Billie Eilish carries on after Arizona fan flings object at her face mid-song
Billie Eilish and a vocal group of concert attendees were displeased after one fan ruined the moment at a recent stop on the singer’s Hit Me Hard and Soft tour.
The nine-time Grammy winner had just begun performing her poignant ballad “What Was I Made For?” Friday evening in Glendale, Ariz., when a fan flung an object onstage, directly at her face, Billboard reported Saturday. The widely stigmatized gesture drew cries of disapproval from fellow attendees as well as a glare from Eilish herself, according to fan-posted footage.
For the sibling pop savants, work and family have long been intertwined. They’ve proved it with their most autobiographical album, ‘Hit Me Hard and Soft,’ a strong contender for the 67th Grammy Awards.
In another video of the incident posted Friday on X, a voice can be heard saying “I’m sorry.”
Seated criss-cross on the stage, Eilish paused singing long enough to skip only one line of lyrics. Then, as the song’s melody went on uninterrupted, she tossed the object — seemingly a bracelet or necklace — aside and continued her performance. She appeared uninjured.
A representative for Eilish did not reply immediately Monday to The Times’ request for comment.
Friday’s episode is not the first of its kind for the “Birds of a Feather” singer, she told the Hollywood Reporter in 2023, adding that she had been dealing with fans throwing objects onstage for years.
“I have mixed feelings about it, because when you’re up there it blows,” she said. “But you know it’s out of love and they’re just trying to give you something.”
Country singer Kelsea Ballerini was struck in the face by an object thrown by a fan while she was performing in Idaho. The incident is the latest in an unsettling trend of inappropriate fan behavior at concerts.
Performers from Taylor Swift to Drake and Adele have also spoken about the pervasive issue, including during their shows.
“Just because communication means having gentle, healthy boundaries: It really freaks me out when stuff gets thrown on the stage,” Swift told the crowd last year at her Eras tour stop in Buenos Aires.
“Because if it’s on the stage,” she continued, “then a dancer can trip on it, and I love that you brought presents and that is so nice, but just can you please not throw them on the stage.”
Eilish concludes the North American leg of her Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour this week with a series of shows at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, per her website. The LA28 handover performer’s brother and frequent collaborator Finneas will open the Dec. 21 finale.
Former Times staff writer Carlos De Loera contributed to this report.
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