Every music fan knows the legendary origin story of Billie Eilish and her brother, Finneas O’Connell: two
teenagers creating generational, Grammy-sweeping pop music inside a cramped bedroom in their
childhood home in Highland Park, Los Angeles. It’s an iconic image—Billie sitting cross-legged on a bed with a
microphone, and Finneas hunched over a desktop computer, squeezing massive sonic landscapes out of a
tiny space.
But while the world knows the where, few know the incredibly bizarre, hilarious, and entirely accidental how
behind one of the biggest songs of the 21st century: “Bad Guy.”
This is the true story of how a completely unglamorous everyday sound transformed a casual sibling jam
session into a global masterpiece that redefined pop music.

The Crosswalk That Changed Pop Music

The year was 2018. The breakthrough didn’t happen in a multi-million-dollar acoustic booth, nor did it come from a high-end
digital sound library. It happened on a completely ordinary street corner in Sydney, Australia.
While on tour, Billie and Finneas were waiting to cross a road. Anyone who has traveled knows that different
cities have different pedestrian crosswalk sounds. In Sydney, the pedestrian signal doesn’t just beep—it emits
a rapid, distinct, and strangely syncopated clack-clack-clack sound to alert pedestrians when it is safe to
walk.
To a regular tourist, it’s background noise. To Billie and Finneas, it was musical gold.
Finneas immediately whipped out his iPhone and recorded the audio of the crosswalk signal right there on
the street. When they returned to their bedroom studio, they imported the raw phone audio, pitched it down,
layered it, and heavily quantized it. That exact, unglamorous Australian pedestrian crosswalk became the
underlying, clicking rhythmic pulse that drives the verses of “Bad Guy”.

“Hold on, Let Me Dental Floss My Teeth”

The magic of Billie and Finneas’s creative process isn’t just their resourcefulness; it’s their complete lack of
filter. Because they are siblings, their studio environment has always been characterized by total comfort,
brutal honesty, and a lot of laughing.
When it came time to record the vocals for “Bad Guy,” Billie wanted a sound that felt intensely close—as if she
were whispering a secret directly into the listener’s ear. To achieve this, she had to sit incredibly close to the
microphone, capturing every subtle breath and mouth sound.

During one of the vocal takes, the track famously cuts out, and Billie can be heard letting out a completely
unscripted laugh before delivering the iconic, deadpan line: “Duh.”
That wasn’t a calculated marketing move; it was a genuine moment of sibling levity left in the final mix. In
interviews detailing the song’s creation, the duo revealed that the session was filled with random
interruptions, including Billie casually stopping mid-take because she needed to dental floss or grab a snack.
It’s that raw, unpolished, “sibling shit” that gave the track its unmistakable, effortlessly cool personality.

The Sibling Bond That Defies the Industry

What makes the story of “Bad Guy” resonate so deeply is what it represents about Billie and Finneas’s
relationship. In an industry where massive pop hits are typically engineered by rooms full of corporate
producers and songwriters, “Bad Guy” was just two siblings messing around with an iPhone recording and
having fun in a bedroom.
Many critics and fans wondered if the intense pressure of global fame would fracture their creative
partnership.

However, Billie has been incredibly vocal about the unbreakable nature of their bond. Reflecting
on their dynamic, she once shut down any rumors of creative friction by explaining that while they might get
into massive, explosive sibling fights, they are always back to laughing and writing music five minutes later.
“If I never saw Finneas at all, I might literally never make a song again,” Billie admitted, emphasizing that their

connection is the true engine behind her music.
When “Bad Guy” went on to win Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the 2020 Grammy Awards, it
wasn’t just a win for Billie Eilish; it was a historic validation for homemade, rule-breaking art

Conclusion: The Power of Ordinary Sounds

“Bad Guy” proved to the music world that you don’t need expensive gear, a traditional studio, or a predictable
formula to make a classic. Sometimes, all you need is a sharp ear, a smartphone, a willingness to laugh at
yourself, and a pedestrian crosswalk on the other side of the world. It reminded an entire generation of
bedroom producers that inspiration is everywhere if you’re actually listening.

To get an even closer look at their incredible songwriting chemistry and hear how they dissect their tracks
step-by-step, check out the Billie Eilish and Finneas Masterclass on Vanity Fair, where they break down the
fascinating physics, emotion, and production secrets behind their music.

What is your absolute favorite lyric or production detail from “Bad Guy,” and did you know about the
crosswalk sound before reading this? Let’s talk about it in the comments below!