Billie Eilish reveals the daring plan she had to fly over concert crowds
Her concert film is out now
The wonderful Billie Eilish joined Fleur East, Will Best and James Barr for our Friday Fry Up, where they chatted about her new concert film, 'Hit Me Hard and Soft', which is co-directed with James Cameron.
The 'Birds of a Feather' singer also revealed her early tour plans, including her swinging on a rope above the audience, and how she'd love to have a musical about her life.
Watch the full interview with Billie Eilish
'Hit Me Hard and Soft' concert film
Billie Eilish's concert film 'Hit Me Hard and Soft' arrived in cinemas on Friday 8th May 2026, and gives fans the chance to experience the singer's huge tour, in 3D from the comfort of a cinema seat. The tour saw the singer performing across the world to thousands of adoring fans, but it was the Manchester performance that was shot for the concert film, with Billie explaining how it came about.
"It was not something I had planned to do at all," she admitted. "I'd been on the tour already for like a year and it was coming to an end and I was thinking like, I love this tour so much, I wish we were going to be capturing it. And then simultaneously with that feeling, my mom goes, 'You know, Billie, I got an email from James Cameron, and he asked, you know, you had this idea to shoot your show in 3D. Would you be interested?'
"Anyway, that was obviously an amazing idea. And so we had a couple meetings and whatever, and I just was like, my main thing that I said to him was, 'I really want to do this, but I don't want to change the show at all, I want to like really represent the show well'.
"And he was fully in agreement with that and then we decided on Manchester and we went. and we shot some in 02 (Arena) to practice, you know, when I was here in London over the summer. It was just like, just like a fun... and you know what was amazing was like, yes, the prep was different than like a regular show, because I was but as soon as I got on stage, it was like any show.
"It's really a good example of the show itself, because nothing changed for it."
Speaking about 'the box', Billie explained what it was like to be inside: "In that box, it's a screen, but it's like, it's almost like a two-way mirror almost. Where you can, if you're inside it, you can see fully out and if you're outside, you can't see at all... Which is like insane.
"I didn't even know that was possible until our first rehearsal and I couldn't believe it. And so what's crazy is like, as you saw in the movie, I literally get in there and I'm just sitting there looking at the crowd and they have no idea that I'm there."
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Billie Eilish as a daredevil
Chatting to Hits Radio Breakfast, Billie revealed that she had some wild ideas for the 'Hit Me Hard and Soft Tour'. After Will described the stage as a playground for Billie, she admitted that she actually wanted it to be like a playground.
"I want it (the stage) to feel like a playground," she admitted. "Because I want to play on the playground. I used to say like, 'Can I have something to climb on?' And that's not as easy as you might think."
She then revealed the wild idea she'd had for literally hanging out with her fans, explaining: "Like originally, the tour was going to have a rope that I swing on. And then I was like, 'No, I need to swing over the crowd' and they were like ‘Billie, you can't do it’!
"And I was like... (no) because they were like, 'You'd have to be strapped in'. And I was like, 'No! I don't want to be strapped in. I want to grab on with my hand (and) swing!'"
Billie Eilish the musical
Despite performing on these huge stages, Billie revealed she loved the idea of having a West End musical about her life. After Fleur revealed her tour reminded her of a West End show, she told the singer: "I feel like your life story is amazing."
Billie responded: "Oh, thank you for saying that. Hell yeah. I mean, maybe someday when I have time to do such a thing (musical), hell yeah, I would love to do that would be pretty crazy.
"I feel like, I feel like, yeah, in a way I'm like, so, I mean, I grew up as a dancer, so that kind of theatre, bowing to each side... And also love being in plays as a kid and stuff. Like I love that side."
Take a look through Billie Eilish's amazing career:
Early life
The US songstress was born on 18th December 2001 to Maggie Baird and Patrick O'Connell. Before Maggie Baird became Billie's momager, travelling on every tour with her, she was a ground-breaking actress and screenwriter. Coming from a famous family, Billie was always destined for fame!
2015: 'Ocen Eyes'
Releasing her first track to Soundcloud would have been a gamble for other singers, however the singer-songwriter released 'Ocean Eyes' herself, at age 14, in 2015. A definite 'bad guy' move, as it allowed her to have autonomy over her work and career.
The track has since been certified 3x Platinum.
2017: Debut EP
'Don't Smile At Me' was released in 2017, when Billie was only 16, to critical acclaim. For her first album, the success was unprecedented. Following suit, her breakthrough hit 'When The Party's Over' entered the Top 40, proving that her success was only going to exceed from here.
2018: First tour
The 'lovely' singer blew up and grew up in 2018! This was the year that saw the singer-songwriter embark on her 2018 tour. Billie boasted 74.7M Instagram followers, with a fanbase of 52M monthly listeners, growing her fanbase organically after that first Soundcloud release. The singer's young fans also see her as a role model. The 'Wish You Were Gay' singer-songwriter has paved the way for young women, as an activist for LGBTQIA+ rights, feminism and mental health.
2019: Debut album 'When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?'
Unsurprisingly, the US singer-songwriter scored Number 1 with her debut album 'When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?' in April 2019. Eilish broke a Guinness World Record for being the youngest woman at Number 1 on the UK album charts, and for having the most simultaneous US Hot 100 entries by a female. The album consists of HUGE tracks such as 'Bad Guy', 'Xanny', 'You Should See Me in a Crown', 'When the Party's Over' and 'Bury a Friend'.
2019: Coachella
2019 was the year that saw Billie's iconic Coachella performance. As well as being the year she cemented herself as a fashion icon, she wore head-to-toe Louis Vuitton and burst onto our TV screens in a Calvin Klein ad 'I Speak My Truth in #MyCalvins", sporting her iconic baggy look and opening up about why, saying: "I never want anyone to know everything about me. I mean, that's why I wear big, baggy clothes," she says. "Nobody can have an opinion, because they haven't seen what's underneath".
2020: The Grammy Awards milestone
In 2020, our favourite 'bad guy' became the first artist since 1981 to do a full sweep at the Grammy's, winning all four major awards. Billie won Best New Artist, Song of the Year, Record of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album. She was the youngest to win these. At age 18, she made history, yet again!
2020: Bond theme 'No Time To Die'
2020 was Billie's year as the star also joined the Bond hall of fame! The US singer-songwriter became the youngest artist to be chosen to lend her voice for a Bond film. Her theme song 'No Time To Die' became Number 1 as well as featuring on the 2020 Bond film. This placed Eilish alongside worldwide superstars Adele and Sam Smith who have been initiated into the Bond elite too, though Eilish did it at only half their age. Impressive!
2021: New album and documentary
Billie released her second album 'Happier Than Ever' on Friday 30th July 2021, featuring singles 'My Future', 'Therefore I Am', 'Your Power', 'Lost Cause', and 'NDA'. Her Disney+ documentary - 'Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles' - was released in September 2021.
2021: Fragrance announcement
Billie delighted her fans in October 2021, revealing she would be releasing her very own fragrance called 'Eilish' - fast forward to today, and she now has three fragrances! Billie Eilish's first perfume, called 'Eilish', officially went on sale on 10th November 2021. Billie later revealed in September 2022 that she would be releasing her second perfume Eilish No. 2. It was then on 28th September 2023 that she announced Eilish No. 3 - a limited edition perfume that served as the last of the Eilish collection. Similar to its predecessors, the bottle features a bust, however this time round the colour-scheme was dark red.
2022: Billie headlines the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival
Not only did Billie headline the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival in 2022, she became the youngest female to ever do so. The exciting news was announced by Emily Eavis in October 2021, with her writing on X: 'We couldn't be happier to announce that the wondrous billieeilish is headlining the Pyramid on the Friday at next year's Glastonbury Festival, becoming the youngest solo headliner in our history. This feels like the perfect way for us to return and I cannot wait!'
2022: 'Happier Than Ever, The World Tour'
Billie Eilish kicked off her world tour in the US and brought her amazing shows to the UK and Ireland in June. She played 13 dates across Belfast, London, Manchester, Glasgow, Birmingham, and Dublin.
2023: 'What Was I Made For?'
In July 2023, Billie released a new track called 'What Was I Made For?', which features on the soundtrack of the Barbie movie. It was later nominated for a Golden Globe. The song also won the Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Best Song Written For Visual Media at the 2024 ceremony.
2024: Billie wins two Grammy awards
At the 2024 Grammy Awards, Billie took home the Song of the Year and Best Song Written For Visual Media gongs, both for 'What Was I Made For?'
2024: Billie released her third album 'Hit Me Hard and Soft'
The singer's third album 'Hit Me Hard and Soft' was released in May 2024, going Platinum in the UK just six months later and receiving a 2x Platinum certification in January 2026.
2024: Billie performed at the Olympics Closing Ceremony
On 11th August, Billie Eilish performed at the Closing Ceremony for the Paris 2024 Olympics. Before the event, there were several rumours circulating that the singer would be performing, along with The Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Snoop Dogg. Despite the rumours, nothing was confirmed until the day that it took place.
2025: Billie performed at the 67th Grammy Awards
On 2nd February 2025, Billie took to the stage at the 67th annual Grammy Awards to entertain the star-studded audience. She performed 2024 single 'Birds of a Feather'.
2025: Billie brought her tour to the UK
Billie brought her 'Hit Me Hard and Soft' tour to the UK and Ireland in July 2025, visiting Glasgow, London, Manchester and Dublin.
2026: GRAMMY Awards win
Billie took home her 10th GRAMMY Award win at the 2026 ceremony, picking up Song of the Year for 'Wildflower' which was also nominated for Record of the Year.
2026: Billie premiered 'Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour' concert film
In November 025, Billie Eilish announced she would be bringing her tour to cinemas in 2026, with James Cameron co-directing the movie. Ahead of the film's release on 8th May 2026, she attended the UK premiere on Tuesday 27th April.