With an upcoming album titled Hit Me Hard and Soft, you’d think that Billie Eilish would favor contact sports over basketball. Regardless, the pop star spent one of the last days before her third studio LP arrives enjoying a game of hoops at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday (May 14), sitting courtside amongst several other stars.
The pop star was present at Game Five of the Eastern Conference Second Round Playoffs to watch the New York Knicks face off against the Indiana Pacers, rocking a plaid shirt, shorts and cap combo in a front-row seat next to Jennifer Hudson. The “Spotlight” vocalist’s rumored partner, rapper Common, sat on Hudson’s other side.
Also in attendance were stars such as Chris Rock, Spike Lee, Ben Stiller, Billy Crystal and Nicholas Braun. The game ended with the Knicks taking a 3-2 series lead over the Pacers, winning 121-91.
The event comes just two days ahead of the release of Hit Me Hard and Soft, a 10-track set produced by Eilish’s brother and frequent collaborator, Finneas. While in New York, the “What Was I Made For?” artist will hold an album listening party at Barclays Center in Brooklyn Wednesday (May 15) before doing the same in Los Angeles the next day.
For those who couldn’t snag free tickets to either event, Eilish will also release a listening experience for Hit Me Hard and Soft across AMC Theatres with Dolby Atmos offerings in the U.S. The showings will only be available for two days starting May 16, and tickets will cost $5.
Aside from a couple sneak peeks here and there — including a snippet of the song “Birds of a Feather” in a newly shared teaser for Netflix’s Heartstopper — the nine-time Grammy winner has largely kept details about her new project on lock leading up to its release on Friday (May 17). She told fans from the jump that she wouldn’t be releasing any singles ahead of time, noting in her initial album announcement, “i wanna give it to you all at once.”
“I feel like this album is me,” she told Rolling Stone in April. “It’s not a character. It feels like the When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? version of me. It feels like my youth and who I was as a kid.”
