Billie Eilish did indeed seem to have everything she wanted on Wednesday night.
In the first of three sold-out shows at New York’s Madison Square Garden on her “Hit Me Hard and Soft” Tour, the 22-year-old pop phenom got all the love she could’ve asked for — and then some.
“It’s pretty f—king amazing — gosh,” said an almost embarrassed Eilish to deafening cheers. “Thank you guys for being here and joining me.”
But when she sang “Everything I Wanted” — the 2019 hit that won Eilish one of her nine Grammys and her second straight for Record of the Year — it didn’t exactly feel as if she was living the dream.
In fact, on her first tour without her producer brother Finneas, she seemed to be conflicted about it all. All alone up there with just her feelings on a minimalist stage that stretched for much of the length of the arena, it was as if she wasn’t quite comfortable with the magnitude of the moment.
But, unlike other young pop divas who work it for all it’s worth, Eilish has always been a reluctant superstar. And therein lies her appeal, her relatability, to the Garden masses who collectively got in their feels with her — from the sultry intimacy of “Wildflower” to the haunting, harmony-laden “When the Party’s Over.”
After asking for silence — and getting it — on the latter, she proceeded to sing while lying flat on the stage. It was as if she was inviting you into her bedroom.
But it wasn’t exactly a slumber party. This was a one-woman confessional. Never more so than when she took the ballad “The Greatest” from soft to hard, from lullaby to arena anthem.
Still, there were moments when Eilish got the arena jumping — literally, the floor was shaking — including “Lunch,” “Bury a Friend” and “Oxytocin,” from 2024’s “Hit Me Hard and Soft,” 2019’s “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” and 2021’s “Happier Than Ever,” respectively.
And in an unexpected twist, she even felt confident enough to do her biggest hit, “Bad Guy,” relatively early in the show.
She should have — because there were plenty more to come.
“What Was I Made For?” — her “Barbie” ballad that won both the Song of the Year Grammy and the Best Original Song Oscar earlier this year — got the sweetest and sincerest of singalongs.
And then, in a surprise, Eilish was joyfully reunited with Finneas for the final two numbers: “Happier Than Ever” and her current hit “Birds of a Feather,” which had the crowd floating to the rafters.
At that moment, it truly felt like everything she wanted.