Billie Eilish Hasn't Changed
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Nineteen-year-old world-famous popstar Billie Eilish made headlines this week when she criticized pornography in a recent interview. She made a handful of noteworthy statements on it, pointing out unrealistic pornstars’ vaginas and the horrors of being exposed to hardcore pornography at a young age. She was bound to spark a conversation.
As far as I’m concerned, Billie Eilish said nothing that shouldn’t be said and I applaud her for saying it so specifically and unabashedly. This is undeniably an important moment in the long-lasting fight for women’s liberation. It is essential to the culture for these opinions and experiences to come out so that awareness may be raised and challenging questions can be asked.
What people forget, however, is that Billie Eilish is not an anti-pornography spokesperson nor is she a feminist activist. She is a popstar. She has a label backing her and a large group of employees who depend on her success in order to make a living.
Even more important than that, Billie Eilish is just a young woman. She is no more a God than any other adored celebrity. She is only nineteen (she will turn twenty in two days from the date of the publication of this post) and has spent the last few years of her life in the blinding spotlight. Since her 2019 megahit bad guy, she has gone on to make a James Bond theme song, win multiple Grammy awards, have a documentary centered around her life produced by Apple, host SNL, and many other impressive accomplishments. Normal events, however, are no less meaningful to the masses: it was news when she dyed her hair blonde. A few months after, it was news when she dyed her hair brown. Billie Eilish is currently riding the level of fame where she can’t fart without people having a take on it.
Billie Eilish is a kid. I mean, she’s an adult, but she’s a kid. I’m not insulting her. I was a kid at her age and for years after. That’s why we judge thirty and forty-year-old men who date women who are under twenty-five. Yes, these women are technically adults, they can open a bank account and drive and get a full-time job, but when you sit down with them and have a conversation, nine times out of ten you will be distracted by how brand-new they are to this world, how little they know still.
My point is, she’s a kid! You hear it in the music she makes that has earned her status as a chart-topper, a mega-star, a widely popular and world-famous act. Kids love her because she speaks their language.
In a highlight from her 2021 album Happier Than Ever, the song with the same title is explosive in its second half, an unusual move by the normally laid-back, moody vocalist. In a moment that is so cathartic, backed by a full-sounding instrumental she sings:
So don’t waste the time I don’t have
And don’t try to make me feel bad
I could talk about every time that you showed up on time
But I’d have an empty line ‘cause you never did
Never paid any mind to my mother or friends, so I
Shut ‘em all out for you ‘cause I was a kid
This is a woman who is still fresh off the pain of understanding the disappointment of dating. She is still learning the lessons of the manipulative, uncaring men that only want to use her. Not just use her as a world-famous celebrity but as a woman.
Let’s jump back to earlier this year. Before her sophomore album was released in July, Billie Eilish put out singles to promote it. The third single, titled Your Power and released April 29th, was a message aiming to address imbalanced power dynamics in sexual and romantic relationships.
In this somber ballad, Billie warns a man to “not abuse [his] power.”
She sings:
She said you were a hero
You played the part
But you ruined her in a year
Don’t act like it was hard
And you swear you didn’t know
No wonder why you didn’t ask
She was sleeping in your clothes
But now she’s got to get to class
How dare you?
Though she has denied that this song was about anyone in particular, fans speculated that it is about an ex-boyfriend of hers that dated her when she was 16 and he was in his 20s. Even if the song genuinely isn’t specifically about him, it’s difficult to believe that Billie’s inappropriate relationship with him had no bearing at all on the making of this song.
An excellent moment in the young popstars career? Sure.
A measly two days after the release of this music video, we got the VOGUE interview with the accompanying photoshoot that became a hot topic in many circles around the internet for the next couple of weeks. More attention was on the photographs than what she actually had to say. With her newly blond hair debuted, Billie posed in beautiful lingerie. She stands and sits and pouts in three different outfits made up of lingerie, corsets, and other intimate garments. People ooh-and-ahh’d at the Billie’s womanly form. Wow, she’s all grown up! She’s so sexy! She’s so stunning! Disturbing and depressing as the shoot may be, Billie Eilish is gorgeous and neither VOGUE nor her team could have possibly been surprised at the positive reception of it, especially in the “sex-positive” Female Chauvinist Pig atmosphere of today’s culture.
When this interview was published, I was immediately uncomfortable. Just two days ago we had been talking of disturbing relationships in which grown men date teenagers. The lyrics of Your Power were still echoing in my head. I would have been uncomfortable with those photographs regardless, as I’ve grown more conscious of the exploitative nature of the patriarchy and its effects on celebrity culture and social media, but the release of this music video and this photoshoot being so close together was impossible for me to look past.
Here’s the thing: I believe that people who are celebrating Billie Eilish’s anti-pornography remarks in hopes that this is an evolution in her character and brand are misunderstanding something.
I do not believe that Billie Eilish agreed to the production and release of the VOGUE photoshoot, regretted it, and is now against the popular, mainstream sex-positivity movement. I do not believe that Your Power, the VOGUE photo shoot, and these anti-pornography remarks are separate from one another.
They are all part of the same package, they all represent the era of promoting her album Happier Than Ever.
Things do not always go to plan. Plans fall through, releases get delayed, and projects get scrapped. However, when a label has an album ready to go, they invest money and huge players to promote it. The aim, of course, is to get as many streams and radio plays, to sell as much merchandise as they can, to reach the ears and hearts of every potential consumer in order to sell this product until its time in the spotlight has passed. In the case of this Howard Stern interview with the anti-pornography remarks, it is important to note that Billie had just released her self-directed music video for Male Fantasy, another song off her 2021 album.
Home alone, tryin’ not to eat
Distract myself with pornography
I hate the way she looks at me
I can’t stand the dialogue
She would never be that satified
It’s a male fanasy
I’m going back to therapy
These beloved artists—Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey—are people only in their private lives. When we see them in VOGUE and BBC and Jimmy Fallon and Pitchfork, they are a brand. Eras can fail, teams can make horrible predictions for which singles will be hits and don’t always know how to appeal to young people (the largest consumers of pop music).
Sometimes, though, when you have a good team, a little bit of luck, and a number of fans that could make up a small country, you get it right.
This isn’t a “new” Billie.
This is a young singer who probably thinks that there is a world of difference between her posing in expensive-looking lingerie and supporting pornography. Though I do believe that they are not quite the same thing but aren’t quite different either, she might not understand that these two things are not worlds apart but rather fall under the same, massive umbrella of the objectification of women under the patriarchy. We mustn’t assume that she understands this unless she flat out says so herself.
At the end of the day, when we look at her comments on pornography, she is brave for saying it in this time of instant gratification and empty activism. However, the actual substance of her comments is not particularly remarkable. It takes maturity and bravery for her to say it plain and simple, but frankly, it does not take a genius to come up with the observation itself.
Former pornstar Lana Rhodes has made the news criticizing pornography and sharing her horrific experiences making hardcore films in order to stay relevant in the business. Watching her interviews, you can see that she is aware of the dangers of not only being in the industry as an actress but also having internet pornography being produced and accessed so easily. However, though she is no longer a pornstar, she continues to post sexually explicit photos on her public Instagram account and has an OnlyFans account.
Billie Eilish’s and Lana Rhodes’ and all the womens’ voices who speak out against the evil pornography industry are important and must be listened to and taken into serious consideration by every side in the discussion. But let’s be honest with ourselves and not pretend that the bar for criticizing it isn’t extremely low in this porn-addled patriarchal hell we live in.