“It takes time to get the record made and get the artwork done”

ByEmma Wilkes6th January 2024TOPSHOT – Co-recipient of the Chairman’s Award for “What Was I Made For?” from “Barbie” US singer Billie Eilish arrives for the 35th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala at the Convention Center in Palm Springs, California, on January 4, 2024. (Photo by VALERIE MACON / AFP) (Photo by VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images)

Billie Eilish has given an update on how her new album is going.

The artist told Associated Press while on the red carpet with her brother and collaborator Finneas that the creative part of making the follow-up to 2021’s ‘Happier Than Ever’ is “almost done” but it still might be a while before it’s released.

“It’s happening, we are almost finished by days with this album,” she said. “But it’s not coming out soon. We’re just done making it. It’ll be soon-ish.

“It’s [taken] longer than we’d like, as always. It takes time to get the record made and get the artwork done.”

“A song can take an hour,” added Finneas, “‘What Was I Made For?’ took a night and maybe another morning and then it was done. But [making] an album, taking many songs and stitching them together and making sure it’s a cohesive piece is always going to be an undertaking, to make sure all the songs are given their due and paid attention to. So it always takes a long time.”

Last month, Finneas told Mr Porter that the LP was currently “85 per cent done”, but admitted that the process had been “challenging” this time around.

The article noted some of Eilish’s recent interviews in which she has spoken about experiencing a period of writer’s block. Last month, the star recalled struggling to find inspiration to write new songs before she was approached to make the Barbie soundtrack single ‘What Was I Made For?’.

According to Mr Porter, Eilish’s third album “is at last coming together”. Finneas explained: “I don’t think Billie was particularly sure about how she actually felt about the things we were trying to write about.

“Making a thing that you feel really connected to – it can really evade you.”

He went on to say that he “got a little rusty” as his intense touring schedule with Eilish allowed little time for writing. “And that was scary,” Finneas continued. “It was discouraging to realise that if I take time off, my songwriting muscle atrophies. I had to get back in shape.”

Finneas’ update followed the revelation by Eilish that her next album was “almost done” during an interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. “At some point you will know more,” she said on the programme, “but I’m not going to say anything.”

The singer teased in September that she had “a whole album” in the works, promising “lots of music coming” for the future.