{"id":945789,"date":"2026-05-08T09:41:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T09:41:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/945789\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T09:41:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T09:41:18","slug":"billie-eilish-defends-young-fans-using-phones-at-her-gigs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/945789\/","title":{"rendered":"Billie Eilish defends young fans using phones at her gigs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Billie Eilish has spoken out in defence of her fans, who have been criticised for filming entire concerts at her \u2018Hit Me Hard And Soft<\/a>\u2019 tour on their mobile phones.<\/p>\n

The singer-songwriter\u2019s words come after similar criticism emerged following Sabrina Carpenter and Madonna\u2019s performance together at Coachella<\/a> last month. In footage that went viral within minutes, hundreds of festivalgoers could be seen standing stock still during \u2018Like A Prayer\u2019. A significant backlash emerged on social media and Consequence\u00a0published an op-ed<\/a> headlined: \u201cNot a Soul Was Dancing to Sabrina Carpenter and Madonna at Coachella\u201d.<\/p>\n

In Eilish\u2019s new concert film with legendary director James Cameron, however, a majority of the young, largely female attendees at the show can be seen jumping around to her biggest hits as well as filming the action on their devices.<\/p>\n

\"BillieCo-directors Billie Eilish and James Cameron. CREDIT: Henry Hwu\/Paramount Pictures<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think that\u2019s what it\u2019s like,\u201d Eilish said to NME, when asked if her fans get a bad rap over phone use at gigs. \u201cMy generation, and the generations below, we love\u00a0to film stuff. All I do is film and take pictures of stuff \u2013 all of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of the behaviour stems from a desire to relive the experience once they\u2019re home, she explained. \u201cWhen I was young and would go to concerts or festivals, I would film every single minute of it \u2013 and then I would watch every single video that I took over and over until I even had the audio of the crowd memorised,\u201d she said. \u201cI think that\u2019s not to be pooh-poohed. An important part of the culture is that we are all on our goddamn phones! It keeps us connected. It does!\u201d<\/p>\n

Eilish, who started building a following online in the late 2010s thanks to early viral track \u2018Ocean Eyes\u2019, said she owes much of her success to young people\u2019s interactions in digital spaces. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t have a career without the internet. I wouldn\u2019t have fans. I wouldn\u2019t have the connection that I do without the internet.\u201d On the other hand, the 24-year-old musician also admitted that there are \u201chuge cons\u201d to social media and it has a \u201cdark\u201d side too.<\/p>\n

The pop star is tapping into modern technology again for her project with Cameron, shot in immersive 3D and playing now in UK cinemas. Listed as co-director with the Oscar-winning filmmaker behind Titanic and Avatar, the movie marks Eilish\u2019s debut helming a full-length feature.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen my mum told me that James Cameron was asking if I wanted to make a movie of the concert in 3D, it sounded like it could be the coolest thing in the world,\u201d she recalled. \u201cI love the tour and the show so much. I had started to hate knowing that I wouldn\u2019t be able to hold on to it. But when Jim came in with this idea, I realised that I would be able to re-experience it forever. So my answer was a resounding yes!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"BillieBillie Eilish performing at Reading 2023. Credit: Andy Ford for NME<\/p>\n

So far, the decision to collaborate has proved a good one. Lucky ticketholders have been moshing in the aisles at pre-screenings around the world, encouraged by Eilish\u2019s calls for them to act like it was a real-life performance and not a projection.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want singing along, I want screaming, I want standing up, I want running around,\u201d she said to Capital<\/a> on the red carpet at the London premiere. \u201cI\u2019m sorry to the theatres.\u201d<\/p>\n

With no live dates scheduled and promotion for Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D) nearly wrapped up, Eilish has had more opportunity to work on new music \u2013 and gave NME readers a bitesize update about album number four.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are working on new music. It\u2019s happening. It\u2019ll be a second but we\u2019re deep in album mode and it\u2019s really fun,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s actually really fun. We\u2019re having a really good time which maybe means it\u2019ll be really shit because [it\u2019s rare that I have] a good time [while making an album]\u2026 But we\u2019re right in the middle of it and it\u2019s feeling really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Billie Eilish \u2013 Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D)\u2019 is in cinemas now<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Billie Eilish has spoken out in defence of her fans, who have been criticised for filming entire concerts…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":945790,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3936],"tags":[77,269,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-945789","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116538304344423764","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/945789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=945789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/945789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/945790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=945789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=945789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=945789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}