An adorable interview between David Letterman and Billie Eilish has the internet feeling emotional this week.
Billie Eilish has taken the music industry by storm.
She’s been writing and creating her own music since she was incredibly young, and has risen to fame with the huge hit album When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? that was released in March 2019.
So she didn’t get the chance to interact with others of her own age apart from her siblings.
Until she started to make waves in the music scene, which has given her something of a unique outlook on the world.
It reflects in her art.
Many are pretty shocked that such a young person could create such hauntingly catchy tunes — and such suggestive lyrics.
Her debut album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, ranked at number 1 on the charts.
Most artists have to release a couple of albums and dedicate their lives to promoting their work before they are even recognized as an artist.
But then there are a lucky few, like Billie, who reach superstardom on their first attempt.
When the album was released, she wrote, “This album [means] the world to me please take care of it.”
And that’s not all…
Her introductory EP, Don’t Smile at Me, went all the way to slot fourteen.
It has already been awarded gold.
This is an achievement that many artists can only dream of receiving.
But, it’s safe to say, Billie is as famous for her image as she is for her music…
She doesn’t dress like your typical teenage girl, that’s for sure.
And Billie doesn’t just experiment with fashion…
The star is no stranger to getting creative with her hair — opting for more out-there looks and colors to fit her quirky aesthetic.
It began with the silver locks.
If anything, it was this look that became her trademark around 2017.
And who’s ever going to forget about this iconic color combo?
Billie made waves while sporting neon green roots. No one else could ever.
She’s spoken out about her style before…
Her choices in fashion – which strongly consist of baggy, oversized clothes – are picked to protect herself from her global audience body-shaming her and judging her on her natural appearance.
Speaking in an interview a few years ago, Billie explained these choices…
“That’s why I wear baggy clothes,” she said.
“Nobody can have an opinion 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.”
But sadly, people have already attempted to exploit and body-shame the teenager.
Even when she was as young as fifteen, online trolls were trying to s*xualize her for no apparent reason.
Billie has the right to write about whatever she wants…
There’s no excuse for s*xualizing a young woman…
Or any woman of any age, for that matter.
She was only seventeen when she started experiencing this kind of disrespect.
But, when discussing the topic, Billie has said in the past that she doesn’t want to remain covered up forever.
“I’m going to be a woman. I want to show my body,” Billie told Elle in an interview back in 2019.
“What if I want to make a video where I want to look desirable?” she said.
But she understands the repercussions a move like that could bring.
“I know it would be a huge thing,” Billie said.
Adding “I know people will say, ‘I’ve lost all respect for her.'”
Well, in December 2019, the pop sensation turned eighteen.
And fans were yet to notice any changes in her fashion sense and clothing choices.
Until…
Taking to Instagram, the singer decided it was time to post her first bikini picture…
Who knew this would cause the internet to break down?
So many vile human beings exposed themselves over one simple and innocent picture of a girl and her friends on vacation.
From body-shaming to s*xualization …
People just couldn’t hold back from reacting to the photo.
Within hours, “Billie Eilish body” was trending on Twitter and horrid comments about her body started pouring in.
A lot of these have since been deleted after they received backlash.
Billie posted a series of photos from a little vacation she had to Hawaii.
Among the 10 posts, there were 2 videos/boomerangs. One of them showed the top half of Eilish while she was having a shower (with a bathing suit on) and the other was a post of her and her friend on a boat just staring at the water.
Take a look here.
In a recent interview with High Snobiety, Billie spoke about respect in the music business.
She admitted that if she had started out her career being and looking more feminine and girly, she wouldn’t have been taken seriously in the industry.
The star also noted that her “masculine” dress sense had helped her greatly to be taken serious as a teenage artist.
“People saw me as this 15-year-old, a kid, who wore this kind of stuff, looked this kind of way, acted this kind of way, said this kind of way. I felt like I couldn’t change. That’s why I went so far to the other side,” Billie said.
She added: “I was trying to prove, ‘Hey, f*** you guys, I can do whatever I want.’ Now I can look really masculine if I want, and really feminine if I want, and it’s not gonna be a f***ing headline.”
Acknowledging how her masculine side had helped her in her career, she said: “I think that people have taken me more seriously because I’ve had this more masculine way of dressing throughout my career.
“If I had been more feminine and girly, people would’ve been a lot less respectful of me.”
Billie has also opened up about how her gender has affected her tenure in the music industry.
“I remember just crying in my bed because I was thinking about the kind of show I would want to put on,” she said, as per the Daily Mail.
“There was a specific period of time where I was in this pit of hopelessness about myself as I didn’t have much to look up to in terms of girls like me being taken seriously.”
She felt her gender was holding her back.
“I would just feel so hopeless because I’m a girl, so I’m never going to be able to have a show like that, I’m never going to be able to be free up there and wild… perform in this way and be more physical and be more about the performance… I thought it would never happen,” Billie added.
But she thinks finding the balance really helps.
“I feel the most powerful when I feel the most masculine in my life… I also can find power in femininity. It’s kind of a balance of both.
“Depending on how I walk and stand, and my clothes, and my face and my jewelry and my fingers and everything I am day to day. I like to feel more masculine than feminine, it just makes me feel better.
“I struggled with it for a long time because I wanted to feel feminine and like it but I just didn’t really, but it’s finding moments when you can have that and it feels good still,” she said.
Billie revealed that she now feels more hopeful about the future.
“The way that women have been absolutely towering over everyone in this industry right now, it’s so exciting to me,” she said.
“It makes me feel really hopeful and inspired. It’s not only women doing one thing, it’s women doing all kinds of different things.
“And looking different and acting different and having different styles. There’s such a range right now and so nice to see and it’s refreshing and new and it’s never been like that.
“It’s really cool to be a part of it,” Billie concluded.
But this week, Billie has hit headlines for a rather more heartwarming reason.
Because an interview between Eilish and David Letterman has taken the internet by storm.
In the viral clip, Letterman asks Eilish all about her struggles with Tourette syndrome.
“What’s going on?” David asked as he reacted to Billie’s sudden movements.
Billie replied: “I’m tic-ing.”
She added: “If you film me for long enough, you’re gonna see lots of tics.”
Letterman then gently asks: “Can I ask you anything about this?”
“Yeah absolutely,” Billie answered. “It’s really weird. I haven’t talked about it at all. The most common way that people react is they laugh because they think I’m trying to be funny.”
“I’m always left incredibly offended by that.”
“See, I was guilty of that. We’re sitting here talking, everything’s fine and then I… Because I’m me, I think I’ve said something that’s pissed you off,” David continued. “I just thought oh, she’s fed up with me, but that’s me.”
“Thank you for including me in this. I appreciate it,” he added.
“Thank you for asking. I’m very happy talking about it,” Eilish replied.
Watch the sweet conversation here on TikTok.