Billie Eilish doesn’t know if there will be another Billie Eilish

Nearly a decade Before that, Billie Eilish, then 13 years old, put the song “Ocean Eyes” on SoundCloud and catapulted her to global stardom.

It was the kind of thing that aspiring singers dream of, propelled by a platform that at the time was not known for discovering pop stars. But if you ask her now, even Eilish, now 24, doesn’t know if anyone else can replicate her success. “Oh, my God!” she says when asked where the next Billie Eilish might be discovered. “I have no idea.”

Photo: Darrell Jackson

It’s common these days for new artists to share their music on SoundCloud, but at the time it was still relatively new. “I’m very curious to see what the future holds,” Eilish says. “I don’t know where the next one will come from. I can’t wait to see them and I can’t wait to cheer them on, whatever it is.”

If they ever come. Ten years ago, artists could build followings, as Eilish did, through live streams, Instagram posts and social media videos. In 2026, the landscape looks very different. Everyone seems to know, or claims to know, how to beat algorithms to get streams and views, but very little of it rings true, especially in a world full of artificial intelligence. Eilish and her fans have grown up on the Internet, but they may not want to spend as much time there as they once did.

To be clear, Eilish still believes that true talent can cut through the noise. Art should be “accessible to everyone,” she says, and the Internet, though messy, enables that. “There are all kinds of technologies now where it seems like we’re all doomed, but we’re not,” Eilish tells WIRED. “If we keep making real things, real human-made art — live music, live audiences — I don’t see that ever dying.”