Michael Whitty

Professor Peter Schaefer

Liveness Essay

10 July 2020

Billie Eilish’s “Liveness”

Philip Auslander explains the term liveness in a way most concert go-ers and musicians

are familiar with. The term liveness relates the music being projected at concerts in a way that is

not only considered “live” but more so “live and with feeling.” The music encapsulates the world

around the audience and the performer. Bringing a full sensory experience that stimulates the

mind, body, and the soul. Live performances “brings performers and spectators together in a

community,” and this creates a powerful force unlike any other gathering. Sure large stadiums of

sporting events create community, but according to Auslander, its music that brings a further

“experience of community [that] derives from the audience situation, not the spectacle for which

that audience has gathered.” While a lot of concerts today are full of flashing lights, laser-shows,

and multimedia jumbo displays, Auslander explains that it's not necessarily this “spectacle” that

the audience congregates for the live experience but more so the music that is vibrated

throughout the body from the live performance. Additionally, Auslander brings up the idea of

mediatization. A word that is not quite an actual word, but in the context of his own explanation

it seems very fitting. Mediatization is the way the digital age has put a new lens on the way we

view the world around us, and in terms of concerts, mediatization is responsible for the liveness.

Auslander explains that “the live is actually an effect of mediatization, not the other way

around.” Exploring this idea is crucial in todays society. In a culture that seems to almost be built
 Whitty 2

around digital platforms and social media, mediatization is used quite literally in a sense that it

brings communities together. Bringing these communities to live experiences that similarly echo

the media consumed beforehand.

For example, Billie Eilish is the perfect example of Auslander’s theory of liveness and

mediatization. Eilish brings forth a new way of production and performance in her catchy beats

and fashionable outfit choices. Eilish has a strong social media presence and can typically be

found engaging with fans via Instagram or Instagram Live. Media has provided a platform for

Eilish to express herself through her clothing but also provide audiences with clips of future

video and music releases. During one of Eilish’s concerts, one would find quite the similarities

between the way she presents herself digitally and the way her production presents herself. This

idea of mediatization exemplified through Billie Eilish is one that proves Auslander’s point.

If you take a look into Billie Eilish’s performance in San Francisco, California she opens

with her hit song, “bad guy.” The way the concert opens up is one similar to a lot of other pop

artists these days. Incorporating some form of videography that might tell a little bit of a

narrative to the music or artist, as well as, give a little bit of suspense for what is about to

happen. In this case, Eilish appears after the little cartoon and the audience goes wild. Amidst the

crazy screaming and loud crying, the beat of the song begins, and even though it’s hard to

hear--it’s there. Eilish is jumping around to the beat and hyping up the crowd which is

physicality similar to her in the music video for the song. Her clothes, her dancing, and her

visuals all provide almost an extension of the music video if one was familiar with it. The music

video provides distinct colors and pastels, minimalistic vibes, and a bit of chaos that is Billie

Eilish. This idea that Billie’s visuals and opening of this concert is an example of Auslander’s
 Whitty 3

explanation of mediatization. Auslander explains this idea, “The subsequent cultural dominance

of mediatization has had the ironic result that live events now frequently are modeled on the very

mediate representations that once took the self-same live events as their models.” Providing that

the performance is practically an extension of the representation which Eilish presents “bad guy”

online--in the music video and other social posts on Instagram. Additionally, its important to

note that her vocals are most likely pre-recorded and are just turned down or edited in a way that

she can “sing live” on top of it. This is another example that Auslander discusses in his excerpt

on liveness. The reason behind this being that this idea of “being [previously] recorded and

becoming mediate, performance becomes an accumulable value” in which “live performance

exists within the economy of repetition largely either to promote mass-produce culture objects…

or to serve as raw material for mediatization.” In Eilish’s case this performance is pretty much a

repetition of what has already been seen--in the media. Auslander explains that the media is what

is currently bringing us to today’s live events, and for the case of a rising star like Billie Eilish,

one can note the amount of mediatization that is incorporated in her production. While the video

might not exactly be the best example of “live” performance that Auslander explains to be a full

sensory experience, it definitely provides light into today’s modern society that is revolving

around Auslander’s idea of mediatization. Plus the audience singing along with Eilish is quite an

engagement and definitely is establishing community built upon the media. One of the comments

on the video says “The audience featuring Billie Eilish,” funny -- no?

LINK TO VIDEO: ​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqlUnT0cAJ8