✨How We Became Besties With Finneas ✨
MY ANGELS! Luce here - I'm about to board a flight from Austin to New Zealand (do you know they have live music in the ACTUAL AIRPORT HERE??? I don't wanna come home.) Anyway, I've missed you, and I can't wait to be truly home in your inbox on Tuesday (Monday is reserved for dealing with jet lag and observing the Queen.)
In the meantime, we've pulled our gorgeous gorgeous Liv away from her usual Saturday Culture Vulture newsy (sorry) and into the big old daily to talk to you all about HOW WE CAME TO MEET FINNEAS (not to be confused with the one with the sibling called Ferb - his sibling is actually called Billie) AND WHAT WE CHATTED ABOUT!
Finneas is coming home (I say home because he loves New Zealand and vows to one day make it his home) to play at Laneway (along with Phoebe Bridgers and HAIM 🤯🤯) next year in January and we couldn’t be more excited.
That’s all from me - I adore you, and I desperately miss talking to you every day, but for now... take it away Liv!!!
How we came to meet Finneas!!
After a bunch of DM's, some shared memes, and our best list of New Zealand recommendations, the SYSCA gals had high hopes to meet FINNEAS (solo artist/producer extraordinaire, who also happens to be Billie Eilish’s big brother) when he finally got to Aotearoa (we were literally manifesting having him over for a beer way back in lockdown). BUT, the closer it got to Billie’s New Zealand tour, the lower our hopes of having a classic kiwi BBQ with Finneas, Claudia (and in an ideal world their dog Peaches) got.
That was until the day of the concert when we got THE email - ya gals were getting time with our online bestie himself!!
Knowledge of our impending interview made the pre-drinks for the concert (a combination of espresso martinis and tequila shots) and the show itself that much better. As Finneas performed his guitar solo on the closing number “Happier Than Ever” Ruby and I turned to each other to be like “we are interviewing him tomorrow, what the actual fuck are our jobs!?!”
The Interview
Before I tell you what went down on the day, if you wanna listen to the whole thing (and you should) it's here!
WE INTERVIEWED FINNEAS - Culture Vulture — open.spotify.com
We chat about Laneway, Billie Eilish, mental health, why he loves shit you should care about, and whether he scrunches or folds his toilet paper. It's the best chat ever!!
After a pre-interview gal pal coffee and a quick telling off for being too loud in the hotel corridor (very on brand for us), it was time for our 10 scheduled minutes (which turned out to be a lil longer as you can hear) with the man of the hour.
Interviewing celebrities is very weird because you are seeing someone in 3D that has only ever been 2D (rather trippy to me). The other weird thing about meeting a celebrity is that you know a lot of shit about them (thank you to Claudia’s lovely YouTube channel) but they don’t know shit about you (except for Luce’s GREAT taste in memes - which he complimented her on btw). [Luce note: I've already added it to my résumé/ LinkedIn profile/ Bumble bio.]
Finneas entered the room as relaxed as expected (the man didn’t even get awkward on his Chicken Shop Date) with a friendly “what’s up guys?” Then, before we could ask him ANYTHING his first question for us was our take on the Harry Styles/ Chris Pine spitting saga (also on brand - the man knows us).
His Love for Aotearoa
After the Harry styles chat, and how fucking stoked he is - and we are - that he is playing at Laneway next year (!!!!!!!!!!), we were into our (somewhat) prepared questions.
Number one (incredibly nationalistic, but in a cute way(?!?!): How much does he love Aoeteroa and does he legitimately see himself moving here one day?
He said he does indeed love Aotearoa, and that these four or so days he has spent here have cemented that. They had been to Waiheke, the city, and some great food spots, but Finneas said that it is the neighbourhoods that he loves most about Auckland. Unfortunately, there were no solid emigration plans at the time of this interview but we are optimistic that will change.
Mental health in the music industry
Next question on the list was about something we talk about A LOT on Culture Vulture: mental health within the music industry. We asked Finneas how he keeps on top of his mental health while touring, referencing artists like Shawn Mendez and Justin Bieber who have recently cancelled tours due to mental health preservation.
Finneas said he ‘loved that we were bringing this up’ (love that from him) and said that musicians’ mental health can get BAD because touring is BRUTAL.
Here’s what he actually said, IRL:
We asked Finneas about the state of mental health in the music industry and he got REAL with us — www.tiktok.com
He talked about the flights, the hotel rooms, the tight schedule, the time away from loved ones, all for an hour and a half of performing which is usually incredible but can also be difficult if the energy isn’t there. Even though his sister and parents are all on tour with him, it still can be an isolating experience.
For Finneas it is simple shit that keeps him somewhat balanced - nature, coffee walks, getting out and about. However, he did say that he just isn’t as famous (and has major empathy for) the bigger celebrities whose level of fame stops them from doing these mundane - but mentally replenishing activities.
On using his platform
The reason SYSCA and Finneas connected at first is 2020, is because Finneas proved during Covid/Black Lives Matter/ that presidential election that he gives a shit about the world around him.
After complimenting him on his activity on “main,” Luce asked Finneas whether he feels he has a responsibility to speak out about shit because of his platform, and if so, does he feel the pressure to speak out about everything? (She did mention that this is a double-edged sword.)
His answer, I thought, was pretty educated and self-aware. Yes, he feels it is deeply important to throw weight into topics you know and care about, but only about the shit he is somewhat educated in. Finneas’s only gripe with the “silence is violence” argument is that people are often asking him to speak on shit instantaneously when he has had the time to educate himself on the topic. He'd rather not say anything than put something “ignorant and dumb” (his words) into the universe - and absolutely fair enough.
Finneas on using his platform for shit he cares about!! — www.tiktok.com
Mundane Poll time!!
Yes this is the way we finished the interview :)
FINNEAS…
Sleeps without socks
Sleeps with a top sheet
Faces away from shower head
Folds his toilet paper
Claps on an angle
Goes sock sock shoe shoe NOT sock shoe sock shoe (he was absolutely appalled that other people did this - comparing it to wiping from the back to the front).
Other shoe/sock facts about Finneas is that his socks never match, he 'doesn’t believe' in shoelaces, and would hate to have one shoe on with his other foot naked in case someone came to the door.
Finneas answered some mundane poll questions for us and guess what?? He uses a top sheet and faces AWAY from the shower head. — www.tiktok.com
[Luce note: this also happened]
See him LIVE at Laneway!!!
It’s pretty fuckin cool that we got the opportunity to do this, so naturally, we had to share it with you all. I can’t fucking wait to see Finneas at Laneway - the line up has been announced (and it’s pretty fucking good) so you should go get your tickets xxx