«New York, don't be late tonight!! I want you to listen to my complete album, front and back”, this is what Billie Eilish wrote on her social networks before her free listening party at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Eilish danced to the beat of Hit Me Hard and Soft (he told it in this interview) transmitted by the PA system. The event will be repeated tonight at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles a few hours before the album's release. “Even Jesus Christ is going to listen to the album… I'm nervous and excited, oh my gosh,” Eilish says in an Instagram story.
Billie Eilish premieres new album 'Hit Me Hard and Soft' in front of thousands of fans at Barclays Center in Brooklyn pic.twitter.com/N8vwUXpkzD
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) May 16, 2024
In the video you see above, Eilish addressed the audience, saying: «I'm pissing myself off! Do we want to hear something? All right, guys, I'm going to play you the whole album, start to finish, and I'm not going to pause it halfway, and I'm not going to talk. Well, I don't know. Maybe I will. But I'm trying not to talk. I'm doing my best”.
It is not the first time that the singer offers a taste of her new album: it had already happened during Coachella, when shortly after performing with Lana Del Rey, the pop star attended a party and played it for the first time Lunch.
🚨 BILLIE EILISH SINGING “LUNCH” DO “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT” NO #COACHELLA. pic.twitter.com/uAkCGUklDb
— Info Billie Brasil (@InfoBillieBR) April 14, 2024
There was a glimpse of Birds of a Feather in the Netflix trailer released on social media for the third season of Heartstoppers. At the center of the series is a love story between two boys and addresses gender issues related to the LGBTQIA+ community, in line at least in part with Eilish's new album. “Last year I realized I wanted my face in a vagina,” Eilish told Rolling. Some pieces from the album, starting with Lunchwere born from his awareness and embrace of his queer identity.
🍂Heartstopper Season 3 is coming to Netflix on October 3! 🍂
And no better way to announce it than with an exclusive snippet of @billieeilish's new song, Birds of a Feather! pic.twitter.com/foQi9Lb5zo
— Netflix (@netflix) May 13, 2024
In addition to Brooklyn and Los Angeles, the album will be played in Dolby and AMC theaters in Miami, Nashville, Boston and San Francisco. After the album's release, Eilish will begin her world tour Hit Me Hard and Soft. From September 2024 to July 2025 the singer will travel to many cities in North America, then continue to Australia until reaching the European, British and Irish arenas. In Italy for now only one date has been set, 8 June 2025 at the Unipol Arena in Bologna.
Here are some videos of the Brooklyn listening party: