REVIEW: Though famous for her soft, almost whisper-like singing, Billie Eilish has proved herself to be nothing short of a fully fledged rock star.
Last night the Happier Than Ever hit maker returned to New Zealand for the first time since 2019, to play the first of three shows at Auckland’s Spark Arena.
It’s a mammoth task, but there’s lost time to make up for from the pandemic, and the cancellation of her 2020 Laneway appearance.
But Eilish’s return to Aotearoa also feels like a sort of homecoming – Spark Arena has sentimental value for her, as she reminds her fans this is the first arena she ever played.
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She says the experience was “completely life-changing”.
“Afterwards I went backstage and bawled my eyes out,” Eilish told a screaming crowd.
“When people ask about my favourite places in the world, I tell them New Zealand."
The Los Angeles-native has come a long way from the 17-year-old who first played this arena; now 20, she exudes a self-assuredness that’s impressive for someone who spent the latter half of her teenage years growing up in the spotlight.
When she first broke out onto the music scene, the Bad Guy singer was staunchly protective of how her body was perceived. It was an understandable move from a teenager in an industry where young women are overly sexualised.
However, she’s completely free when performing for her fans, as she slides across the stage moving her body with the confidence of a young woman who has truly grown into herself.
Her opening act Dora Jar (who Eilish sung praises for at the end of the show) must have taken a leaf out of her headliner’s book too, performing with just as much energy and enthusiasm to a supportive crowd.
You’d be forgiven for assuming her concert would be two hours of soft singing. Instead, she successfully projects her voice across the crowd of thousands, while also lending vocal playfulness into songs like Therefore I Am and Lost Cause.
Despite touring nearly every month for six months out of this year, Eilish brings unbridled energy to every song. Sad girl anthem Halley’s Comet becomes an empowered ode to complicated love and the sultry Oxytocin transports the crowd to a club dance floor on Karangahape Road at 3am.
Halfway through the set Eilish and her brother, producer, and “best friend in the world” Finneas take a seat to perform three acoustic songs: I love you, Your Power, and recent release TV.
You remember what draws so many people to her while swaying along to her softer, sadder songs. There’s no feeling like being young and heartbroken, and Eilish’s (and Finneas’ – the siblings write songs together) lyricism knows how to tear you a part while her voice puts you back together again.
“This song hurts!” Eilish says during TV. As she sings the outro to the song – “maybe I’m the problem” – a fan in the crowd earnestly screams “you’re not!”
She closes off with Happier Than Ever, a power ballad of heartbreak that has the audience losing their voices as they scream along to her words.
“I’d never treat me this shitty, you made me hate this city,” the crowd sings along together – at this moment, everyone in the crowd is the girl who doesn’t “talk shit on the internet” or “never told anyone anything bad” in the face of heartbreak.
It’s funny how someone else’s lived experience can feel so uniquely yours.
This is what makes Eilish a true rock star (as if being Radiohead approved wasn’t enough): it’s strangely heartwarming to see how much she’s in her element when she performs.
You’re reminded of the somewhat awkward Eilish from her Don’t Smile At Me days, and how much the singer has grown into herself and developed a power and confidence that puts her in league with the rock and roll heavyweights.
It makes you hope her next album will be heading in the direction of Alanis Morisette’s Jagged Little Pill – if any of the parents who were dragged here by their children were weary of this anti-pop star, they’ll surely be convinced now.
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