Some SPOILERS are ahead for Swarm. Catch all seven episodes of the new series, now streaming with an Amazon Prime subscription.
After a slew of cryptic social media posts from Billie Eilish as of late featuring the poster for Swarm, the “bad guy” singer revealed that she’s among the actors in the Amazon Prime show co-created by Donald Glover after we said goodbye to Atlanta late last year. Now that this Billie Eilish fan has checked it out, I’m happy to report the singer’s exciting role in the new horror series.
Swarm is kind of the perfect first acting role for Billie Eilish, outside her experience being in front of the camera for her numerous music videos and hosting SNL over a year ago. She gets to express herself outside of her vulnerable music in a seriously creepy role that has me hoping she’ll add “actor” to her long list of talents for years to come. Let me break it down.
When Does Billie Eilish Appear In Swarm?
Billie Eilish appears throughout the fourth episode of Swarm, titled “Running Scared,” and thankfully it’s not a blink-and-you-miss cameo. Whilst I’ll admit I clicked play on the series after Eilish revealed she has a surprise acting role, the show in of itself leading up to Eilish’s appearance is incredibly stylish, thought-provoking, and entertaining. Swarm is an easy binge!
Swarm follows Dominique Fishback as a young woman named Dre, who is absolutely obsessed with a singer named Ni’Jah and has a stan account devoted to her. Ni’Jah seems to be a lot like Beyoncé, given that she has passionate fans who refer to her as a “goddess” and tickets to her show can cost thousands of dollars. Dre’s love for Ni’Jah leads to some unexpected violence from her, and when we meet Eilish’s character, she’s on her way to the Bonnaroo Music Festival in Nashville, Tennessee to catch her next performance.
What Is Billie Eilish’s Role In Swarm?
During Dre’s travels, she stumbles across a women’s empowerment group who takes her in. Billie Eilish plays the lead woman who Dre interacts with in the episode as she catches a free stay with the group who end up having a cult-like vibe to them. Eilish’s character of Eva is the kind of person who says Dre has a “great aura” and takes Dre through an eerie meditation exercise in a scene that Eilish previously teased on her Instagram. During the exercise, Eva is able to draw out the secrets Dre is hiding in a peculiar and almost magical way.
In the guest appearance, Billie Eilish also plays a queer woman who shares kisses with two women, including Dre, who she feels drawn to throughout. Swarm really allows Eilish to bring out her sensual charms as a character very different from her own personality and will certainly have her fans from the LGBTQ+ community theorizing further about her sexuality after she previously proclaimed “I love girls'' whilst promoting her steamy 2021 music video “Lost Cause.” Eilish is in a relationship with The Neighbourhood frontman Jesse Rutherford.
Eilish’s acting debut as Eva in Swarm has the singer showing off an excellent performance in a pivotal role that has me excited for what she'll do next in this arena. And while her role baited me into the series, it exposed me to an excellent new show tackling the dangers of fandom, which feels absolutely perfect for the singer who has plenty of experience dealing with a large fandom in her own life.
