Danny Rukasin and Brandon Goodman: ‘The speed of this has been pretty mind-blowing.’ Billie Eilish is a cultural phenomenon. The singer and her songwriter brother, Finneas O’Connell, have created a debut body of work that transcends genres, reflecting the vast multiartist listening habits of the music streaming generation – while at the same time tearing apart the notion of the album’s death in the age of the playlist. Debut album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? was largely recorded in a bedroom studio in Eilish’s childhood LA home. On Apple Music, on day
Zealand, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Finland, the Netherlands, Austria and Belgium. LA-based Danny Rukasin (pictured, left) co-manages Billie Eilish alongside Brandon Goodman (pictured, right). Rukasin initially became friends with Finneas after the songwriter sent him an email about a garage pop band he was in – asking Rukasin to connect him with a producer. Finneas had, obviously enough, also been writing songs with his
“BILLIE WOULD HAVE HAD SUCCESS REGARDLESS, AS SHE’S AN INCREDIBLY UNIQUE ARTIST. BUT WE’VE SEEN SO MUCH VALUE [WORKING WITH INTERSCOPE].” one of its release (March 29, 2019) via Darkroom/Interscope, more than 81% of the LP’s duration was played through by its listeners, a stat not to be taken lightly, considering a recent study that suggested only 16% of UK adults listen to an LP from start to finish. A week before that, the album had already crushed the all-time global ‘pre-add’ record (800,000) on Apple Music, before it topped the Billboard 200 Album chart with 307,000 equivalent sales in its first week. When We Fall Asleep...’s cultural impact has also spread across borders, hitting No.1 in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New
sister, Billie Eilish, including debut track Ocean Eyes, which he sent to Rukasin in 2016. “Ocean Eyes drove all of us to take notice,” remembers Rukasin. “The next day I was with [Finneas] and his family and with Billie, meeting everybody and talking about what they wanted to do. The song had already crossed into viral territory overnight.” Ocean Eyes has since racked up over 100 million views on YouTube. Next single Six Feet Under built on the hype, before Bellyache was released by Darkroom/Interscope in March 2017. Working with the likes of John Janick at Interscope, Justin 35
