Much has been made about Finneas O'Connell's prodigious talent as a producer and collaborator.
The 24-year-old won producer of the year at the 2020 Grammy Awards for helming his little sister's debut album, "When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?" In fact, he has produced every song Billie Eilish has ever released, surrounding her distinctive voice with dental drills and dog barks.
But O'Connell's solo music, released under the mononym FINNEAS, draws much of its power from his incisive, singular songwriting.
Though he's written some of Eilish's songs, like "Ocean Eyes" and "When the Party's Over," O'Connell wears his words differently. His style is hyper-specific and pictorial, like tipsy stories told in '20s expat Paris. "All but forgotten / About those eyes / The shade of green that if he'd seen / Would make F. Scott Fitzgerald cry," he sings in his 2019 single "I Don't Miss You At All" - a lyric that he said Eilish would've rejected outright.
"It's kind of wordy and pretentious, but that's something I'd send in a text to someone, so I can put it in a song," he explained to Fader. "Billie would hear that and say, 'I'm not singing that.' Those linguistic roles are important."
O'Connell's official debut album "Optimist," released on Friday, still boasts those avant-garde sound effects, textured harmonies, and irresistible chords he's best known for. But the album's observations, punchlines, and appetites are thrilling in a uniquely FINNEAS way.
As Insider's music reporter, I listened to the 13-track project and selected my favorite lyrics, then assigned a very unscientific overall score to each song - which were all written and produced by O'Connell alone.