Saudade is a Portuguese word that can be roughly defined as a feeling of melancholy, nostalgia or yearning for something that is beloved but not present. There’s no perfect translation, but one of the closest English expressions of the word I’ve ever seen is Billie Eilish’s Tiny Desk performance.

You’d think the Los Angeles-born singer invented the term. Every breath is so full of indulgent melancholy, hopeful regret, at 22 years old she’s become a captivating fixture of what it means, or rather what it feels, to love and lose simultaneously.

Trading belting vocals and rocking guitar for gentle piano and almost-breaking falsetto, she reimagines tracks like “THE GREATEST” in their most raw and honest form. In Eilish’s world, love’s purest forms are inherently terrifying. Therein lies her starpower – she effortlessly, relentlessly brings to the fore the trickier emotions many of us tuck away for fear of what the world might think.

“I don’t know what I’m crying for, I don’t think I could love you more,” she sings on “BIRDS OF A FEATHER.” Turns out the world is made up of a lot of people who just want to be seen, and this stripped down set is the perfect space for Eilish to give listeners just that.

SET LIST
“THE GREATEST”
“L’AMOUR DE MA VIE”
“i love you”
“BIRDS OF A FEATHER”

MUSICIANS
Billie Eilish: vocals
Finneas: guitar
Andrew Marshall: drums
Solo Smith: bass
Abe Nouri: piano

TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Bobby Carter
Director/Editor: Maia Stern
Audio Technical Director: Josh Newell
Videographers: Maia Stern, Joshua Bryant, Kara Frame, Alanté Serene
Audio Engineer: Neil Tevault
Production Assistant: Ashley Pointer
Photographer: Zayrha Rodriguez
Tiny Desk Copy Editor: Hazel Cills
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Series Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson
VP, Visuals and Music: Keith Jenkins