There’s no denying that Billie Eilish set a new benchmark for musical acts during the most recent Saturday Night Live, when the alt-pop artist kickstarted this season alongside host Woody Harrelson. She performed her hit single “Bad Guy” as she traipsed around a rotating box that looked just like the famed Studio 8H. It’s particularly impressive because both her ankles were sprained, with one foot in a brace and the other in a boot. In a new video, the singer walks us through the behind-the-scenes machinations that allowed this magic to happen.
Eilish, the hippest of millennials, revealed she was inspired not by Lionel Richie, but rather Fred Astaire’s gravity-defying toe-tapping in the 1951 film The Royal Wedding. Though Astaire’s song of choice bears little resemblance to the record-breaking “Bad Guy,” it turned out to be a perfect fit.
Her method of preparation, by the way, is just as weirdly great as you’d expect, as the singer mapped the performance out on her living room floor using a box, her finger, and a Russian doll. All the work paid off because Eilish really put on one heck of a show, setting up high expectations for the rest of season 45. Your move, Taylor Swift.