Billie Eilish is living out every dream an 18-year-old could have, from singing a James Bond theme song "No Time to Die" for the 007 franchise's upcoming film, scoring Grammys in the Big Four for her first time, having a No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hit and a No. 1 Billboard 200 debut studio album, and much more.
But what every Belieber truly envies about her is her special bond with Justin Bieber, who recently opened up about wanting to protect her from the dark stages of stardom considering the two both grew to fame as early teenagers.
Billboard revisited how Eilish went from being an ordinary fan to a unique friend of her favorite popstar. See below a full timeline of how Billie Eilish and Justin Bieber became the ultimate friendship #goals.
March 2019 – Eilish tells Billboard about Bieber following her back and direct messaging her on social media while teasing their collaboration.
Ahead of Spotify's The Billie Eilish Experience album release event back in March for When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, Eilish, decked out in a head-to-toe Louis Vuitton 'fit, dished to Billboard's Chelsea Briggs about freaking out when her favorite singer finally followed her back on social media and sent her a DM.
"I was at Ellen DeGeneres], I was sitting backstage and I was just like, 'Oh!'" she said at the time. "The first thing he DMed me was a screenshot of, I guess he scrolled up and saw a message I had sent in 2014…. It was like, 'Hey Justin, I just wanted to talk. How are you? Please answer.'" He sure did five years later, when they discussed working together on a song that later became the "Bad Guy (with Justin Bieber)" remix.
April 2019 – Bieber and Eilish meet at Coachella 2019 for the first time.
A DM doesn't come close to an actual meet-up, so what could be a more perfect venue for two major artists to finally link up than Coachella? But their more personal meet-and-greet was anything but expected, when Eilish stuck around the festival on Sunday following her inaugural Coachella gig the night before to watch Ariana Grande's headling set from the same VIP section as Bieber.
She understandably freaked out when she realized they were standing right next to each other, as he watched her curl up in a ball on the ground during Grande's live rendition of "Bad Idea." But it wasn't all bad when the two finally embraced and danced with James Corden to *NSYNC and Grande's performance of "Tearin' Up My Heart." Watch the precious moment go down in the video uploaded by a fan below.
July 2019 – The two take on the "Bad Guy" title for the official remix.
Bieber hit the recording booth for his No. 1 fan, who took her No. 1 Hot 100 hit and gave it more flare with a swaggy second verse. He also lent his voice to the bridge and chorus alongside hers, fulfilling the ultimate Belieber's fantasies of working together. She proved her allegiance to the Biebs by using a throwback photo featuring her younger self in her JB poster-covered bedroom for the song's cover art.
February 2020 – Bieber cries in an interview about protecting Eilish, and she returns the love in a fan-tastic way.
Bieber shared a similarly overwhelming spotlight with Eilish early on in their lives, as he was discovered at just 13 years old and Eilish released her debut hit "Ocean Eyes" at just 14. The now 25-year-old megawatt artist got misty-eyed in an interview with Apple Music's Beats 1 host Zane Lowe last Friday (Feb. 14) about meeting the 18-year-old superstar who's following a parallel path with him. "If she ever needs me, I'm going to be here for her, but yeah, just protecting those moments because people take for granted encounters," he told Lowe while wiping away tears. "I just want to protect her, you know? I don't want her to lose it, I don't want her to go through anything I went through. I don't wish that upon anybody. So, if she ever needs me, I'm just a call away."
Eilish posted the interview snippet on Instagram to not only help promote his fifth studio album Changes, which was released that day, but to show off how far she's gone to support him in the past — concert tank tops, posters and all. Bieber later commented, "Love you !!!" on the ultimate Belieber tribute post, which his wife Hailey also adored by dropping a heart emoji in the comments.
