Billie Eilish and Hayley Williams Perform a Surprise 'Misery Business' Duet at Coachella

The Paramore frontwoman joined Eilish for her set on the Festival's second weekend, marking the alt-pop icon's first appearance at Coachella.

Hayley Williams and Billie Eilish know how to make misery look fun.

During Eilish's headlining set on Saturday night at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival's second weekend, the 20-year-old Grammy Award winner surprised the audience by bringing out the Paramore frontwoman.

Williams' surprise appearance marked her first time on the Coachella stage. She and Eilish sang a high-energy duet of Paramore's 2007 hit "Misery Business." As Williams, 33, demonstrated that more than a decade has nothing on the timeless appeal of the revenge anthem, Eilish effortlessly sailed through a series of beautiful, breathy harmonies.

After a mysterious second stool sat empty on stage while she and brother Finneas performed an acoustic rendition of their song "Your Power," Eilish hinted she might bring out a surprise guest.

"Look at that! A vacant seat. What's the point of that?" Eilish joked before urging the audience to welcome her "friend" Williams to the stage.

"This is my first Coachella, whoa," Williams exclaimed to the audience after an ecstatic embrace with Eilish. "Thank you for informing me of this. This is horrifying!" The performance was extraordinary because Williams has recently distanced herself from the song, citing problematic lyrics such as "Once a whore, you're nothing more/I'm sorry that will never change."

Williams first expressed her feelings about the song in a blog post in 2015.

"As a 26-year-old woman, "Misery Business" is not a set of lyrics I can relate to. "I have not thought about it in a long time," Williams wrote. "I wrote those words when I was 17... admittedly, from a minimal viewpoint.

 

In September 2018, at a Paramore show in Nashville, Tennessee, Williams announced that the band would no longer be performing the song live. "This is a conclusion we made because we believe we should. We think it is time to take a break from it for a while, "At the time, she stated.

This weekend at Coachella, after the duo finished their duet and William exited the stage, Eilish couldn't help but express her awe and excitement to the audience.

Eilish exclaimed as she bid Williams farewell. "What on Earth could be more awesome than that? I'm not kidding."