FINNEAS: A Modern Troubadour

Photo by Sarah Reneè

By Sarah Fournell

It’s very fitting that FINNEAS chose the Troubadour, a deeply historic Los Angeles location named after romantic poets, to debut his new single, “Mona Lisa, Mona Lisa” with a pop-up show. The quaint and timeless venue on the Sunset strip was a central location for pioneers of folk music such as Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, and Neil Young (or as the guy at the bar described them: “these old ass white guys on the wall”). FINNEAS’s act defines the modern troubadour; replacing the harmonicas and acoustic guitars of his predecessors with flashy red axes and a keyboard, while still maintaining the charm and vulnerability of the singer-songwriter act.

The opening act, Marinelli, can be best defined by the Spotify playlists I found his songs on: “Feel Good Indie Rock,” “idk.,” “i miss her but i know she’s never comin back,” and “pov: u are sad gay and lonely.” I was mindlessly listening to his hokey lyrics until he said “This one’s called ‘Sarah’” (my name). His lyrics about a girl named Sarah who writes left me with a fuzzy feeling and a permanent blush on my cheeks because of the way he warbled out the syllables that made up my name. There was so much fervor and passion wrapped up in Marinelli’s silly ballads, tied together with tinny guitar strings and a vocal modulator. He sang his songs with such a confident vulnerability that I truly felt like Mila Kunis’ character in Forgetting Sarah Marshall when Jason Segal’s character sings a song from his Dracula musical—happy for him and his endeavors, but feeling inexplicably naked while watching him. His act was deeply cute, and his wit and charm made up for the multitude of technical difficulties he faced throughout the night. 

Nearly no time was spared between Marinelli’s set and FINNEAS’s, as if no one wanted to waste a second of precious shared moments on such a magical night. He embarked on his electrifying set with “NAKED,” an instant crowd charmer with its heavy-hitting chorus that left the floor absolutely pulsating. The walls of the venue could barely contain the surges of excitement that arose from the opening notes of his next song, “The Kids are All Dying.”  

I could truly dedicate a full article to the way that he looked at his girlfriend, Claudia Sulewski, during his new song “Mona Lisa, Mona Lisa,” which he performed two minutes before its international debut. FINNEAS was so overwhelmingly crestfallen for the girl on the balcony, keeping his eyes locked on her during verses about how she “could be the Mona Lisa if the Mona Lisa was prettier,”despite the horde of screaming fans clawing at him from below. His love for her was apparent throughout every song of his, with smiles sent her way throughout his set, as if he had embedded inside jokes just between the two of them in the lines of his songs.

The crowd was full of rude hecklers under the guise of superfans, none of which dared to spare a moment of silence between breaths, using each pause to proclaim their undying love for him. FINNEAS paused his set for a moment to have a full conversation with a fan about their tattoos, which sparked and excited jealousy among the rest of the audience who wanted a solo moment with him too. But I sort of understood their lack of self control when he performed “Around my Neck,” a song that truly unearthed every ounce of sex appeal he seemed to be hiding beneath the surface up until that point. As he sang the words “nobody does it like you do” he caught a white feather boa and a yellow cowboy hat tiara hybrid from the crowd, which he donned for the first verse. After the song he admitted he felt “quite silly” in his new outfit.

FINNEAS got more sentimental and visibly grateful for the opportunity to perform as the night went on, truly taking to heart the lyrics he writes about savoring the time we have left on this earth. He dedicated his most touching track “Only a Lifetime” to Marinelli, before reminiscing on their late night hang outs and time spent performing together. He then brought the Troub to tears with lines about being “unprepared for [his] loved ones to be gone.” He sang each word with such genuity that I truly felt my view on life transforming with each verse. I became instantly thankful that I could share the moment with my mom and sister, and that the friends among the crowd also felt compelled to pull each other a little bit closer before the song ended.

Towards the end of the evening, he slyly said “I only have two songs left…on the setlist.” After performing “Til’ Forever Falls Apart” and “Let’s Fall in Love for the Night” he cheekily asked his sister, Billie Eilish, if she wanted to come down for a little bit. She skipped out onto the stage, and was met with exuberant amounts of adoration. She flashed an impish smile to the crowd, just before she and Finneas divulged that they couldn’t decide which song to play and left it up to the bewildered audience. The siblings ultimately landed on her rarely performed track “Hostage,” providing an extremely intimate performance that put the duo’s musicality and chemistry on full display. Just moments after the song ended, Eilish whispered into her brother's ear, nodded, and launched into a haunting acoustic rendition of “Happier Than Ever.” 

FINNEAS’ songs bottle up the anxieties of our generation so perfectly, with lyrics detailing the sensation of having one foot out the door and dancing on the other–feeling on fire but alright at the same time. Every song he performed felt like the one scene in a movie where the producers paid too much to have a band in, so they dedicate a whole scene to them—so cinematic and pertinent to the story of the lives of everyone in the audience. Each song told a new story of yearning in a way that made them deeply personal yet completely and utterly relatable at the same time. 

Throughout the night I found myself staring at the detailed wood carvings in the walls of the hallowed halls of the Troubadour. I imagined what it would have been like to have lighters and hands in the air instead of phone screens and cameras. I thought of the legends who’ve graced the stage and how they were the voices of their generation, and how FINNEAS is a voice for a new one. And I wondered if the girls lunged at the stage like that for Dylan too.

Photo by Sarah Renee