Ringo Starr praises Billie Eilish after historic 2021 Grammys win
Last weekend, Ringo Starr had the honorable duty of presenting the Record Of The Year award at the Grammys. In the end, the award went to Billie Eilish and FINNEAS for their emotional song “everything i wanted.” This win for Eilish and FINNEAS marks only the third time the Record Of The Year award has gone to the same artist two consecutive years in a row.
Earlier this week, Starr reflected on this year’s Grammy Awards in a new interview. In particular, the Beatles drummer praised Eilish and revealed how he felt meeting her at the ceremony.
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On Friday, Starr put out his new EP Zoom In, his first release since 2019’s full-length What’s My Name. The five-track EP includes the star-studded “Here’s To The Nights” which features Paul McCartney, Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, Lenny Kravitz, Sheryl Crow and FINNEAS among others. Although Starr has collaborated with FINNEAS, he didn’t have the chance to meet Eilish until the 2021 Grammy Awards.
During a recent Zoom press conference for Zoom In, Starr sang Eilish’s praises after meeting her at the awards ceremony. He also gave special thanks to FINNEAS for appearing on his new EP.
“It was a great pleasure for me to do the Grammys on Sunday and presenting the Best Record to Billie Eilish—who I think is just incredible—and Finneas who came through for me on my EP,” Starr said during the press conference. “It was great to meet her, and musically, she’s great. She’s a beautiful human being.”
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This year, Eilish and FINNEAS earned three Grammy nominations including Song Of The Year and Record Of The Year for “everything i wanted.” They were also nominated for, and eventually won, Best Song Written For Visual Media for their James Bond theme song “No Time To Die.” As well, Eilish earned her own Best Pop Solo Performance nomination for “everything i wanted.”
Although Song Of The Year went to H.E.R.’s “I Can’t Breathe” and Best Pop Solo Performance was awarded to Harry Styles’ “Watermelon Sugar,” Eilish and FINNEAS still walked away with the coveted Record Of The Year award. The sibling duo took home the same award last year for “bad guy” during their historic Grammys sweep.
Prior to this year’s Record Of The Year win, U2 and Roberta Flack were the only other artists to win this category two consecutive years in a row. U2 won Record Of The Year in 2001 for “Beautiful Day” and 2002 for “Walk On.” Meanwhile, Flack walked away with the award in 1973 for “The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face” and in 1974 for “Killing Me Softly With His Song.”
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After Starr presented the award to Eilish and FINNEAS, Eilish proceeded to praise Megan Thee Stallion who is the Grammys’ 2021 Best New Artist. Her viral hit “Savage Remix” with Beyoncé was among the songs nominated for Record Of The Year.
“This is really embarrassing for me,” Eilish said during her Grammys speech. “Megan, girl. I was going to write a speech about how you deserved this, but then I was like, ‘There’s no way they’re going to choose me.’ I was like, ‘It’s her’s.’ You deserve this. You had a year that I think is untoppable [and] you are a queen [and] I want to cry thinking about how much I love you. You are so beautiful, you are so talented [and] you deserve everything in the world. I think about you constantly, I root for you always [and] you deserve it honestly. Genuinely, this goes to her.”
Eilish’s full Grammys speech is available to watch below.
Along with their wins at the Grammys, Eilish and FINNEAS also gave a moving performance of “everything i wanted.” While FINNEAS played the piano, Eilish sang the emotional song on top of a sinking car similar to the vehicle seen in the single’s video. Their performance is available to watch below.
More on Billie Eilish
As it turns out, Eilish is quite the Beatles fan and has shown her love for their music over the years. Back in 2019, she told James Corden during her Carpool Karaoke appearance that the first song she ever learned to play on the ukelele was “I Will,” off of the Beatles’ self-titled album. A clip of her playing the song is available to watch below.
For the 2020 Academy Awards, both Eilish and FINNEAS performed the Beatles classic “Yesterday,” off of Help!, during the In Memorium tribute. Kobe Bryant, Kirk Douglas and Doris Day were among those honored during the ceremony. Eilish and FINNEAS’ moving performance is available to watch below.
As well, in December, Eilish also performed a cover of the Beatles’ “Something,” off of Abbey Road, during a SiriusXM appearance. Early last year, Eilish revealed that this particular song has left a lasting impression on her.
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“I remember listening to this song when I was in love or whatever,” she said during a 2020 Apple Music interview. “This song really once again got me. I don’t know, I think that it’s such a well-put song. I think the lyrics say something that I barely hear and I feel like lots of people are saying something similar, but I feel like only the Beatles could say exactly this.”
Her cover of “Something” is available to stream below.
These days, Eilish’s plate is pretty full. Early last year, she began work on her sophomore album. While in coronavirus lockdown, however, it took her a few weeks to find inspiration to start creating.
“I was fully uninspired for the first three weeks of this,” she told Zane Lowe during an Apple Music interview. “I was not about to make music and I don’t know why. It was just like, ‘This is not interesting to me right now.’ It was annoying though because that’s the kind of thing you want to be doing in quarantine. But I wasn’t feeling it.”
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Eventually, Eilish found inspiration and began writing. Although FINNEAS initially said they have no plans to release their solo albums during the pandemic, Eilish has still offered a few sneak peeks into her upcoming release.
Back in July, she debuted her emotional single “my future” along with an animated video. Then, in November, she treated fans to her carefree video for “Therefore I Am.” More recently, she dropped her highly-anticipated collaboration with Rosalía called “Lo Vas A Olvidar” which premiered during a new episode of Euphoria.
Back in December, Eilish shared that her new music era is starting after the release of The World’s A Little Blurry which debuted last month. A few months later, she also cryptically confirmed exactly how many songs are on the next release.
“I have a fun story to tell you, but first, fuck you guys,” she said on Instagram. “Stop making fun of me oh my god, I’m fucking making you an album. I will not put it out if you keep making fun of my hair, shut up. I’m changing it after the doc [documentary] comes out, it will be the end of an era. I’m gonna give you a new era, I have announcements to make. I have some shit to put out. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. Leave me alone [and] let me live with my fucking hair that I’ve had for far too long.”
.@BillieEilish teases new music era coming in 2021 and collab with Ariana grande on Instagram.? pic.twitter.com/z2Z8707wti
— selriana (@selrianagomezz) December 22, 2020
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Now, it looks like Eilish’s new era is among us. This week, Eilish debuted her new blonde hairstyle, signaling the end of the WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP WHERE DO WE GO? era. Shortly after the photo was posted, it broke a record on Instagram.
According to the BBC, the post earned one million likes in just six minutes, beating the previous 2018 record set by Selena Gomez who earned one million likes in 13 minutes. Currently, the Instagram post has almost reached a staggering 20 million likes.
“Pinch me,” Eilish said on Instagram.
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What are your reactions to Starr’s comments about Eilish? Let us know in the comments below.
