When 14-year-old Billie Eilish released ‘Ocean Eyes’ on SoundCloud in 2016, she became an international sensation practically overnight. Trying to follow up on a viral hit like that is no small feat, but in the six years that followed, Eilish has gone strength to strength, earning seven Grammies and racking up nearly 80 billion streams.
Her soft, whispered vocals stand out in a pop scene that’s saturated with strident voices – it’s her trademark – and attending the first of her five Melbourne shows brought with it the fear we'd struggle to hear her over the cheers of the 15,000-odd punters packed into Rod Laver Arena. But as soon as Eilish sprung onto the stage from a hidden trapdoor and the thumping drums of ‘Bury a Friend’ kicked in, Eilish’s breathy voice rang out over the frenzy.
With the release of sophomore album Happier than Ever, Eilish shifted from the dark, gothic aesthetic that defined her early years to a retro, Monroe-inspired look with a platinum blonde ‘do. But tonight she bounds across the stage sporting jet black pigtails, an oversized top and matching basketball shorts. It almost makes it seem as though not a day has passed since the last time she was here – but the passage of time is evident in her confident command of the stage.
The set design is simple but effective: a long ramp flanks two tall pillars, atop which brother Finneas and drummer Anthony Marshall sit. From the centre stage, a long catwalk extends out into the crowd – and while belting out bops like ‘You Should See Me in a Crown’, Eilish jerks, crawls and convulses across it, against unsettling video projections of spiders, sharks and snakes. For the jazzy, Brazilian-style ‘Billie Bossa Nova’, she struts and dances, oozing sensuality. It projects defiance, considering that Eilish has struggled with body image issues exacerbated by the media’s intense scrutiny of her body before she was even 18.
The Australian shows are the final leg of Eilish’s tour, and the nearly two-hour set – which runs through a majority of her discography – is polished and airtight. She seamlessly transitions from club bangers to moments of quiet reprieve with her deeper cuts and back again, ensuring the audience doesn’t have a chance to get too into their feelings or run out of energy.
“I’m giving you permission to lose your mind,” says Eilish, after instructing everyone to throw a massive tantrum. “Get that bad energy out of your fucking system, take anything that’s bothering you, put it in front of your face and scream at it.” Eilish’s wish is the audience’s command, and as soon as Eilish gives the signal, the stadium reverberates with the screams of thousands of concertgoers.
After this moment of group therapy Eilish segues to an acoustic interlude with Finneas, the mastermind behind much of his sister’s music. “He’s my best friend and the most talented person in the world,” says Eilish, and the duo launch into acoustic versions of ‘I Love You’, ‘Your Power’ and ‘TV’.
She disappears soon after, only to appear minutes later atop a cherrypicker that ambles across the back half of the stadium. “I love you all the same,” she says, and her nimble moves across the stadium feel like a genuine, concerted effort to be visible to her audience from every vantage point, no matter where they may be sitting. As she floats above a sea of twinkling phone lights, she serenades the crowd with sultry renditions of 'OverHeated’ and ‘Bellyache’, then finally ‘Ocean Eyes’ – the track that started it all.
Eilish returns to the stage for ‘All Good Girls Go to Hell’, and she stands silently as footage from Black Lives Matter protests and climate change news clips flash across the screen. “So, we really gotta protect our planet better, don’t we?” she says with a grim smile. “We gotta stand for each other and with each other. I stand with you, and I hope that you feel comfortable being yourself.”
With a loud ‘bang’, the stadium is bathed in paper confetti as Eilish plays the final song of the show, ‘Happier Than Ever’. If there’s one thing to fault her for, it’s that there was no encore – but it’s hard to complain about that after experiencing a set of more than 20 tracks. Not to mention the rare opportunity to throw a tantrum sans judgement.
