Don’t Tell Ted Cruz, But Billie Eilish Was On ‘Sesame Street’ To Sing With The Count

You’ve got to admire the timing of Sesame Street releasing a clip of Billie Eilish performing a duet with The Count from an episode that won’t air until next year. Why, when the time-honored children’s show has been the target of conservative ire this week following Big Bird’s fairly innocuous… errr …tweet, about getting a COVID-19 vaccine, it becomes fairly obvious who is cool and who is not.

In the “not” column, we have Texas Senator and loser extraordinaire Ted Cruz, questioning the potential political implications of a large bird doing something that’s been consistent with his character for over 40 years. And then in the cool column, we have a total chef’s kiss of a performance by your kid’s favorite mathematician, Count von Count, with Billie freakin’ Eilish, who might as well be the coolest person on the planet right now.

Eilish sat on the Sesame Street stoop next to the Count and the pair embarked on a beautiful variation of her hit ballad “Happier Than Ever.” Eilish and The Count swapped the lyrics in an homage to the number two. So instead of “When I’m away from you, I’m happier than ever,” Eilish sang “When I’m counting with you, I’m happier than ever.” Then The Count replaces “Wish I could explain it better” with “Numbers sound so much better” before Eilish punctuates “Here’s what we’ll do…let’s count to two.”

Eilish’s smile is as perfect as The Count’s staccato. And with Bert, Elmo, the Two-Headed Monster, and the man of the moment, Big Bird, watching on, they generate all smiles, with no politics — because after all, this is Sesame Street.

Watch Billie Eilish and The Count sing “Happier Than Ever” above.

Sesame Street Season 52 premieres 11/11 on HBO Max.