Billie Eilish’s team are braced for a Glastonbury impact when she performs on Sunday (June 30).
The teenage superstar’s first UK festival appearance follows an appearance at BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Middlesbrough, as well as a run of sold-out O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire shows. Eilish is also on the bill for Reading & Leeds Festival in August.
Following the success of her debut album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (Polydor/Interscope), Eilish has been upgraded to the Other Stage at Glastonbury. The long-player has sales to date of 184,795, according to the Official Charts Company. And the album’s standout hit single, Bad Guy, has racked up 591,068 equivalent sales.
Here, the US singer’s live agent, Mike Malak of Coda Agency, looks ahead to the impact of her performance at Worthy Farm…
Billie Eilish has already had huge UK success - how can she benefit from the Glastonbury appearance and TV coverage?
“The impact will be huge. Billie is the biggest artist in the world at the moment. Amazingly, however, there are still many people yet to discover her and it is a slot like this with TV coverage that will really put her on the map with new audiences. It will be one of those ‘I was there’ moments. Her live show is one of the best out there, and I am confident that the result of the performance will mean we see her streams jump up considerably across the board.”
How important is Glastonbury as a platform for artists – and will it be a significant summer festival moment for Billie Eilish?
“This will be Billie’s first major UK festival and it will be significant – she had to move stages due to her profile rising at an alarming rate. Glastonbury is the perfect setting in terms of what it means culturally and as a stamp of approval on an artist’s career, so this will be the ideal start on the festival circuit for her.”
How will Glastonbury help set her up for further touring - what are the ambitions for UK shows in 2020?
“Glastonbury will help in the sense that it will absolutely continue to widen the audience. Billie is now at arena level globally and that is the ambition in 2020, to keep growing as well as pacing ourselves to ensure Billie gets to enjoy everything she does. It’s all about creating moments that help establish Billie as the leader of a generation and a true artist.”
Pick up the latest issue of Music Week for a comprehensive Glastonbury preview.
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