FEATURED IN :
ROLLING STONE
NASHVILLE SCENE
PITCHFORK
SPIN
BILLBOARD
VARIETY
Words combined from stories by Charilie Zaillian (Rolling Stone) and Laura Hutson Hunter (Nashville Scene)
“On Wednesday night, the 17-year-old pop phenom born Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O’Connell played a secret show at the Blue Room in Jack White’s Third Man Records. It was an invitation-only affair that brought out lots of music-biz insiders and performers — among them Jason Isbell, the Watson Twins, Bully’s Alicia Bognanno, Michelle Branch, Vanessa Carlton, Tristen and others — as well as a smattering of superfans who gathered near the front of the stage.
As with many of the Blue Room shows, Eilish and O’Connell’s performance was recorded direct to acetate for a record to be released via Third Man. The vinyl version of the recording will be available in December at TMR's locations in Nashville and Detroit, with a limited-edition version (featuring splatter paint artwork by Eilish) available to the attendees only — the invite-only crowd — a Venn diagram of local scenesters, industry types and mom-and-dad-of-the-year-candidates with kids in tow.
When Eilish looked up into the audience, her posture changed, her eyes sparkled. Onstage she isn’t a timid teen — she’s an international superstar. Her brother and collaborator Finneas O'Connell was at her side, switching between guitar and keys throughout the set.
Where a full-scale Eilish concert is a maelstrom of macabre visuals, seizure-inducing lights and screaming teen admirers, at Third Man she was freed from having to simultaneously work a giant stage, hype up an audience and sing the songs. The Blue Room’s “recording” light flipped on — the stakes got higher, the safety net was gone, and it was time for the audience to share responsibility for making the record. The stage lights turned red, and Eilish moved into elemental versions of the mischievous, vaguely menacing “All The Good Girls Go to Hell” and “Bury a Friend”, which elicited rapturous call-and-response from those up front; for the neo-soul-styled “idontwannabeyouanymore,” meanwhile, and “Come Out and Play,” a heartstring-tugging standout, there was pin-drop quiet.
She laughed her way through a minor flub in the chorus of “Bad Guy,” and the front-row fans cracked up with her as she brushed it off with ease. Calling that one an audience favorite might be an understatement — members of Eilish’s young, rabid fan base down in front reacted gleefully (and loudly) to that one. But instead of trying to manage the crowd, Eilish leaned into their wildness, no longer a performer in a high-stakes recording session and instead an increasingly charismatic show woman.
During the break between recording her A and B sides, Eilish turned to the audience with an awareness of how awkward it felt to pause a performance right in the middle. “So, how’s your day?” she asked. Her face changed as she recognized a fan in the front row: “Oh my God, you brought me a puppy once! How’s he doing?” Another fan said this was their 11th time seeing her perform.
In a September issue of The New Yorker, Michael Schulman wrote an article about fandom. A line from that story — “At its core, fandom is a love story” — kept coming into my mind throughout the show. Billie Eilish is an incredibly talented singer with an uncommon range and vocal control. The vocals on set-closer “When the Party’s Over” span three octaves. “I Love You,” which Eilish described as “long and sad,” has a climbing melody similar to that of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” But she’s not Celine Dion-ing her way through these songs, laying on melismatic flourishes. Her songs are more complex than most pop music tends to be.
Before closing the show, Eilish thanked Jack White for “inspiring a whole generation to do what they want.” I can’t think of a more succinct affirmation.”
