NEWS
Billie Eilish has said she feels “so seen” that “everybody looks exactly” like her at a recent show in Ireland.
The popstar recently wrapped up the UK and European leg of her giant ‘Hit Me Hard And Soft‘ Tour, where she played at Dublin’s 3Arena for the final two shows.
On Saturday (July 26), the ‘Birds Of A Feather’ singer told the crowd about her Irish heritage, sharing: “Obviously, I am not from here, but it’s really cool to come somewhere and everybody looks exactly like you, and you’re all just as pasty as me, I love it.”
Eilish went on to say that witnessing the crowd’s similarity to her own face was “so amazing”, adding: “It just makes me feel so seen. Also, a thousand of my relatives are in the crowd right now, I’m pretty sure.”
She then thanked the crowd for coming to see her show, concluding: “I love it here – it’s so beautiful and you are all so beautiful and I see so many familiar faces out there.”
The singer stopped by London’s O2 Arena on July 17, where NME gave her show a five-star review. “She finishes the show with ‘Birds Of A Feather’, the world-beating love song that forms one of the key highlights of her latest album, ‘Hit Me Hard And Soft’,” we wrote.
“It’s the perfect example of how Eilish has grown in the last three years and since the start of her career – always an artist who’s been able to write killer songs, but one who consistently finds a way to level up and tap deeper into universal emotions. Her latest O2 residency may be over now, but next time we see Eilish in London, we bet it’ll be with shows – and songs – that take her to even greater heights.”
During her UK tour, Eilish also revealed that she was working on “something really special” with director James Cameron. At Manchester’s Co-Op Live Arena, she pointed out the increased number of cameras at the show, adding that although “I can’t say much about it”, she was working on a project with the acclaimed Avatar director “in 3D”.
Elsewhere, Billie Eilish has called Israel’s Gaza relocation plans “horrifying”.
Just days after landing her fourth No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Drop Dead,” Olivia Rodrigo is now getting major recognition from Niall Horan.
In a recent conversation with Rolling Stone published April 30, the former One Direction member shared insight into how he approaches songwriting, highlighting the comeback of bridges in pop and pointing to Rodrigo as a key influence behind it.
“It’s great to hear [bridges]. I feel like Olivia Rodrigo has been a big influence on that for pop writers,” the Irish artist said, before singing part of the “Drivers License” bridge. “What I like about Olivia’s music is [that] you feel like you’re getting one song and then you get a completely different song. It completely flips on its head musically, goes somewhere different, brings you to a bridge, brings you to some weird musical breakdown thing. Whatever [she] and Dan Nigro are up to is a good little team they’ve got going there. It’s definitely influencing people, including myself.”
Horan also spoke at length about his upcoming project Dinner Party, set to arrive June 5 through Capitol Records. He has already released two tracks from the record, including the title cut and “Little More Time,” both produced alongside Afterhrs, John Ryan and Julian Bunetta. The album rollout will be paired with an extensive 22-date tour across Europe, Ireland and the U.K. The Irish singer’s new release follows 2023’s The Show, which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200. During the interview, Horan also mentioned that his next era leans more into rock elements, something he connects back to his long-standing love for bands like Blink-182.
“That drum sound is something that we were trying to chase, and that comes from that late-’90s, early-2000s punk-rock era,” he said. “Rock’s been a big influence in my life since I was a child. I write pop songs, but dressing them up in a different way sometimes is quite cool. And now, the way my career is going, I’m completely thinking about live shows all the time. I learned so much from being on the road and being out there every night. There’s only so much sitting on Spotify you can do and reading comments before you actually get an idea of what people actually think. You can see it in the room. The rockier stuff really goes off at the shows.”
The “Slow Hands” hitmaker also has two U.S. stadium dates lined up for this year. Joining longtime friend and Grammy-nominated country artist Thomas Rhett, Horan is set to perform at GEODIS Park in Nashville on July 9 and Hersheypark Stadium in Hershey, Pennsylvania on July 19, with Live Nation handling promotion for both shows. Kashus Culpepper and Emily Ann Roberts will open the concerts. With such a packed touring schedule, all four remaining members of One Direction are expected to be on the road with new music this year. When asked about attending his former bandmates’ shows, Horan gave praise to Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson.
“I went to Harry’s show a couple of years ago, and that was just wild. Madness going on there,” he said. “It reminded me of the 1D stadium shows where it was just seas of people jumping up and down. Watching the things going on on the floor, all the fans dancing around, I love that. You feel a sense of pride watching the boys doing what they love to do, and the communities that they’re able to create. I’m going to try and get to a Louis show of some capacity in the next few weeks.”
Horan is now the fourth One Direction member to drop a new album this year. Tomlinson released How Did I Get Here? in January, Styles hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally in March, and ZAYN followed with Konnakol earlier this month on April 17.
