NEW MUSIC: FINNEAS | NAKED

Finneas has returned with a new cut, "Naked," marking his first new material of the year. The track begins with a funky pop groove, but takes a dramatic shift towards arena rock halfway through, propelled by a bridge filled with big guitar riffs. “If I don’t feel it, I don’t fake it,” Finneas sings on the hook. “If I’m being real, it was overrated/If I know the deal, then I won’t take it/I can’t believe you’ve seen me naked.” While “Naked” is the first original solo song Finneas has offered up this year, it arrives on the heels of his recent cover of Bon Iver’s “Flume,” which dropped as part of Spotify’s Singles series earlier this month — for which he also reworked his song, “Medieval.” Finneas and sister Billie Eilish also penned several songs for the fictional boyband 4*Town featured in the new Pixar movie, "Turning Red." (Finneas even voiced one of the faux band’s members.) Finneas released his debut solo album, "Optimist," last year after sharing an EP, "Blood Harmony," in 2019. The record helped earn Finneas a Best New Artist nomination at this year’s Grammys, where he’s also up for Record, Song, and Album of the Year thanks to his work with Eilish on "Happier Than Ever" and its title track. In related news, Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell won the original song Oscar for “No Time to Die,” the title tune for the latest James Bond film, at Sunday’s 94th annual Academy Awards. It’s the third consecutive Academy Award for music in the long-running spy franchise, following Adele’s win for 2012’s “Skyfall” and Sam Smith’s for “Writing’s on the Wall” from 2015’s “Spectre.