Smoke Signals: Fifth Beatles and FINNEAS

Although you may be late to the “What’s Hip Now” party, I’m assuming by now you know about Billie Eilish. If not, get “Googling,” or at least turn on the TV set. What’s a TV you ask? TV is short for television. It’s that thing (device) in the living room – that thing on which many watched the Beatles debut on “The Ed Sullivan Show” 56 years ago. It is slightly larger than your smartphone! So, really, who’s Billie Eilish? Just get your phone out and Google her.

My point is the music business has changed, and there are disrupters everywhere. Some we may like, and some we may not. Initially, when I first encountered the music of Billie Eilish, I was less than enthusiastic, but Billie Eilish was going to have no part of my aloof, elitist musical snobbery.

Smoke Signals

Whether you are in the music retail business or you are in the field of music education, your chances for success live and die with your ability to recognize trends and traditions early. A while back, I wrote on the topic “Bottom-Up Trends,” a subject that focused on the understanding that trends generally start from unexpected places. The reason for that is simple: the trendsetter approaches things with a fresh, different, or unique approach. Billie Eilish and her brother FINNEAS have certainly done that. Where were you this time on the scale of recognition? When or how did you first come into the awareness of Billie Eilish’s music? Where you ahead, in step with, or behind the trend? In my business we have a system that allows us to cheat and recognize trends early. At CMC we call it “smoke signals,” and we are always on the lookout for these signals.

I was first introduced to Eilish’s music at a CMC Open Mic Night when several respected, young female performers sang her music. If you face what you instinctively knew when you were young, it’s that the youth write most of the stories in our musical history book. They are tomorrow before we are. We may have written some of the previous chapters of this book and we may have paved the highway these kids now travel on, but they are the drivers. That night I saw the smoke signals rise up. Not one, but several singers were covering quite a few of Billie’s songs. That is when it hit me – WHAM! – a trend! How did I know it would immediately stick? That’s a no- brainer: with things like this, teens are never, ever wrong!

The Higher Authority Test

Because I suffer from the dreaded disease of “musical snobbery,” I immediately sought clarity and reinforcement on the topic of Billie Eilish from an expert in trends. I sought the highest possible authority I know. I sought out “The Zen Master of Trend Validation” – my daughter.

I asked her for her take on the music of Billie Eilish. Of course, the master clarified for me Eilish’s meteoric rising popularity, and further enlightened me about FINNEAS, Billie’s brother and producer of her record. I also learned the backstory of how these two home-schooled kids made the record in their small two-bedroom house in L.A. and uploaded it to Sound Cloud.

If you don’t know the story, there’s a great video on YouTube entitled “Spaces.” It’s really worth your time, a truly great story. For my two cents, FINNEAS is clearly a musical force. In the “Spaces” video FINNEAS discusses how he made percussive loops with Billie by striking matches in a bathroom, recording the different sounds, and creating multiple percussion loops.

He is off-the-chain creative when generating special effects sounds. To create a hi-hat sound, he has used the sound of an Australian pedestrian crossing, and for a general sound effect, has used the high pitch wine of a dentist’s drill. FINNEAS is very George Martin.

Once I gained clarity, I began to understand where I was missing the connection. However, in typical snob fashion, I had already made one fatal error. Early on I had quipped to my daughter, “It’s trendy, but I’m not sure Billie has staying power.” Those words would come back to haunt me, and though I swear I don’t remember saying them, I never doubt the Zen Master of Trends, because ZMOT’s have uncanny memories.

After watching Eilish and FINNEAS take home 10 combined Grammys, my daughter texted me one simple question… “Do you think she has staying power now?”

My text back… “Ouch!”

I had been defeated by the Zen master, and I would have to admit my defeat. However, by doing so, my daughter admitted that at first, she didn’t totally connect with the music either. So, there was some redemption, but not too much.

The takeaway here is simple. If you are in retail or education, listen to the youth. Then work your way back, and find the backstory threads, or as I like to say, “find the Fifth Beatle.”

What Exactly is a Fifth Beatle?

George Martin was a special force for the Beatles. He was a genius producer, who is recognized as the Fifth Beatle, a major contributor to the wonderful music we all know and love so much.

So, let’s call “Fifth Beatles” anyone who dramatically impacts results but remains one step in the background. You could use the term “unsung heroes.” I believe FINNEAS falls in that category. But more importantly for music retailers and music educators, the fifth Beatles in this tale are the music students who are defining the trends. If you don’t pay attention, you will overlook what may be standing right in front of you. We often overlook the obvious, but when we learn the back stories about today’s rising stars, the youth see us as more relatable and believe it or not, that’s our number one job. My advice then, is to learn to read their “smoke signals.” And give Billie Eilish and FINNEAS a round of applause for winning 10 Grammys.