our DMs, send us an email or even a letter. We’d love to hear! Visit our website to join our mailing list: www.tapenotes.co.uk  HELP SUPPORT THE SHOWIf you'd like to help support the show you can donate as little or as much as you'd like here, (we really appreciate your contributions :) Donate TAPE NOTES TEAMWill Brown - Executive Producer, Engineer & EditorTim Adam-Smith - Executive ProducerWill Lyons - EditorHerbie Elton-Rowley - VideographerRob Leedell - Camera Assistant and PhotographerGeorge Durston - Production AssistantNathan Hetherington - PRRebecca Ibbotson - Digital Marketing 

Billie Eilish and FINNEAS feel really excited and dubious, respectively, about being Conan O’Brien’s friends. Billie and FINNEAS sit down with Conan to discuss skyrocketing to worldwide fame at an early age, growing up seeing themselves all over the internet, favorite instruments, and their documentary Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry. Later, Adam Sachs stops by to drop some info about Gourley’s new high-concept podcast. Get access to all the podcasts you love, music channels and radio shows with the SiriusXM App! Get 3 months free using this show link: https://siriusxm.com/conan.

On a trajectory to be one of the biggest pop stars for this generation, seventeen year old Billie Eilish is not, however, your typical pop star. Her music speaks to the real anxieties of young people without any veneer. She sings from the perspective of monsters and villains. Her hushed voice, baggy style, and direct demeanor subvert the norms of the pop princess. And her music is dark, but still catchy. Billie co-writes and produces her sound with her older brother Finneas O’Connell. Together this family duo have crafted the second biggest selling album of 2019, “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?”  On this episode, we examine how Billie and Finneas crafted a cultural phenomenon, why their message speaks to this generation, and we speak with Finneas about the creation of their hit song “Bad Guy.”Songs Featured: Billie Eilish - Ocean EyesBillie Eilish - BoredBillie Eilish - You Should See Me In A CrownBillie Eilish - Bad GuyBillie Eilish - Bury A FriendMarilyn Manson - The Beautiful PeopleThe Doors - People Are StrangeNine Inch Nails - CloserBillie Eilish - ilomiloBillie Eilish - All Good Girls Go To HellBillie Eilish - XannyFrank Sinatra - Dream A DreamBillie Eilish - I love youJohn Carpenter - Halloween ThemeBillie Eilish - Bellyache Watch Billie Eilish and Finneas break down “Bury A Friend” on The New York Times Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Finneas’ music education and evolution, from 1. Realizing music could be a career after seeing Green Day in concert at age 11 → 2. Falling in love with music as a kid in the backseat of his parents’ minivan → 3. Learning his first song on piano to impress a girl → 4. Forming a band with his high school friends and recording one of their first songs with his sister Billie Eilish → 5. Signing their first record deal at age 18 and 13 respectively → 6. Evolving into a producer → 7. Finneas’ advice to aspiring musiciansAcademy Award- and GRAMMY Award-winning singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer FINNEAS has quietly emerged as an unassumingly ubiquitous presence in popular music and culture. He introduced a heartfelt and hypnotic style on 2019’s debut Blood Harmony EP highlighted by the gold-certified “Let’s Fall in Love for the Night.” 2021 saw him unveil his full-length debut, The Optimist [Interscope Records]. It arrived to widespread acclaim from Rolling Stone, DIY, The Line of Best Fit, and NME. At the same time, he landed on the covers of publications such as V Man, L’Officiel Hommes USA, Billboard, and Mix Magazine and late-night television shows a la Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel LIVE!. He packed houses on headline tours and performed at festivals such as Coachella. His catalog grew to encompass popular collaborations with Ashe, Ringo Starr, and Lizzy McAlpine in addition to producing and/or co-writing tracks Justin Bieber, Halsey, Demi Lovato, Kid Cudi, girl in red, James Bay, Selena Gomez, Camila Cabello, and Tove Lo. He achieved stratospheric success for his work with his sister Billie Eilish, including eight GRAMMY Awards, headline sets at Coachella and Glastonbury, and an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award both in the category of “Best Original Song” for “No Time To Die” from No Time To Die—which he co-wrote and co-produced. He expanded his oeuvre as a sought-after composer. His filmography boasts original scores for HBO Max’s award-winning The Fallout and BJ Novak’s Vengeance. For the Disney PIXAR animated hit Turning Red, he and Billie wrote all of the music for the film’s boyband 4*Town. Not to mention, he produced the tracks, contributed vocals, and inhabited the role of Jesse. FINNEAS continues to evolve, expand, and engage in 2023 and beyond.Follow Silverlake Conservatory of Music at @silverlake_conservatory For more information on Parallel, visit parallel.laFollow Cadence13 at @cadence13Follow Finneas at @finneas Follow Flea at @flea333 To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Selena Gomez is a singer, songwriter, and actress, who’s spent most of her life in the public eye. She started her acting career as a child, and put out her first albums as a teenager. She’s had three number one albums and eight Top 10 hits, and in 2017, Billboard named her Woman of the Year. At one point, she was the most followed person on Instagram, and the details of her life are constantly discussed in tabloid headlines. So, when your private life is that public, how do you write a song about something as personal as heartbreak? Selena teamed up with the Grammy-winning production duo Mattman & Robin, who she’d worked with before. And she turned to her longtime songwriting collaborators, Julia Michaels and Justin Tranter. Julia Michaels is also a Grammy-nominated artist in her own right, and Justin Tranter, also a Grammy nominee, was named BMI’s 2017 Pop Songwriter of the Year. The three of them have written 10 songs together, including this one, “Lose You to Love Me.” The song came out in October 2019, and went on to become Selena’s first number-one hit. It went double-platinum in the US, and was named one of the best songs of the year by Vulture and Billboard. In this episode, Selena, Julia and Justin break down how the song came to be, from the first writing session to the final production touches from Finneas. songexploder.net/selena-gomez