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Billie Eilish just dropped her second much-awaited record, “Happier Than Ever.” In an interview with The Guardian, she spoke about her music and candidly opened up about her body issues and the struggles she faces on a daily basis.
The 19-year-old singer discussed her new record and some of the feelings she struggles with, like her image and how social media affects it all and makes it worse. “I see people online, looking like I‘ve never looked,” she said. ”And immediately I am like, ’Oh my God, how do they look like that?’ I know the ins and outs of this industry, and what people actually use in photos, and I actually know what looks real can be fake. Yet I still see it and go, ’Oh God.’ That makes me feel really bad,” she said.
“And I mean, I‘m very confident in who I am, and I’m very happy with my life … I’m obviously not happy with my body,“ she admitted, ”but who is?”
Eilish has always been outspoken regarding a variety of issues, from body image, to fame, to the pressures that the industry puts on young people. Her body and clothes have often been topics of media discussion, something that she finds damaging for her mental health and self-worth. “When I‘m on stage, I have to disassociate from the ideas I have of my body,“ she said. ”Especially because I wear clothes that are bigger and easier to move in without showing everything — they can be really unflattering. In pictures, they look like, I don’t even know what. I just completely separate the two.”
Still, despite how open she is about the body issues that plague her, Eilish appears to have a clear understanding of the problem she faces and how common it is. She mentioned how her father has helped her view the problem through a different lens.
“Since I was a kid my dad and I have always talked about a certain type of person who’s so insecure, or hyperaware and self-conscious, that they never move in a weird way, or make a weird face, because they always want to look good,” she said. “I’ve noticed that, and it makes me so sad. If you’re always standing a certain way, walking in a certain way, and always have your hair just so…. It’s such a loss to always try to always look good. It’s such a loss of joy and freedom in your body.”
Before its release, Eilish’s album broke an Apple Music record, being the most pre-added album in the platform’s history. It dropped on July 30th and it’s a thoughtful album, one that is sincere and that goes deep into the pressures of fame and celebrity, and what it feels like to grow up under the public eye.