Inside the iconic and wholesome friendship between Lana Del Rey and Billie Eilish

Yesterday, Interview Magazine announced Lana Del Rey as their cover girl for their latest issue, and with it came an extensive interview with the singer about her upcoming ninth studio album: Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Boulevard? But it was no ordinary journalist conducting the interview – it was Billie Eilish, who spoke with Lana in depth about their reverence for each other and about the details of Lana’s new album. These two artists are like the master and the protege, and hearing them discuss everything from Billie’s early says of belting out Lana songs at talent shows to Lana then declaring Billie as one of two people she’d have conduct the interview, the other being John Waters. Here’s a deep dive inside the evolution of the wholesome and iconic friendship between Billie Eilish and Lana Del Rey.

Billie was a LANA stan

Billie Eilish has made no apologies about the fact that Lana Del Rey is one of the biggest inspirations behind her whole career. When Billie did her Playlist Of My Life video with Teen Vogue, she had Off To The Races from Born To Die straight in there as track two.

In their recent interview conversation, Billie told Lana she had her as her lock screen of the first phone she ever owned. “I knew for months before I got my first iPhone that it was going to be that fucking photo of you with the bee on your lip,” she said.

Billie then told Lana that she used to sing her songs in talent shows, saying “I sang “Brooklyn Baby” at the last one I did. I’d film myself covering your songs and pretend that I was gonna blow up on YouTube from them, and then they’d get two views.”

As soon as Billie Eilish started getting established, Lana Del Rey became a fan

In the recent interview with Interview, Lana told Billie Eilish “I remember seeing the first videos of you singing and I said to my managers, ‘She’s the one.’ I was like, “This is the girl. She isn’t just talented. You can tell she’s kind.” It didn’t feel like you were aspiring to be anything. It’s crazy to have that magical quality.”

Billie was of course freaking out.

They first met at the ASCAP Awards in 2018

Billie Eilish fangirled over meeting Lana Del Rey at the ASCAP awards in 2018, culminating in these iconic photographs that are some of the most wholesome visuals I’ve literally ever seen.

Lana continued to hang with Billie and Finneas in 2021

It’s so wholesome.

The two are now such close friends

Even as a massive fan of the two artists, I had no idea how close Billie Eilish and Lana Del Rey til this interview where Lana says “The text you sent me out of the blue—I don’t even know how you got my number—was on one of the craziest days where I was sitting in front of the Burbank Airport watching the planes take off, which I had never done before. I was sitting on the side of the road because that day I had to make a really important decision. I was feeling really nervous about it, because I’m always the kind of person who doubles back on my important decisions.

“Then, you literally texted me saying something like, “I love you, and without you, I wouldn’t have been able to do certain things.” I texted my friend Anne, and I was like, “I made the right decision because Billie texted me.” I thought I needed to hear something completely different from someone else, and I got this awesome synchronicity that let me know I was in the right place at the right time.

Recommended stories by this writer:

• Erm so Lana Del Rey’s Born To Die album shoot was done in Watford?

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• The definitive ranking of every Billie Eilish song, from worst to best