Billie Eilish says Avril Lavigne was her idol growing up.

Billie Eilish

Billie Eilish

The 17-year-old singer has heaped praise on the 'Complicated' hitmaker - who has become a friend - and credited her with inspiring her to be unique through her music, along with the likes of Lana Del Rey, Childish Gambino and Tyler, the Creator.

Speaking to the Daily Star newspaper's Wired column, she said: "Avril was everything to me, I love Avril. I only love her. There's nothing else there, just love.

"There is almost no other artist like that. Her, Tyler, Gambino, [Justin] Bieber made me and Lana, probably.

"They made e. I would not be me. [Avril] has my number though and she texts me sometimes, it's so cool. She'll be like: 'Hey babe it's Avril'. Oh my God."

Meanwhile, the teenage pop superstar has already earned herself some famous fans with the likes of Thom Yorke and Sam Smith amongst those who enjoyed her chart topping debut album 'When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?'

And most recently, Sir Elton John has spoken out to shower her with compliments as he said "talent like hers doesn't come along very often".

The 'Your Song' star said: "Her album was amazing. She's come a long way very quickly. She's an incredible word-of-mouth artist.

"I can't wait to see her live because she has something very special going on. Talent like hers doesn't come along very often."

However, the 'Bad Guy' singer previously admitted she nearly pulled her debut album on the eve of its release because she didn't want to be told how other people "feel about this thing I love".

She explained: "[It's rare] to actually really f**k with what you make and create. I didn't want the world to be able to tell me how they feel about this thing I love."

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