Finneas Says He Has 'No Desire' to Be More Famous Than He Already Is: 'Seems Like a Huge Drag'

Billie Eilish is one of the biggest pop stars on the planet — and her brother and collaborator Finneas is more than happy to let her take most of the spotlight.

In an interview on iHeartRadio's Song Stories podcast shared exclusively with PEOPLE, the musician and producer laments the pitfalls of uber-fame, something Eilish, 20, has dealt with as her popularity has exploded.

Together, the siblings have released two No. 1 albums (When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? in 2019 and Happier Than Ever in 2021), won multiple Grammys and even taken home an Academy Award.

And while Finneas (born Finneas O'Connell) says that "the good outweighs the bad" when it comes to opportunities afforded by fame, he admits that he has something of an easier time in everyday life than Eilish does.

"Billie gets to play these arenas and whatever, but her day-to-day life is more challenging than mine," he tells host Jordan Runtagh. "My ability to walk down the street and go into a grocery store and sit at a coffee shop and whatever is uninhibited. Maybe a kid or two that day comes up to me and goes, 'Hey, I love you,' or something, but it's not a challenge."

As far as he's concerned, that's the ideal situation; Finneas says that when it comes down to it, he has no interest in achieving that level of fame and recognition, and would "avoid it" if he could.

Still, he acknowledges that at the end of the day, it's all about the music, and he understands that sometimes, a certain level of notoriety is required for his music to hit as many ears as possible.

"The caveat is that I'm proud of my music. I want to promote it. I want it to be heard by as many people as possible. And if the consequence of that is that I become more famous, I'm willing to take that," he says. "I think a lot of people want to be famous, but I have no desire to be any more famous than I currently am. It seems like a huge drag."

Finneas, who released his solo debut album Optimist in October, says he recently read Dave Grohl's memoir The Storyteller, and related to the rocker's feelings of living in relative anonymity even at the height of Nirvana, as frontman Kurt Cobain soaked up most of the attention.

"Sometimes kids would come up to him, but he wasn't dogged by paparazzi," he says. "By and large, throughout the Billie journey, I've been in that role. I get to go to the party, but I don't get followed home by the paparazzi."

Though Optimist — which he wrote and produced entirely on his own — failed to reach the same heights as Eilish's albums, it cracked the Top 10 on the Alternative Albums chart, and spawned the single "What They'll Say About Us."

RELATED VIDEO: Finneas O'Connell Says Relationship with Sister Billie Eilish Is 'Bullet Proof'

He says going through the process alone and without Eilish to lean on was "scary," moreso than the album cycles he works through with his sister.

"I don't know if maybe it is for her, but maybe it's not because it's the two of us," he says. "But doing this completely alone, it was like climbing a mountain without a rope or something. Like, 'Oh man, it's only me here. I do not have somebody helping me.' But rewarding, too."

Song Stories will launch on July 20 on the iHeartPodcast Network.