What Billie Eilish taught me about connection to community

Published on 01 May 2025

Billie Eilish is cool.

That was my take-out from attending her recent arena tour in Sydney. I’d been roped in as driver and chaperone to my teenage daughter and her friends and, as someone who hadn’t ever paid close attention to Eilish’s music or artistic backstory, I was going in with a blank canvas of expectation.

The show was a knockout. I was in awe of the way various production components, particularly the lights, lasers and video screens, were reconfigured for each song.

For a club banger like Bad Guy, featuring widescreen action shots of their idol, the 21,000 strong crowd, 95% made up of young women duetting every lyric at the top of their voices, was as central to the performance as Billie. Then, in a slick transition, the screens pull together to form a protective blue vessel, for an intimate acoustic rendition of Ocean Eyes. Billie films herself on a phone with selfie stick and suddenly it feels as though you’re alone in a room together, her singing just for you.

The whole effect was highly impactful. As we stared into her eyes on giant screen close ups, the 23-year-old artist never looked less than completely at ease with her audience and her control over it.

So that’s how I discovered Eilish is cool. But there was something else too – having shared the euphoric experience of pop star adulation, I felt closer to my daughter, as though I’d understood something fundamental about her current outlook on life.

This feeling of connection that arises from shared cultural and entertainment experiences, is one of art’s many superpowers. Research has shown a significant relationship between participation in social activities and higher satisfaction with life and even enhanced trust in democracy. It’s an outcome I regularly hold in mind when designing events at Memorial Hall.

By sheer coincidence, the Federal election arrives during the latter stages of our forthcoming Bellingen Film Lovers festival. So, dose up on culture, catch a movie and grab a choc top before guzzling down a ‘democracy sausage’ on your way into the polling booth to exercise your democratic rights. Then pop back to the Hall to enjoy another cinematic excursion!