Days after the release of a new album, American singer Billie Eilish, 19, speaking to The Guardian's Miranda Sawyer, discussed opinions about body image.
The singer expressed regret about the culture of chasing the "perfect" and "Instagrammable" body image, noting that even she, who "knows [the] ins and outs of this industry", still feels affected by the flow of "unreal" images. According to her, always trying to look good is "such a loss".
"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", Eilish noted.
In Happier Than Ever, Eilish touches upon the topic, particularly in the songs 'Not My Responsibility', where she breaks down the pressure she faces as a young woman and as a celebrity who initially chose to conceal her body, only later to pose in more accentuated outfits, and 'OverHeated', in which she sings about the widespread global promotion of artificial body standards.
“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", the pop music star told The Guardian.
Eilish, on daily basis, faces criticism over her looks, with people spewing tirades about her style and her body. The singer revealed that she was "obviously" unhappy about her body.
"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”, she added, according to the The Guardian, “but who is?” On stage, I disassociate from the ideas I have of my body. Then a paparazzi picture is taken and everyone’s like ‘Fat!’".
"When you really think about it", the star remarked, bodies are only necessary to eat, walk and survive, and "it’s ridiculous that anybody even cares about bodies at all."
Eilish, who skyrocketed to global fame and popularity particularly after her debut album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go was released in 2019, rolled out her second album Happier Than Ever on Friday, dramatically shifting away from her her previous aesthetic and experimenting with new musical genres.