Finneas may have won several Grammy awards for his production work on his sister Billie Eilish’s music, but he also has a songwriting career of his own. Finneas is gearing up for the release of his upcoming debut album Optimist, which he previews with the new single “The 90s.”
Finneas’ minimal “The 90s” video, directed by Sam Bennett and choreographed by Monika Felice Smith, reflects the song’s slow-burning nature. It begins with Finneas longing for the anonymity of a time when people couldn’t look up his address on the internet or stalk him with smart phones. As the song slowly builds, some background dancers join Finneas in the studio before a full-on EDM beat drop arrives at the track’s bridge.
Ahead of his video’s release, Finneas sat down with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe where he talked about his inspiration behind the new track:
“I was born in 1997. So I was about 2 1/2 when the ’90s ended. The reason I sort of picked the ’90s specifically was I was a little baby in the ’90s, and so there’s a lot of home video of the ’90s floating around in my life where I’ll see home VHS camcorders. My parents look very young in this. You don’t see your parents get old until you look at your parents when you were little. So I see all these home videos of my young parents. And I think also the ’90s was the most modern time that wasn’t ruled by the Internet. If I were to write a song about the ’70s and flower power, which maybe I’ll write that someday, is such a different world, such a different time. The ’90s is modern with no Internet.”
Watch Finneas’ “The 90s” video above.
Optimist is out 10/15 via Interscope. Pre-order it here.
