Billie Eilish made a surprise return to Coachella as a special guest during Lana Del Rey’s headlining set on Friday, April 12.
Eilish — who has cited Del Rey as a prominent influence in her own music — surfaced from backstage and joined her idol in a gilded balcony overlooking the main stage. With a dreamy assist from Del Rey, Eilish sang her 2016 hit, “Ocean Eyes.” They also sang Del Rey’s 2012 song “Video Games,” for which the audience served as their backup choir.
“Get the f— out of my face!” said Eilish upon the end of the song, as if to express her awe.
Said Del Rey of Eilish, facing the crowd: “This is the voice of a generation!”
This is the first time Eilish and Del Rey have collaborated in any kind of musical capacity, and it’s certainly been a long time coming. Eilish has long been an avowed Lana fan, and when the two spoke to each other for Interview magazine last year, Eilish told her: “You really paved the way for everyone. People have been trying to look and sound like you since you first started. I talk about this with Finneas. You changed the way the music industry hears and sees music, and you changed the way people sing.”
The respect and admiration was obviously mutual. In the same conversation, Del Rey recalled, “I remember seeing the first videos of you singing and I said to my managers, ‘She’s the one… This is the girl. She isn’t just talented. You can tell she’s kind.’ It didn’t feel like you were aspiring to be anything. It’s crazy to have that magical quality.”
Del Rey’s headlining Coachella set is one of several festival gigs she has scheduled around the world this year, though the only other U.S. date on her itinerary is Hangout Fest in Alabama in May. Last year, Del Rey released her ninth studio album, Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd, and she recently teased her next LP, Lasso, a country record that’s expected to arrive in September.
“We’re going country. It’s happening,” Del Rey said at a pre-grammy event in Los Angeles back in February. “That’s why Jack [Antonoff] has followed me to Muscle Shoals, Nashville, Mississippi, over the last four years.”
As for Eilish, she just announced her third album, Hit Me Hard and Soft, which will be released May 17. The album follows 2021’s Happier Than Ever, and comes on the heels of Eilish’s second Oscar win for her hit Barbie ballad, “What Was I Made For?”