Billie Eilish returned to Saturday Night Live this weekend, performing a double duty as the show’s host and musical guest. Introduced by her parents, the singer (and once-aspiring actress) appeared in several comedy sketches, as everything from a TikTok-obsessed nurse to the director of a “freeform hip hop live nativity”.
On the musical side of things, meanwhile, she played two songs from her latest album, Happier Than Ever, accompanied by her brother and longtime producer, Finneas, on guitar.
For “Male Fantasy”, the pair sat on a living room floor reminiscent of the song’s recent music video, which sees her drift aimlessly around the house in a poignant exploration of living with depression. The title track, meanwhile, was given a more high key performance (though there was a nod to the soft furnishings of the music video released this summer).
Eilish’s SNL appearance follows her venture into another iconic American TV show, Sesame Street, which welcomed her as a special guest last month. Prior to that, she also performed “Sally’s Song” in a “live-to-film” concert based on Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas.
All of these guest appearances aren’t keeping her too busy to get started on her third album, however. Just this week, Finneas revealed that the pair have already started working on the follow-up to Happier Than Ever, and have “interesting skeletons” for songs written.
“We’ve got the net in the ocean, and we’re picking up detritus,” he continued in an interview with Rolling Stone. “And then you sift through all that, and you pick out the treasure, and then you have an album. I’m really excited. I think we’ve got a lot to say.”
Watch Billie Eilish and Finneas perform tracks from Happier Than Ever on SNL below.
