Grammy and Oscar-winning musician Finneas says LA fires 'tragic and shocking'

Grammy and Oscar-winning musician Finneas O'Connell has expressed feeling "shocked and surreal" after having to watch wildfires ravage his hometown of Los Angeles this week.

O'Connell, known professionally as Finneas, had just finished a solo tour in Australia and had to witness the disaster from afar. "It's pretty bad," he told ABC News Breakfast. "We're flying back to LA in two days, and I still feel like I might not be ready to see everything. A lot of people I love have had their houses burned down in the last four days."

O'Connell said he was looking forward to getting back to Los Angeles and helping in any way he could. "Some of the neighborhoods that I love, like Altadena, where I go all the time, entire blocks of restaurants and bike shops and cafes have burned down. It's just really tragic."

O'Connell was born in Los Angeles in 1997, four years before his sister and longtime collaborator, global pop superstar Billie Eilish. The pair first rose to prominence in 2017 with Eilish's debut EP, "Don't Smile at Me," and went international in 2019 with Eilish's debut studio album, "When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?" The latter won multiple Grammy Awards and cemented Finneas' status as one of the most sought-after music producers in the industry.

Finneas and Eilish have also achieved massive success in film, winning the Academy Award for Best Original Song twice, in 2022 for the James Bond film theme song of the same name, "No Time to Die," and in 2024 for "What Was I Made For?" from the Barbie movie soundtrack.

But for O'Connell, success has never been measured by winning some of the industry's biggest awards. "Those things are barely on the wish list," he said. "For me, the biggest wish is to be able to make music and not have to do a job I hate, whether that makes me a lot of money or not. I just want to make a living making music." "Things like accolades, I'll take them, but I'm not craving more. I just feel really lucky."

One of O'Connell's biggest successes to date is co-writing the hit song "Bad Guy" for his sister, which won Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the 2020 Grammy Awards. He found the inspiration for the song after hearing the sounds of pedestrian traffic lights in Sydney. But O'Connell said his recent trip to Australia has not yet provided the same kind of inspiration. "I haven't heard anything so far where I'm like, 'Oh, I have to go use that,' but I have been recording sounds."

While best known for writing and producing music for other artists, Finneas is also an accomplished performer in his own right, having just played solo shows in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne in support of his second album, "For Cryin' Out Loud!". O'Connell "loved" playing in Australia, and said the album's title track was particularly well-received by audiences here. "I feel like you can gauge how much a song resonates with an audience by how many people are holding up their phones to film you. So, it's been a treat to see people enjoy that song so much," he said.

Looking ahead, O'Connell said he hopes to continue doing what he loves most. "Being able to tour and go to cities I've been to and loved, and places I've never been to before – I'm excited to explore that and keep that going."