More than 19,000 people gathered at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on May 15 not for a game or concert, but to hear an album. A few days earlier, global pop star Billie Eilish announced that she would grant several thousand fans in New York City the exclusive privilege of hearing her third album. Hit me hard and soft, in advance and for free, if they were able to win tickets (a second screening is scheduled in Los Angeles on May 16). No other details were given about what to expect, but the distribution of tickets seemed to have been democratic and plentiful: when my train arrived at the nearby Lafayette Ave station at 8 p.m., my entire carload of chatty teenagers left. empty the platform
Inside Barclays, the merchandise stand was bursting at the seams, with the item of the night a limited edition poster with Eilish's contemplative face plastered all over it. On the main stage, the lights glowed a serene ocean blue (the apparent color scheme of this album) as the album title was projected in huge letters across the floor. In front of me, two friends, one with Eilish's face as his phone background, chatted excitedly about whether I was coming out, before shouting to get the attention of other friends sitting in another section.
It was clearly a fan event, but I had also inadvertently found myself in the industry section. A few rows up, High nobility editor-in-chief Willa Bennett spoke with an editor at seventeen, as one of Eilish's publicists walked in behind me. (Through Instagram, I learned that Lourdes Leon and Alex Wolff were also here.) I said hello to a friend, who was with his younger brother, Luke, a 22-year-old Eilish fan who started his journey with his sophomore album. , Happier than ever. He was excited to hear her play “Lunch,” the comfortable, crushing song she previewed at Coachella, and convinced Eilish that she was here and that she was going to show up.
And at 9:33 p.m., he did, walking around in uniform (cap, oversized t-shirt, and basketball shorts) to meet a single focus. “Boys, I could shit,” he said, before kicking off the party with a heavy but ornate ballad that included the sighing lyric, “When I get off the stage / I feel like a bird in a cage.” (Yes, it's heavy with angst.) Everyone immediately got up with their phones to record grainy footage of her running around the floor, not dancing or listening. Then, “The Lunch” came on and we turned our attention back. The rest of the song is as explicit as he scoffed, as I caught the lyrics, “Need a seat? I'll volunteer.” spicy
For the next 45 minutes, Eilish didn't stop moving and walked, turned or sprinted from one end of the arena to the other with the agility of a linebacker. The only other person with her was Finneas, who was following her with a video camera, which at one point she stole to turn on. Meanwhile, the songs came at a dizzying pace, with a mid-album apex that was an EDM banger that was accompanied by a laser show. Luke leaned over to tell me the song was called “The Greatest” and raved that it was “the best – it's as good as I expected”. When I told him I was surprised he knew the title, since the tracklist isn't published, he denied that he only “knew some of them.”
One song that everyone clearly knew, because the arena erupted when he started playing, was the penultimate track “Blue,” formerly called “True Blue,” an unreleased fan favorite that had been circulating online for years. It spurred a horde of fans from the rows above me to sprint onto the floor, chased by ushers yelling for everyone else to “stay!” This song was then followed by a serpentine seduction with slinky drums and Eilish with dirty lines I couldn't understand. Then it was over. The music stopped and Eilish grabbed the microphone to scream, “IF*CKING LOVE YOU MUCH” and left the stage. Still blinking as the lights came on, we walked out wondering what we had experienced: the show, the music, and whatnot. Someone behind me commented that she “just made money”, and I was too stunned to correct her.
Billie Eilish's “Hit Me Hard And Soft” is out on May 17.
