How has Billie Eilish suddenly become so popular?

Billie Eilish is a unique character.

She’s pretty young—about 17 years old— but has the talent to reach high ranks on Billboard, Spotify, iTunes, etc. She also collaborates with her brother on almost all of her songs; they both are truly a power duo. The way she dresses (large, baggy clothing) is also pretty iconic.

But let’s talk about her music. Her singing style is not what you’d expect out of a female hip-hop artist. She literally never belts. She usually hangs around at the falsetto range, singing rather quietly, but still effectively. But Billie’s singing is good enough to not need auto-tune (unless she’s trying to convey some robotic, musical effect). All in all, her unique voice is what makes her recognizable and popular.

I think her willingness to step outside of the hip-hop norms in vocal technique, instrumentation and lyricism is why she’s a very popular artist today. She’s still young, though, and she has a lot to learn. But with a hell of a start early into her career, I trust that she’ll go far.

Los Angeles upstart Billie Eilish was just 13 years old when she uploaded her woozy love song "Ocean Eyes" to Soundcloud, only to see it go viral almost overnight. Two years later, the song joins a host of other gloom-pop jams as part of Eilish's debut EP, dont smile at me. ​

While on tour to promote the album, the burgeoning star took a moment with Billboard to talk breaking rules and breaking through.

GO-GETTER Homeschooled by actor/musician parents, Eilish (pronounced “eye-lish”) was taking dance classes and singing in the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus by 8 years old. With help from her older brother Finneas, a budding producer, she wrote her own songs for choreography. “I was always singing. People had to shut me up,” she says. “I’m still like that.”

BREAKTHROUGH She began to make moves at 13 with the moody “Ocean Eyes,” which she uploaded to SoundCloud to share with her dance teacher. The song went viral overnight and now has over 19 million Spotify plays. “Everything came to me at once,” says Eilish, who signed to Darkroom/Interscope in November 2016. “I just beamed [with] joy.”