She has a No. 1 album. She's currently topping the Billboard Artist 100 chart. And on Saturday, she performed at Coachella for the first time -- during one of the festival's prime slots.
The 17-year-old pop star brought her signature moody vocals and goth-tinged sound to the big stage, and the audience could not contain themselves.
She also pulled off some impressive stunts, like perching on a bed suspended in mid-air while she performed her single "bury a friend."
Eilish brought out rapper Vince Staples for their collaboration "&burn," but due to technical difficulties his mic produced no sound.
Staples joked about it later.
"Im actually mute so there's that. Cillie Eilish Coachella !!!" he tweeted.
Eilish's debut album "When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?" was released last month.
As most people already know, there’s only one way to watch the final season of Game of Thrones live, and it involves getting some form of HBO subscription. Season 8, which will close out the series, begins airing on Sunday, April 14th, at 9PM ET. The eighth season will consist of six episodes, which will air on Sundays at 9PM ET. The series will wrap on May 19th.
If you’re a little late to the Game of Thrones party, and you’re panicking as you try to remember where the story physically left Daenerys Targaryen, Jaime Lannister, Jon Snow, and other key players, you aren’t alone. Fortunately, there are ways to get caught up without binging almost three days’ worth of episodes. There’s still time to read a few recaps or watch a few videos as a reminder.
Similarly, if you’re late to setting up your viewing plan for the show, you still have a number of ways to get access, either through streaming services or via HBO itself. Here are various ways to subscribe, with a breakdown of costs, added benefits, and when to unsubscribe to avoid extra charges.
(This list is ordered from most affordable to the most expensive methods for getting HBO, but don’t disqualify the pricier options outright. They come with some extra perks not found in the cheaper options.)
Monthly cost: $14.99 after a seven-day free trial
Total amount paid to watch season 8 of Game of Thrones: $14.99 (plus tax)
HBO Now offers a seven-day free trial before it starts charging you $14.99 per month. This is the most affordable route to take if you don’t subscribe to any other services.
If you sign up for HBO Now on April 14th, the day of the premiere, you won’t be charged until April 21st, which is when the second episode airs. Season 8 will conclude before you’re charged again, so you’ll be able to get away with just paying $14.99.
If you’ve never subscribed to HBO or if it’s been a while, there’s plenty to watch on HBO between Game of Thrones episodes. The service hosts plenty of movies, and shows like True Detective, Insecure, The Night Of, The Leftovers, Veep, and Barry are worthwhile if you’re looking to maximize the value of your subscription.
Monthly cost: At minimum, $5.99 per month (paid after a 30-day free trial ends), plus $14.99 after a seven-day free trial of HBO
Total amount paid: $20.98 (plus tax)
New Hulu users get a 30-day free trial before being charged, and you can add the HBO option to your account. You’ll get the same seven-day free trial period that HBO Now subscribers get.
If you sign up for Hulu on April 14th, you’ll be charged a minimum of $5.99 (if you opt in for the limited commercial plan) on May 14th, and HBO access will cost $14.99 once your seven-day free trial concludes on April 21st.
This is a good option if want to check out Hulu’s library of original shows between GoT episodes, including The Handmaid’s Tale, PEN15, and Castle Rock.
Monthly cost: $12.99 (paid after a 30-day free trial ends), plus $14.99 after a seven-day free trial of HBO
Total amount paid: $27.98 (plus tax)
Amazon Prime Video is a free perk with Amazon Prime, and vice versa. Signing up gives you a 30-day free trial. If you start the trial on April 14th, Amazon won’t charge you until May 14th. Like the other services, signing up for HBO gives you a free week, then you’ll be charged $14.99. If you cancel when Game of Thrones ends on May 19th, you won’t need to pay for another month.
Getting HBO through Amazon Prime Video isn’t the most affordable method, though it comes with benefits. First off, there are good Prime Original movies and TV shows to check out, including Catastrophe, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Big Sick, and Manchester by the Sea. In addition to TV and movies, you’ll be able to get free two-day shipping on purchases from Amazon during your free trial of Prime.
Monthly cost: $50 (paid after a seven-day free trial ends)
Total amount paid: $50 (plus tax)
DirecTV Now is the most expensive option for getting HBO access, but it’s among the easiest ways to get it. A recent change to DirecTV Now’s channel lineup removed AMC, HGTV, BET, Comedy Central, and others, but it now includes HBO in both its packages, starting at $50.
Signing up for DirecTV Now on April 14th means you’ll be charged $50 on April 21st when your seven-day free trial ends. This service dangles a carrot in the form of an Apple TV 4K for those who are willing to put down four months’ worth of monthly payments. Apple’s streaming box is around $170 by itself, so it’s a decent value if you see yourself wanting both the service and the Apple TV 4K long after Game of Thrones has come to an end.
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Once upon a time, George R.R. Martin set out to write a trilogy of medieval fantasy books that tracked the ruling families of a fictional land called Westeros. That trilogy’s planned length grew into the seven-novel A Song of Ice and Fire, a saga so long that Martin has yet to complete it, even as the television adaptation, HBO’s Game of Thrones, comes to an end.
Jumping from character perspective to character perspective, Martin’s novels are robust with histories, prophecies, and foreshadowing. The murkiness gave birth to an onslaught of “fan theories” that have existed nearly as long as the book series. But which is the oldest? The answer, as far as internet sleuthing can determine, won’t surprise book readers or die-hard TV viewers, but how it erupted from fan chatter speaks to the power of Martin’s storytelling. The theory involves Jon Snow’s true parentage, and while the novels still haven’t confirmed it true, the finale of Game of Thrones’ penultimate season showed us once and for all that “R+L=J.”
The acrostic addition alludes to Rhaegar Targaryen (“R”) and Lyanna Stark (“L”) being the true parents of Jon Snow (“J”), raised as a bastard of Ned Stark, much to the chagrin of everyone involved. Unlike Martin’s book, the television adaptation didn’t have the benefit of being inside Ned Stark’s head during the first season, so the story about his sister Lyanna being kidnapped and raped by Rhaegar Targaryen, kicking off Robert Baratheon’s Rebellion, was stuffed into the first two episodes of the show.
The TV series’ condensed version didn’t have the breathing room to hint that this was one of history’s great lies, and that Rhaegar and Lyanna were very much in love, with Lyanna dying in childbirth, and Ned taking her son under his wing, making him swear to keep the child — a Targaryen/Stark, and potential heir to the throne — safe. So, considering Martin has yet to confirm the truth in the book series, how and when did fans stumble across one of the core twists of the series? Why were audiences so prepared when showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss finally pulled back the curtain in flashback?
Helen Sloan/HBO
When A Game of Thrones, the first book in Martin’s series, was published in 1996, some readers quickly theorized that Jon Snow’s true parentage could me much more complicated than presented. A close read revealed that Ned Stark’s memories and dreams didn’t entirely line up with the historical narrative, or at least left room for interpretation. A Storm of Swords, the third book published in 2000, included a sequence in which Rhaegar presented Lyanna with blue roses at the Tourney of Harrenhal. The series adaptation has yet to flash back to that moment, but it’s been a key piece of the puzzle in the saga of “R+L=J” throughout its 20-plus-year history.
A Song of Ice and Fire fandom was fervent far before HBO’s Game of Thrones and remains so. When Weiss and Benioff ushered in a series based on Martin’s books, the question of Jon’s parentage was really a litmus test to see which readers had been paying attention. The theory was widely discussed in the fan community amongst many other possible threads, and only propagated further as the show ramped up, thanks to new audiences poring over the books. Eventually, the fervor provoked a reaction out of Martin. The author told an audience at the Edinburgh International Book Festival in 2014, “At least one or two readers had put together the extremely subtle and obscure clues that I’d planted in the books and came to the right solution.”
Tracing the definitive origins of “R+L=J” is a bit tricky. Curious fans have speculated that the first person to propose the theory was actually Anne Groell, George R.R. Martin’s publisher. Being deeply involved with every tweak made to Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire text, Groell was in a position to suggest that certain clues be better hidden or excised entirely. Notably, Groell once guessed that the character of Coldhands was actually Benjen Stark — the sign of an editor engaging in some theorizing herself. Martin simply wrote “no” under her question.
The “R+L=J” theory may have snowballed out of fan chatter and book groups reacting to Ned’s fever dream in the first novel, though the first signs of online discussion date back to September 1997. As uncovered by our friends at Vox.com in their oral history of the theory, the proposal dropped in the Usenet group rec.arts.sf.written stumbles into what would eventually become a full-fledged theory.
@primenet.com (Rodrick Su) wrote:
4. Jon Snow’s parent. It is wholely [sic] consistent that Jon Snow is the offspring of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark. Ned probably keep this a secret because Rober [sic] Baratheon is obsess [sic] with killing off all Targaryen, especially any offspring of Rhaegar.
5. If Jon Snow is a Targaryen, then by tradition, he is the most likely mate to Daenery, being that she is his aunt...
Like Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz’s parallel creation of calculus, the seeds of “R+L=J” sprouted up all over the forum scene. Just a few weeks later, in January 1998, one user wrote on rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan:
From: Sarah Subject: Re: TAN: A Game of Thrones ( Was Re: You Know It’s Too Long Between Books When) Date: 1998/01/13 Organization: Harvard University University Information Systems Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan
On Mon, 12 Jan 1998, Dave wrote:
> Speaking of which, doesn’t it seem odd that none of the Targaryens, nor any > of Cersei and Jaime’s children, seem to have shown the physical annomallys [sic] > that are rather more common in children of incest? I know that this happens > less than is popularly believed, but over the course of a few hundred years > within the same family, I’d think something bad is bound to happen. But > then, I’m no geneticist.
That bothered me, too. Then it occurred to me that there seems to be a healthy dose of insanity in the family. I think mental disorders are one of the traits associated with inbreeding.
Speaking of Targaryens, wanna bet Jon is really the son of Lyanna and Rhaegar?
In 1999, as sub-groups of the internet found each other on the asoiaf.westeros.org message boards, “R+L=J” became more prevalent as other readers bought into the notion. Boosted by the release of A Storm of Spoilers, there was more in the books in favor of the theory than there was evidence it was untrue. With everyone guessing that Rhaegar and Lyanna made Jon, the narrative math was on the way to becoming fan nomenclature.
There are several searchable threads on the ASOIAF forums that use the actual “+” and “=” notation. A quick search shows the earliest could be a May 2, 2006 thread titled “The Lyanna + Rhaegar = Jon Thread.” The first comment to the original poster reads: “Wow, I’ve never heard this idea before. ;) Welcome to the boards. While nodding to the theory’s popularity before that post, the comment doesn’t discount the possibility that user “StarkFuture” may have been the first to abbreviate it as “R+L=J.”
Helen Sloan/HBO
A Song of Ice and Fire fans meeting, embracing, and becoming Game of Thrones fans created the ultimate necessity of “R+L=J.” The first season of the show is a very straight adaptation of A Game of Thrones, meaning fans of the novels already knew the fates of some main characters in the show. Specifically, and most famously, those who knew about the Red Wedding, an event in A Storm of Swords in which Robb and Catelyn Stark are massacred by the Freys that didn’t take place until the third season of the then-popular television show.
Fans needed a spoiler-free way to speak to one another, a secret code that worked between people who had read the books. Thus, we get fun little shorthand for events based on nicknames or catch phrases: The Red Wedding, The Purple Wedding, “For The Watch,” and “Only Cat,” each allude to a major event in the novels that would later appear on HBO. A lack of context meant the spoilers were kept under lock and key.
Fans have been out there saying “R+L=J” for well over 10 years to allow non-book readers to experience the revelation in the seventh season of Game of Thrones (and perhaps again in this final season, too). In that way, the origin of the oldest fan theory is also an optimistic story of fandom itself: everything can be a surprise, if everyone plays along.
Dave Gonzales is an entertainment writer and podcaster. Find him on Twitter @Da7e.
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Winter is coming for Game of Thrones fans. The eighth and final season of HBO’s hit show, based on George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, will premiere at 9 p.m. on Sunday, April 14. HBO confirmed that season eight will be the shortest season yet, with six episodes clocking in between 50 and 82 minutes, but judging by the official trailer there will be plenty of drama, death, and dragons packed into those 432 minutes.
Of course, an HBO account is required to watch the final Game of Thrones episodes (and to catch up on the last seven seasons). But in the age of streaming, there are plenty of options. Gone are the days when you had to call your cable company to add an HBO package. Many streaming services offer premium add-ons, while HBO itself offers a streaming-only service. Below, we break down how to stream Game of Thrones on each streaming platform.
Direct from HBO
There are two options to stream directly from HBO itself — the version you can use depends on if you subscribe to HBO through a traditional cable package or as a standalone service.
HBO Go
Those who subscribe to HBO through a cable or satellite package can stream Game of Thrones live or on demand via the HBO Go service. The HBO Go app is available on most phones, tablets, smart TVs, and gaming consoles. Check if your device is supported at HBO’s Help Center.
Cord cutters can still watch HBO on the network’s own platform. HBO Now is a standalone service, so it doesn’t require a cable subscription or another streaming platform; you stream directly from the HBO Now website or app. A one-week free trial is available — after that it’s $14.99 per month.
Many streaming services allow users to add HBO to your subscription for an extra monthly fee, with the exception of DirecTV which includes HBO. Subscribing through a digital streaming service also includes access to HBO Now.
Amazon Channels
In addition to the TV shows and movies available free to Prime members, Amazon offers add-on premium subscriptions through the Amazon Channels program. The HBO add-on costs $14.99 per month (the same as HBO Now). Most devices allow live streaming from the Amazon Prime Video app, but check Amazon’s official list if you’re worried about it.
Hulu also offers an HBO add-on for $14.99, which allows live HBO streaming whether or not you subscribe to Hulu’s live TV subscription tier. It’s important to note that the Hulu app for PlayStation 4 doesn’t allow any live streaming. PS4-based Hulu users aren’t out of luck though. As noted above, subscribing via Hulu also grants access to HBO Now, so you can stream live through the PlayStation HBO Now app.
Sony’s own TV subscription service, PlayStation Vue, is another option. HBO is available as an add-on to a multichannel package or as a standalone subscription. It costs $14.99 per month either way. The PlayStation Vue Ultra package, which costs $79.99 per month, includes HBO and Showtime.
AT&T’s streaming service is the only subscription that includes HBO at its base level, though at $50 per month it’s the most expensive plan on the market. Because DirecTV Now operates more like a traditional cable package, subscribers have access to HBO Go, rather than HBO Now.
Robert Downey Jr. really made it big when he landed the role of Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). He’s been playing the CEO of Stark Industries since he starred in Iron Man, the very first film to roll out. After over a decade of bringing Tony Stark to life, Downey Jr. is bidding the role adieu.
Fans may be devastated at him leaving Marvel behind, but the Oscar-nominated actor has done more than his fair share of appearances, and has made insane amounts of money to boot! Perhaps reminiscing about the steady hefty paychecks and the allure of playing the magnate can reel him back in. That is of course if Avengers: Endgameeven leaves the leeway for such a move!
It all started with ‘Iron Man’
Iron Man debuted back in 2008 with Downey Jr. nailing the titular role. Since it was the first movie, the beloved actor didn’t make much for the part. Word on the grapevine is that he pulled in $500,000. Sure, half a million dollars may seem like a lot, but it’s a drop in a bucket when you start looking at the paydays he had in the later films.
Why do people speculate the NYC-born actor made so little? Despite Downey Jr. growing into the role and becoming an iconic casting choice, he was not the director’s ideal pick. Considering his sordid past filled to the brim with rehab visits and drug charges, Marvel took on a significant risk casting him. Thankfully it was more than worth the risk!
Note: That’s probably not all Downey Jr. took home for Iron Man. Stars often cut deals with the big wigs to get a percentage of a film’s profits. Given the average rates released by Money Nation, it’s estimated that his full payout was closer to an impressive $2 million.
Robert Downey Jr. got a raise with ‘Iron Man 2’
The sequel, Iron Man 2, dropped just two years after the original film. Considering the success of its predecessor, it’s no surprise Downey Jr. walked away with a pay raise. It’s speculated that he made $10 million for the highly anticipated film. Add in the potential 2.5% from the film’s profits and you end up with a number that decimates his first MCU paycheck: $13 million.
Ten million became the actor’s magic number. Unverified sources have said this was his base pay for several more Marvel films: phase one’s The Avengers and Iron Man 3, and phase two’s Avengers: Age of Ultron. If you tack on the additional 2.5%, that puts his estimated earnings at $39 million, $32 million, and $35 million respectively.
‘Captain America: Civil War produced Robert Downey Jr.’s biggest payday
Civil War wasn’t written into his contract like the other films were. Initially, he was meant to have a smaller part. After some insane rewrites, Tony Stark became a crucial player in the movie. The controversial actor had to do some pushing to grow his bit part into a central role — a move that wasn’t appreciated at first. Thankfully Kevin Feige was all about the fantastic deal resulting in a $40 million salary. He also got a bonus of $5 million for taking out Winter Soldier.
Add in the 2.5%, and that makes Downey Jr.’s biggest Marvel payday of $63.75 million. That’s a pretty crazy amount for just a single part and is light-years ahead of anything he’s made in the MCU both past and present!
How much did Robert Downey Jr. make off Marvel?
Before you can do the math, there are a few more films to take into account! The 54-year-old superstar made an estimated $15 million for his appearance in Spiderman: Homecoming, roughly $20.25 million for Avengers: Infinity War, and will make about the same for Avengers: Endgame.
If all of these estimates are in the ballpark that puts the wildly successful actor’s income at over $200 million from the comic giant. Since he was the man who started it all, it’s safe to say he is without a doubt the highest-earning actor on their roster!
INDIO, CA – APRIL 13: Billie Eilish performs at Outdoor Theatre during the 2019 Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival on April 13, 2019 in Indio, California. (Photo: Rich Fury/Getty Images for Coachella)
Perhaps no Coachella performance will ever top Beyoncé’s from 2018. But the Saturday set by horror-pop wunderkind Billie Eilish came closer to feeling like a “Beychella”-level event — something culture-shifting, Zeitgeist-capturing, and just plain important — than anything else at the festival this weekend.
Although Eilish was only playing the second stage, she attracted so many thousands of fans — including celebrities like Kylie Jenner, Travis Scott, members of 5 Seconds of Summer, and, in a bit of a game-recognizing-game moment, Lady Gaga — that she could have easily headlined the entire evening.
“I don’t deserve this at all,” the 17-year-old insisted modestly, staring out in amazement at the densely packed field and repeatedly exclaiming, “This s** is crazy!” However, this felt like a bit of a humblebrag — not just because of the unflappable bratty swagger Eilish exhibited throughout her show, but because the indie-electronic chanteuse has actually been working towards this goal since she released her first bedroom music recording four years ago. “I used to sit in my room and cry because I wanted this s*** so bad,” she sweetly confessed towards the end of her triumphant set.
Eilish went on 33 minutes late due to technical difficulties (at one point, the crowd chanted, “F*** that screen!” as stagehands tinkered frantically with her audiovisual displays), and there were a couple other hiccups — a giggly lyrical flub during the live debut of “All the Good Girls Go to Hell,” a microphone snafu during unintentionally silenced guest rapper Vince Staples’s verse on “&Burn.” But this was an otherwise flawless performance, well worth the extra half-hour wait — and the fact that the audience stuck around when there were plenty of tempting options on neighboring stages (Weezer, Aphex Twin, Wiz Khalifa, even a Yuma Tent DJ set by actor Idris Elba) spoke volumes about the anticipation and excitement surrounding Eilish’s appearance.
And any tardiness was immediately forgiven when Eilish bounded out in blue Björk buns and her signature XXL streetwear, moodily whisper-singing “Bad Guy” and “My Strange Addiction.” This was the first time both new tracks had ever been performed live, but the young, adoring, largely female audience of course knew and sang along to every word. Highlights of Eilish’s 13-song tour de force ranged from thrillingly over-the top (Eilish intoning “Bury a Friend” while striking an Exorcist pose on an iron bed suspended on chains in mid-air) to the stark but effective (a stool-seated “When the Party’s Over” against a backdrop of that song’s freaky, inky-crying music video; the hushed ballad that started it all, “Ocean Eyes”).
Eilish’s critically acclaimed first full-length album, WHEN WE SLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?, just went to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and smashed chart records as the biggest debut of the decade for any new artist. And backstage at Coachella before her concert, she celebrated another milestone in the YouTube Artist Lounge, as she was presented with an award (and a Louis Vuitton-patterned cake) for hitting 10 million YouTube subscribers.
Warming up the Outdoor Stage for Eilish was gender-bending French art-pop provocateur Héloïse Letissier, a.k.a. Chris of Christine and the Queens. This magical performance was pure theater, reminiscent of an Emmy-winning Mia Michaels/Travis Wall routine from So You Think You Can Dance or David Byrne’s jaw-dropping performance on the same stage last year — and it was “weird and glorious and scary,” just like the self-described Chris herself. Chris joked that the last time she played Coachella, in 2016, she said she was “tiny, French, and angry — I’m still tiny, I’m still French, but I’m just horny now.” Chris’s daring performance in this “safe space” was indeed aggressively sexy (“I’d rather be the one desiring than waiting to be desired. … I’m grabbing it,” she explained), but it also featured a simple, near-a cappella cover of David Bowie’s “Heroes.”
While Eilish and Chris may be the future faces of pop, Saturday’s lineup was otherwise the only day of the weekend that bore any resemblance to the alternative-rock Coachellas of years past. Australian psych-rockers Tame Impala, who’d previously performed in 2013 and 2015, headlined the main stage amid a Sabbathy swirl of lysergic lighting effects.
Indie darlings like Ty Segall, Mac DeMarco, and attitudinal South London punks Shame performed, the latter inciting an old-school moshpit as rabblerousing, shirtless frontman Charlie Steen crowd-surfed.
Weezer, who played the second annual Coachella way back in 2001, showed up with special guests Tears for Fears and Chilli from TLC for the Teal Album covers “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” and “No Scrubs.”
Canadian electronic duo Bob Moses paid tribute to 2002/2005 Coachella act the Prodigy’s late frontman, Keith Flint, with a faithful cover of “Breathe.” And rising R&B star Bazzi unexpectedly sang MGMT’s “Electric Feel” — referring to it as a “Coachella classic,” which surely must have made anyone who actually saw MGMT do that song at Coachella 2008 feel mighty old.
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