Lately Billie Eilish has talked a lot about embracing her feminine side and how hard it is to grow up in the public eye. For most of her career, Billie dressed in a lot of boyish silhouettes that kept her body shape hidden. Recently her style has shifted to more feminine and grown-up styles, like her Met Gala look. British Vogue interviewed her to talk about her newest perfume launch, Eilish 2, but the quotes about her style were the most interesting to me. She says she’s done proving that she’s a tomboy and she wants to get more comfortable wearing a lot of makeup. She also shared how she deals with body shaming and learning self-acceptance.
She is multifaceted: “I spent most of my life being very masculine and boyish, and recently, in the last couple of years, was kind of like, ‘You know what, I’m allowed to be whatever I want to be when I want to be it,’” she says. “I don’t need to always prove to everyone that I’m a tomboy. Like, that is what I am, but I also am this kind of girl. I’m also feminine, and I’m also sexy, and I’m also cute, and I’m also just like, none of the above, and I’m just me.”
She wants to wear more makeup but is scared: “I’m trying to be more comfortable wearing make-up, like a lot of make-up,” says Eilish, who notes that she strives to embrace the power that comes with hyper-femininity. “Obviously, I wear a little make-up all the time, but it’s just like, big faces of make-up… it’s something that I look up to, and I admire, and for me, I’m just like so scared of it.”
How she deals with body-shaming comments: “Dude, I don’t even know. It’s tough, man,” says Eilish. “Honestly, nobody can say anything about my body that I don’t have a stronger opinion about […] I also think that if I was younger, like if the internet talked about me the way they do now when I was like 11, I don’t think I would be able to exist, to be honest,” she continues. “I like myself more than I used to, and I’m more interested in how I feel than how they feel. But then also that might be a load of bullshit, because it still hurts my feelings like a son of a b–ch.”
I think Billie is learning what a lot of us learn as we grow up. Sometimes we cling to one identity very hard in adolescence, but then we find that we don’t want to fit into the same box all the time. I think most people spend their teen years trying on different identities. For Billie, the “tomboy” identity may have resonated with her, but it also shielded her from the overt objectification that most teen pop stars experience (Britney, Christina, et al). Now that she’s an adult, I think she feels safer expressing her more feminine side. For what it’s worth I think Billie has one of those faces that responds to a lot of makeup. I feel like when I put on eye shadow I look completely the same, but Billie’s face looks different when she sports a dramatic look. I hope she continues to have fun with it. I’ve loved seeing Billie’s style evolution. Going from ‘teen pop star’ to ‘adult pop star’ relatively unscathed is no mean feat. And of course she would be hurt by body-shaming comments. But I’m glad that she says she’s more interested in how she feels than what other people think. I know I sound like her maiden aunt but I’m really proud of Billie.
Photos credit: Abaca Press/INSTARimages, JPI Studios/Avalon and via Instagram
Add me to the maiden aunt roster- very proud and delighted. Whether it was conscious or not, she protected herself well as a youngster and I’m glad she’s grown into her strength enough to evolve and try new things. Love her honesty and self-awareness, too. Billie has always been an impressive talent, over time it’s become clear she’s an impressive person as well.
Well said. Wonderful talent. She should be comfortable expressing herself in any way she likes now. Such a beautiful woman.
Billie is a true original. You just don’t see that very often. In my youth, we had Sinead O’Conner. I’m so happy she exists for the next generation and those to come.
What’s true original about her ? You yourself said that you Sinead O’Conner in your generation and the 90’s were filled with female artist who did the same thing.
There is so much value in a young woman stating that she doesn’t have to prove anything to anybody when it comes to how she chooses to live and how she chooses to present herself. This matters so much. Shine on Billie. Let them see you how you want to be seen.
This. You can’t please everybody- there will always be those who pressure you into feeling like loyalty= making your every move a knee-jerk reaction against *only that part of* the male gaze. How dare you not support some misogynistic cultural or community hunting down of that girl over there when something something Male Gaze? How dare you do this thing with your body over here or not do that thing? Why aren’t you being a good vessel? The demands are a bottomless pit, and you’ll always be running. Easily recruited for a smear campaign against someone else because they did what they wanted with their body, because you were told the campaign was progressive/was otherwise a part of being a decent person. If you’re not careful, you will both lose yourself and be the weapon someone else is getting hit with trying to prove how much you’re not that kind of girl. Youth can make a person more susceptible to being beaten down with all that and being tricked into thinking you’re wrong for saying no to that pressure too.
i like this girl, I think she’s mega talented.
just wish she’d stop talking about her body so damn much. at some point it just starts to sound really insecure, tedious, and repetitive. we get it: you have body image issues – so does everybody else!
just keep putting out good music and have fun being young and successful babe!:)
Agreed.
She was so heavily scrutinized at a very young age I can’t imagine how hard it is to put all of that in its place. She does have a face that can be transformed with make-up. The hair, make-up, nails, clothes, if I were a performer I’d use it all as a shield.
Agreed. I can’t really say she protected herself from it because she’s definitely had her share of the toxicity, it just came in a different form. There’s no amulet for the behaviors other people choose and the prejudices they refuse to let go of, but she did deal with a broken system in a way that allowed her to be educated and shine a spotlight of the some of the bs.