Tuesday, October 1, 2019

Billie Eilish- Not Your Typical Teenage Pop Star

Billie Eilish refuses to be what people usually think of when imagining a seventeen year-old pop star, and she prefers it that way. 

No two songs of hers sound the same. Constantly crossing the threshold of different genres and moods throughout her albums and individual songs, Eilish loves keeping her fans on their toes and wondering what she'll release next. 


Born in 2001, American pop star Billie Eilish is changing the way people think about music, and stereotypes about young female singers. An LA native, she began singing when she was very young, with her single "Ocean Eyes" becoming a hit on Soundcloud when she was only 15. Since then, shes released two albums, Don't Smile at Me (2017) and more recently When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (2019). The songs on these albums are impossible to categorize into any one genre, and that has only boosted her success, with her second album debuting on the Billboard Top 200 and going #1 in the UK, Canada, and Australia. Musical talent seems to run in the family as well, with her brother Finneas also having hit songs, with only a few real fans knowing their relation. 


Billie has been the center of lots of attention on social media, with her announcement of an Eco-Friendly World Tour, her success at such a young age, and particularly her style, and why she dresses the way she does. Eilish recently confessed that she wears baggy clothes to avoid being judged by other people for the way she looks: “Nobody can have an opinion [on my body] because they haven’t seen what’s underneath. Nobody can be like, ‘she’s slim-thick,’ ‘she’s not slim-thick,’ ‘she’s got a flat a**,’ ‘she’s got a fat a**.’ No one can say any of that because they don’t know.” This led to an uproar on multiple social media platforms, with thousands of people, especially girls who related to her story of feeling hyper-sexualized at such a young age. 

One of her projects that have been particularly interesting to me was Eilish's "immersive experience" following the release of her most recent album. The museum-like event featured an exhibit for every song on the album-- a way to physically experience what Eilish was meaning to convey in her own songs. She created the event as a way to share and reflect on her synesthesia, which makes her see colors or smell sounds when she listens to music. Eilish said, “I wanted to take my synesthesia and give it to the world and show everybody what it feels like." This project of hers absolutely astounded me: the fact that every song could be an experience within itself, and she was able to manifest that experience physically is simply awe-inspiring. Of course, influencers flocked to the event in order to get cool pictures and support Eilish, but the message behind the event sparked immense interest in her creative process as a whole.

Eilish's creative process goes all the way back to her prestigiousness as a young child, always showing a clear talent for music; she is quite similar to Picasso and other big C Creatives of the modern-day. In an interview with MTV, Eilish talked about her songwriting process: “I like to write in characters a lot, and especially me and my brother. Sometimes we’ll just sit down and be like: ‘Let's think about someone and then think what they’re seeing. What are they thinking? What are they thinking about doing?’ It’s a fantasy-like world, and I feel like the cool part about music is that you can tell the truth, 100%, and nothing but the truth, or you can completely lie.” Eilish is able to completely immerse herself in a world of a character in order to write a song from their perspective-- a lot like what she presented in her own art installation for her album. On the category her songs fall into, she said: “All I try now is just make sure it’s not categorized. If it is it’s under alternative, and like, I’m not though? I’m really not, I’m not pop, thank you. I’m not pop and I’m not alternative, I don’t know what I am." This refusal to be placed in any one genre of music is something that I think makes Billie different than any other artist around right now. She's new, she's different, she's and individual, and she knows how to really look inside herself in order to be the best creative she can be. 





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3 comments:

  1. Karolina B.October 1, 2019 at 9:16 PM

    Not only do I love Billie Eilish, but also I love your post about her! I think that you perfectly captured what she is all about. I have also recently heard about what she said regarding her style, and I have to say that I completely support her for wearing whatever she feels most comfortable in to avoid judgement. I found it interesting that that was her reason for wearing such baggy clothing, though, because I always thought that she dressed that way because she's super creative and unique. When I think of Billie Eilish, I think of her style before I think of her music! Her music is very creative, of course, in that it does not fall into one genre. That, I think, is what makes her such a Big-C creative because her music appeals to so many different types of people (and at such a young age!).

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  2. Serena EtchesonOctober 8, 2019 at 12:43 PM

    This was a great post if you wanted an introduction to Billie Eilish and didn't know much about her, like me. While I do listen to some of her songs, I do find her creative process interesting and how she has built herself up at such a young age. I always wondered why she wore baggy clothes until I saw a recent interview and Billie Eilish seems mature for her age to think about these things and how to live her life without worrying about what social media says about her. She is unique and she does have her own style, and as Karolina said in her comment, her music isn't limited to one genre and attracts people from all over. I believe Billie Eilish has a lot going for her in the future and you highlighted this well.

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  3. Tina TranOctober 29, 2019 at 7:28 PM

    As a fan of Billie Eilish, I was intrigued by the information you presented. To be honest, I never really knew why she always chose to wear baggy clothing until after reading this post. Because Eilish often expresses her feelings on how toxic society can be with body shaming, it would make sense for her to prevent society from getting to her by covering her own body.
    In addition, when I first got to know her, I was also amazed at how she rose up so quickly as an established musical artist at a fairly young age, as well as how attentive she is of current global issues. She addresses these issues in most of her songs. Examples include "bellyache", "all the good girls go to hell", and "xanny", which talk about psychopathic murder, immorality & global warming, and drug addiction (respectively).
    Thank you for further expanding my knowledge of someone I look up to. This was an interesting read.

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