When Billie Eilish was 13 years old in 2015, she experienced a Sliding Doors-style moment where a severe hip injury ended one dream—becoming a professional dancer—while propelling her to global fame. The now 24-year-old singer was rehearsing for a dance competition with her coach, Fred Diaz, owner of Revolution Dance Center, when she decided to use her future debut single Ocean Eyes, recorded with her brother Finneas.
The Fateful Rehearsal
Eilish recalled on Good Hang with Amy Poehler that they only uploaded the song to SoundCloud to send a link to her dance teacher. A week later, Finneas called her excitedly: “Billy, Ocean Eyes has a thousand streams! A thousand!” They cheered, and she thought it was the most amazing thing. Today, Ocean Eyes has 73.7 million plays on SoundCloud and 624 million YouTube views.
She described the last rehearsal before her first dance competition: “I have a solo in each combo. I was so excited.” As they were about to leave, the teacher asked for one more take to film. In the middle of a twerk, her hip gave out. “I got injured and then I was poof! Laying on the floor, couldn’t walk, couldn’t dance… bedridden for at least a week and then on crutches. I literally never danced again.”
A New Path Opens
Simultaneously, outlets like Hillydilly and New Music Friday reached out about the viral song, as did Interscope Records, which eventually signed her. Eilish attended meetings on crutches, sad about missing her competition. “When you think something is ruining your life and it’s really actually saving your life.”
She recently resumed dancing in a class, calling it “really cute” and “nice” since it’s now low-pressure. On April 23, the 10-time Grammy winner shared an Instagram slideshow of her dancing with Justin Bieber posters, noting her dress was a dance recital costume.
Upcoming Projects
Eilish co-directed with James Cameron the 3D film of her Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour, which grossed $212.9 million over 106 dates. It hits US/UK theaters this Friday. In March, she was in advanced talks to make her acting debut in Focus Features’ adaptation of Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar, directed by Sarah Polley. She owns a $2.3 million home in Glendale and has over 84 million monthly Spotify listeners, with record sales exceeding 55 million.
