Finneas Sings About Fame and Billie Eilish on ‘For Cryin’ Out Loud’

The second solo album from Finneas O’Connell opens with “Starfucker,” not a canopy of the scandalous Rolling Stones tune, however one thing much more doubtful — a melodramatic piano ballad grievance from a pop elite carried out flawed that oozes famous-guy self-pity. “Cartier round your wrist/I used to be such an optimist/However you have been such a narcissist,” he intones as strings swell round him to pillow his ache. It’s not a really sympathetic begin to the newest from Finneas, who made his fame creating world-changing music together with his sister, Billie Eilish, and has gone to amass his personal spectacular pedigree as a pop collaborator, producer, and movie rating composer. Fortunately, although, the remainder of For Cryin’ Out Loud goes down way more agreeably, the work of a popcraft savant with a lightweight, versatile contact.

Finneas’ 2021 debut, Optimist, got here with the ambition you would possibly count on from a behind-the-scenes expertise seeking to make his personal assertion, with considerate songs just like the Covid-themed “A Live performance Six Months From Now.” This outing, he isn’t as burdened by huge gestures. Some the album echoes the shadowy, finely burnished alt-pop of Billie’s glorious 2024 album Hit Me Onerous and Delicate, albeit with a much less engrossing presence at its heart. “Lotus Eater” is a glossy, Eighties-tinged heartburn with a blurry bassline and a vaulting melody. The spare, acoustic intimacy of “Little Window” has the texture of an outdated Feist or Bon Iver mumble-folk benediction. “Similar Previous Story” opens as a mopey solo-piano quantity and grows right into a sweeping studio-stud showcase that doesn’t really feel cluttered.

There are lighter moments, too, the place the music opens up and breathes extra calmly. “Cleats” is so easy it doesn’t get tripped up in its personal awkward soccer conceit (“she performs for the opposite staff,” he sings, “nevertheless it’s all the identical to you”). Songs like “Candy Cherries” and “2001” are elegant sufficient to be soul-kissed deep cuts on a Harry Kinds album.

Like most gifted writers and producers who’re higher at serving to others understand their imaginative and prescient than coaxing out one in every of their very own, Finneas’ solo work comes off extra like a killer job utility than an argument for a singular creative perspective. Maybe it’s becoming, then, that essentially the most emotionally realized music on the album is a really candy acoustic meditation on his sibling friendship with Billie — their shared recollections, his protecting emotions for her, and the deep, distinctive bond they share. When you’re not fortunate sufficient to have that type of relationship in your life, “Household Feud” will make you would like you probably did. That alone justifies this document’s existence, and Finneas’ well-earned fame, starfuckers however.