In this new cycle of promoting her sophomore album, Happier Than Ever, Billie Eilish has also made new fashion choices. Moving away from oversized co-ords and T-shirts and rocking earth-tone, structured silhouettes, the artist has been speaking out about body image.
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During an interview with the Guardian, Eilish spoke about her struggles with body image and the constant effort to “disassociate” from her body. On the cover of British Vogue, Billie posed in pinup-style lingerie, sparking conversations about “unattainable body standards.”
The singer shared, “When I’m on stage, I have to disassociate from the ideas I have of my body.” The 19-year-old continued, “Especially because I wear clothes that are bigger and easier to move in without showing everything — they can be really unflattering. In pictures, they look like I don’t even know what. I just completely separate the two. Because I have such a terrible relationship with my body, like you would not believe, so I just have to disassociate… Then you get a paparazzi picture taken when you were running to the door and had just put anything on, and didn’t know the picture’s being taken, and you just look how you look, and everyone’s like, ‘Fat!’”
Billie reflected on a moment last fall, where she was body-shamed after being photographed in a tank top and shorts. Many speculated that she had gained weight, but she was quick to shut down the commentary, saying, “nope, this is how I look.”
The “my future” songstress also made some points about online trolls, urging, “These people don’t do anything. I’m like, do something with your life! Go somewhere. Go get a hobby.”
Eilish spoke pointedly to the Guardian about the scrutiny her own body is placed under.
“I mean, we only need bodies to eat and walk around and poop," said Billie. "We only need them to survive. It’s ridiculous that anybody even cares about bodies at all. Like, why? Why do we care? You know, when you really think about it?”
She added, “Why do we care about hair? Why does everybody hate body hair so much, but we literally have an enormous thing of hair on our heads, and that’s, like, cool and pretty. Like, what’s the difference? I mean, I love hair, and I do crazy things with my hair. I’m as guilty as everybody else. But it’s so weird. If you think about it hard, you go crazy.”
On her new record, the artist points out society’s obsessions with body image, particularly on the track, “OverHeated.” Billie targets “unattainable body standards” with her lyrics and recalls back to statements she made for her article in British Vogue.
Billie explains that she was ready to be called a “hypocrite” after appearing on the magazine cover in figure-flattering lingerie, that accentuated her body, but she noted, “it’s all about what makes you feel good.”
Plus, Eilish shared her viewpoint on cosmetic surgery, making it clear that she’s not against it, but that people should be more forthright about getting procedures that unnaturally enhance their appearance.
She explained, “It’s completely fine to get work done — do this, do that, do what makes you feel happy. It’s just when you deny it and say, ‘Oh, I got this all on my own, and if you just tried harder, you could get it.’ That makes me literally furious. It is so bad for young women — and boys, too — to see that.”
"I see people online, looking like I’ve never looked. And immediately I am like, oh my God, how do they look like that? I know the ins and outs of this industry, and what people actually use in photos, and I actually know what looks real can be fake. Yet I still see it and go, oh God, that makes me feel really bad. And I mean, I’m very confident in who I am, and I’m very happy with my life… I’m obviously not happy with my body, but who is?”
However, regardless of immense pressure, Billie has always tried to remain happy in her own skin.
The GRAMMY-winner concluded, “Since I was a kid my dad and I have always talked about a certain type of person who’s so insecure, or hyperaware and self-conscious, that they never move in a weird way, or make a weird face, because they always want to look good. I’ve noticed that, and it makes me so sad. If you’re always standing a certain way, walking in a certain way, and always have your hair just so… It’s such a loss to always try to always look good. It’s such a loss of joy and freedom in your body.”
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