Billie Eilish’s “Same Interview, The Fourth Year” with Vanity Fair was recently published and, looking back on her past answers, well, nobody could have predicted how this year would turn out.
Reflecting on the past year – turning 18, being more famous, becoming more politically engaged, and what she’s grateful for about quarantine – Billie shares how quarantine has given her new perspectives about life.
“This is the most amount of time off that I’ve had in, you know, five years now,” she said. “I think that goes for a lot of people, but that was even true for the first month of quarantine. You know, we had three weeks off and I was like, wow, this is the time off I’ve ever had. I can’t believe it. It’s so great, it’s like a free vacation, and we’ll go right back out on tour in a week. We’ll be fine, and clearly we were all wrong with that, and we look like clowns now.”
“But I will say I have made and created things that I don’t think I ever would have created without this period of time,” Billie continued. “This amount of time and this just life itself. I would like things to be normal though, again, I would like that. But I will say that I’m grateful for what it’s given me.”
“I really wanted to go on that world tour. We started it, got three shows in, cancelled, flew back home,” she said, talking about what she wishes she could’ve accomplished this year. “I really wanted to get a Lamborghini. It’s not that I couldn’t have, I just, there were so many other things that were so much more important. There’s more people to give that money to. There’s way WAY more, and I cannot stress it enough, way more important things going on than the fu–ing Lamborghini.”
“It’s so weird what we take for granted. Like, I would never have thought that I would be able to do shows one day, you know?” she later continued. “So much time spent – me dreading tour, dreading press, dreading this and dreading that. And I had no idea that I was dreading something that I would one day not even be legally allowed to do. Like that’s what’s crazy to me.”
“Everything matters differently now than a year ago. Honestly, everything,” she reflected. “All the things that I felt mattered most a year ago matter less, all the things I felt like mattered the least a year ago, matter more.”
Learning more about the climate crisis, social injustices and “kind of all the bad things” made her want to know more about what’s happening in the world around her.
She also touched on body image – an issue which Billie has been very outspoken about.
“There’s this picture of me like, running from my car to my brother’s front door on like a 110 degree day in a tank top. And people were like, ‘Damn, Billie got fat!’ And I’m like, ‘Nope, this is how I look, you’ve just never seen it before!’ So that’s the most current one, but whatever,” she recalls about a rumor going around about her.
Billie’s been candid about struggling with body confidence – and she doesn’t hold back when it comes to shutting down criticisms about her body. She’s previously talked about why she prefers dressing in baggy clothes. And, earlier this year, she also came out with a short film titled “Not My Responsibility,” where she made a bold statement against body shaming and about the double standards women face, and how it’s not her responsibility to control other people’s perception of her.
She considers speaking out about these issues as perhaps one of the most important parts about her communication with her fans. “I love having kids relate to me and tell me that I make them feel comfortable in their bodies,” she said. “If I can do anything, I want to do that.”
But this year has also brought her a new source of joy – she has a new addition to her family.
“One thing I have now that I did not have a year ago, is my little pooch puppy, Shark. This is Shark, my son,” she shared, bringing in her pup. “This is Shark! Didn’t have him a year ago because he’s only eight months old.”
