Billie Eilish has opened up about creating the striking tour visuals which addressed the constant speculation over her body, and revealed that she often feels "trapped" by the persona she's created.
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You probably know that ever since she burst onto the scene, Billie's baggy clothes — which she's described herself as "800 sizes" too big — have attracted almost as much attention as her vocal and songwriting talents.
"I never want the world to know everything about me," she said in a Calvin Klein campaign back in 2019. "I mean, that's why I wear big baggy clothes: Nobody can have an opinion, because they haven't seen what's underneath."
"I want layers and layers and layers and I want to be mysterious," she later told Vogue. "You don't know what's underneath and you don't know what's on top. I don't want to give anyone the excuse of judging."
Well, when Billie kicked off her Where Do We Go? tour back in March, she used the opportunity to include a visual interlude addressing the fascination with her body and how she dresses.
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The interlude consisted of a video showing Billie removing her clothes while responding to the opinions and criticisms levelled at her and her body over the years.
"You have opinions about my opinions, about my music, about my clothes, about my body," Billie said in a voiceover. "Some people hate what I wear. Some people praise it. Some people use it to shame others. Some people use it to shame me."
"If I wear what is comfortable, I am not a woman. If I shed the layers, I am a slut," she added. "Though you've never seen my body, you still judge it and judge me for it. Why? You make assumptions about people based on their size."
She concluded her message: "We decide what they're worth. If I wear more, who decides what that makes me? What that means? Is my value based only on your perception? Or is your opinion of me not my responsibility?"
Well, Billie has now revealed that she decided to create the visuals in part because she feels "trapped" by her androgynous public persona.
"Sometimes I dress like a boy, sometimes I dress like a girl," she told GQ. "And sometimes I feel trapped by this persona that I have created, because sometimes I think people view me not as a woman."
"That tour video was all about that," she went on. "It is me saying, 'Look, there is a body underneath these clothes and you don't get to see it. Isn't that a shame?' But my body is mine, and yours is yours."
"Here's a bomb for you," she said. "I have never felt desired. My past boyfriends never made me feel desired. None of them. And it's a big thing in my life that I feel I have never been physically desired by somebody."
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