Alicia Keys just explained how her very persistent son convinced her to connect him with Billie Eilish.
In a behind-the-scenes look at her 2024 Super Bowl halftime performance, the Grammy winner told her hair and makeup team about how her “pushy” nine-year-old Genesis Dean had been angling to befriend the “Bad Guy” singer.
After what Keys said was three days of pestering, she agreed to text Eilish a video of her son where introduced himself and said, “Hi, my name is Genesis and I really like your music. And I’m Alicia Keys’ son.”
Laughing at Genesis’ boldness, Keys cackled as she watched the video with her beauty team and showed them her accompanying text to Eilish.
“Someone wanted me to send you this message,” it read. “I hope it makes you smile. How are you, beautiful? Big love!”
A little too eager to connect with the artist, Keys said Genesis prodded her to see if he got a response “over and over” again.
“I said no, it takes a minute,” she recalled telling him. “She likes to take time, reconnect. It’s all good.”
Much to the annoyance of his mother, Genesis decided to take it upon himself and text Eilish a simple “Hi” from her phone.
“Don’t bother the girl,” Keys said she told her son. “She’ll write back if she can write back.”
But as she sat in the makeup chair getting ready for the Super Bowl stage, the “Girl On Fire” singer got the reply Genesis had been waiting for.
“Genesis, it’s Billie,” Eilish responded in a video beside her brother and producing partner, Finneas. “I’m ready to be your friend any day.”
“I would like to be your friend,” she said eagerly, as Finneas chanted Genesis’ name in the background. “Alicia is my friend, I love her. I love you. Let’s hang out and be friends.”
Keys and Eilish go back to at least 2019, when they performed a duet of the song “Ocean Eyes” during an episode of “The Late Late Show With James Corden.”
Watch “The Untold Stories of My Super Bowl Halftime Performance” below: