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Billie Eilish kicked off her musical career with the release of Ocean Eyes in November of 2015 later accompanied with the music video in March 2016. It was initially released on music platform Soundcloud. The videos simplicity of a foggy room and soft lighting allows viewers to focus on Billie's expression and movement, evoking a sense of mystery that feels personal and raw. From what began as recording a song originally written for Finneas her older brother, Ocean Eyes quickly gained attraction when infused with 13 year old Billie's vocals.

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Billie Eilish - ocean eyes (Official Music Video)

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Billie Signs to Interscope Records (2016)

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Billie Signs to Interscope Records (2016)

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In August of 2016 following the success of both 'Ocean Eyes' and 'Six Feet Under' she signed with Darkroom and Interscope Records. With the track quickly gaining significant attention a year later in August 2017, 'Ocean Eyes' a 3x certified platinum track and 'Six Feet Under' were commercially released as the lead single from her debut EP, Dont Smile at Me.

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The release of dont smile at me - EP (2017)

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The release of dont smile at me - EP (2017)

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Released in 2017 and ultimately introduced the world to her creative, genre-blending sound and introspective lyricism. The dont smile at me EP by Billie features standout tracks such as 'Bellyache' and 'idontwannabeyouanymore'. This EP encapsulates the themes of heartbreak, self-reflection and her emotional vulnerability as a new and upcoming artists. This set the tone for her distinctive artistic style and her meteoric rise in pop music.

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Billie Eilish's first EP is deemed vulnerable where she is 'putting her own boldness on our idea of pop' with it also charting in the top 5 in US, UK, Canada and Australia she solidified her status as a breakthrough artist. Around this time Billie became the youngest artists ever to top 1 billion Spotify streams.

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Billie Eilish Debuts with Album ‘don’t smile at me’ and She Means it

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“I hate smiling. It makes me feel weak and powerless and small.”

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Shortly after the release of her EP, Billie embarked on a 17-day tour across North America to promote the record.

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15-Year-Old Pop Prodigy Billie Eilish Announces Debut EP & First-Ever Tour

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Two years since her accidental hit â€œOcean Eyesâ€ went viral on Soundcloud, the 15-year-old Californian singer-songwriter and dancer is announcing an August 11 release for her debut EP, “dont smile at me,” and dropping its latest single, â€œCOPYCAT,â€ today (July 14).

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WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP WHERE DO WE GO (2019)

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WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP WHERE DO WE GO (2019)

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Billie's public persona further develops with the release of the first single from her new album 'WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?' The release of this comes at the same time of her hugely successful single 'Bad Guy' in which Eilish also displayed her theatrical sensibilities in the riveting videos for those and other tracks. Now used as an early hallmark to her unique style the record reached number 1 in its debut week and Billboards number 1 album of the year.

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WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?

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WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?

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At the age of just 17 Billie began her fashion journey in which she stated 'I wear what I want to wear' often commented on people would suggest it was a statement against being a 'stereotypical female' and 'saying no to being sexualised'. Billie further shut down these comments and allows her outfits to be an outlet of expression both on and off the stage.

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Billie Eilish: My baggy clothes shouldn’t slut-shame others

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The singer talks slut-shaming and fashion choices in an interview by Pharrell for V Magazine.

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Billie opens up about the creative process (2020)

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Billie opens up about the creative process (2020)

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Amidst the chaos of the release of her chart topping album, Billie sits down to discuss the narrative of the record and how she 'metaphorically removes her social armor'. The interview delves into her thoughts on stardom and living in a 'hedonistic' environment.

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On January 26th, Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas O'Connell stole the stage at the Grammy Awards collecting a total of 5 Grammys, including the most prestigious award of 'Album of the Year' for their 2019 album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? Billie and Finneas entirely produced and wrote the album (with mixing and mastering by Rob Kinelski and John Greenham). Apart from all of the wonderful accolades, awards, and personal stories behind this masterful album, there's something completely missing from mainstream praise and reviews of this record: its dense narrative and compelling themes.
Table of Contents:

1. Intro: Narrative Albums

2. Circular Narratives

3. Inside the Author's Head

4. "All Books are about Other Books"

5. Narrative Structure

6. Long-form Album Analysis

7. The Secret to Unlock The Story: The Number 8

Intro: Narrative Albums
Kanye West's 2016 opus The Life of Pablo re-tells the biblical story of Paul the Apostle transforming from a corrupt sinner to a realized saint. At the center of , there is a rich juxtaposition between religiosity and hedonism, which describes not just Paul's or Kanye's struggles but all of humanity's plight between good and evil. Other examples of thematically rich, narrative-based albums abound in the music of artists like Lupe Fiasco, Beyoncé, Denzel Curry, Little Simz, Frank Ocean, and Tyler the Creator. When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? follows the footsteps of these timeless musical oeuvres and tells its own unique narrative across four acts.
Circular Narratives
The most common narrative style is chronological - a story with a beginning, middle, and end told sequentially. Circular narratives, though much less common, offer a different format. As the name suggests, they are circular - they begin and end at the same point. Instead of providing a clear conclusion tying together the remaining pieces of the story, a circular narrative provides closure through a return to the expositional material. A classic example of a circular narrative is Homer's "The Odyssey," as it opens with the protagonist leaving Ithaca to go to war and closes with his triumphant return to the same point.

As music and literature have been merging over the past few decades, there are a handful of examples of circular narratives in the music world. As recently as last year, Tyler the Creator's (it won 'Rap Album of the Year' at the Grammys) ostensibly featured a circular narrative. Cole Cuchna, the host of Dissect podcast discovered this interpretation using his expertise in music theory on Twitter:

"@tylerthecreator IGOR ends and begins with a similar/same bass synth. Also noticed the end of [the last song on the album] doesn't resolve (ends on Bb when it "should" end on F). Also noticed that Bb gets resolved by the Eb that begins IGORS THEME [the first song]."

Tyler mysteriously Dissect's tweet essentially confirming this theory. The narrative sequence of is as follows: the first act of the album deals with the "Igor" character falling in love and in the second half the protagonist emphatically moves on. But, by ending and starting with similar musical notes, Tyler employs circular narrative structure to display the tumultuous, erratic, and cyclical nature of relationships - romantic or otherwise. We have all fought with our loved ones, missed them, loved them, hated them - this is the cycle of human nature.
Inside the Author's Head
Billie Eilish's infectious personality, quirky song ideas, and ethereal singing have propelled her album to greatness. But part of the brilliance of When We All Fall Asleep's narrative must be credited to her brother Finneas. After reading several of Finneas's interviews and statements about the album, it becomes apparent Finneas intended to craft a dense concept album with a profound narrative.

For example, in an interview with MTV, Finneas states his desire to craft an album with "songs bleeding into each other" and "servicing each other" on an "overarching level." In the same interview with MTV, he also cited Shakespeare as an influence on Billie's hit-song "you should see me in a crown," which we will closely examine in the long-form analysis section.

Structurally, Finneas commented on the narrative arc of When We All Fall Asleep in an with Vulture:

"And I love arc. I love story arcs. I love things that have a conclusion. So I really love that this album finishes and it has this kind of farewell to it."

Most tellingly, in an with Variety Finneas directly compared his album-crafting process to authoring novels:

"The way that we tried to approach every piece of music is, if the song had a brain, it would be aware of its catalog," he says. "Like, the ['When We All Fall Asleep'] album knew that the ['Don't Smile at Me'] EP and those other songs exist. They're referential in certain ways: There are lines in 'Crown' about 'Ocean Eyes'; 'Ilomilo' references 'Bury a Friend,' which references 'Xanny.' "It's a little bit like a book series," he continues. "Like, for 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,' J.K. Rowling had to figure out what happened after 'Sorcerer's Stone,' and for us, album two will be like what happens next to the person who went through the first record."

But Billie Eilish is the creative source for the outlandish, otherworldly concepts of When We All Fall Asleep . In an interview with Rob Markman at Genius, Billie described her appreciation for fictional song-writing:

"You don't have to go through anything to write about it, or you can go through everything and write about something else. It's literally like telling a story, you can write about something you've done, you can write about something your friend's done, or you want to do, or you used to do, or your mom's done."

This quote underscores an important aspect of this album: while we cannot assume the speaker in every song is genuinely Billie singing from real experience, for convenience, we will just refer to the protagonist of this story as "Billie" keeping in mind a lot of the plot events are exaggerated and fictionalized for dramatic effect (unrealistic songs like "all the good girls go to hell" for example). Moreover, Eilish's fictional song-craft comes on full display in outlandishly creative songs like "bury a friend" and "bad guy."
"All Books are about Other Books"
There is a famous axiom that all books are about other books. The recurrence of various archetypes throughout literary history and in the present supports this idea. In the "musico-literary" world (the intersection of literature and music), artists like Kanye West, Tyler the Creator, and Kendrick Lamar are revered for their universal thematic work and tightly structured narrative albums.

In the context of Billie's album, Kanye West is a (consciously or coincidentally) towering influence whose work closely parallels the structure and themes of When We All Fall Asleep . Musically and certainly thematically, famous British singer-songwriter James Blake is spot-on in his comparison of Kanye West's genre-defying 2013 record to When We All Fall Asleep :

"It's so sparsely produced, and they gate the vocals so you can't hear any noise-when a vocal goes out there's just complete silence. I don't know whether that was conscious, but I found it really fascinating," Blake explained. "'bury a friend' was one of the most interestingly produced things I've heard since [Kanye West's] Yeezus, which I think was some influence."

When We All Fall Asleep also features a contrast of reality vs. dream world. In Billie's case, her album contains only a 14-second intro track ("!!!!!!!") in reality, where Billie metaphorically removes her social armor. Subsequently, we enter into Billie's disturbed, horrifying dream world in which she explores her most suppressed thoughts of becoming famous, living in a hedonistic environment, and grappling with the monster under her bed.
Narrative Structure
When We All Fall Asleep operates on a [1]-3-3-1-3-3 narrative structure: the prelude, followed by Act 1, Act 2, the transitional interlude, then Act 3 and Act 4. Each act comprises a triptych (set of three parts) of dreams which loosely connect to each other and contribute to the overarching narrative.
Long-form Album Analysis Prelude
The prelude solely comprises the first track "!!!!!!!" (only 14 seconds). In this prelude, Billie and her brother Finneas say the following:

"My Invisalign has finally...

I have taken out my Invisalign

I have taken out my Invisalign, and this is the album

Hahahahahahahahahahaha, ahh"
Act 1: Rise of Villainy
[Themes: power, greed, sin]

Songs: 1) "bad guy," 2) "xanny," 3) "you should see me in a crown"

"My mommy likes to sing along with me

But she won't sing this song

If she reads all the lyrics

She'll pity the men I know"

Now that Billie establishes her "bad guy" persona, we learn about the social environment of the album in the next song "xanny," an eerily vibrating song with distorted vocals exposing the self-destructiveness of modern party culture. If the speaker is corrupt, her environment is even more corrupt - due to hedonistic parties, substance abuse, and Xanax addiction. The narrator notices these hedonistic people are "nothing but unstable," and all they bring is "ashtrays to the table" - representing how drugs have consumed their lives. Interestingly, Billie recognizes the impact of this party culture:

"I'm in their secondhand smoke."

The exposition of the album ends with the crucial question of "why?" Billie is a morally bankrupt "bad guy." She exists in a toxic climate in which people are addicted to drugs and waste their lives. But what is her aim? Why is she here? The third track, "you should see me in a crown," answers this critical question. Finneas stated this song is about "being power hungry, and a power struggle in general. It feels very to me. I thought the knife was kind of a Shakespearian take on what really is just her saying, 'give me control.'"

This comparison is quite apt and revealing because, like the titular character of Shakespeare's play, Billie impulsively envisages affluence and fame in this song. She wants to be a king who exercises his power and makes disciples bow before him. The frantic, power-hungry chorus supports this idea:

"Watch me make 'em bow

One by one by one

One by one by

You should see me in a crown"

The manic repetition of "one by one by one by one" emphasizes Billie's Napoleonic desire to not only become dominant but conquer human beings and make them worship her. To inflate her ego like a hot air balloon, she needs people to acknowledge her power.

In summary, Act 1 depicts the rise of Billie's villainy: she is a corrupt "bad guy" living in a hedonistic milieu where her peers are addicted to "xanny," and she lusts after the symbolic "crown": fame, power, and luxury. Indeed, a villain has risen.
Act 2: Fall of Villainy
[Themes: Luciferianism, impulsivity, taboos, egoism]

Songs: 5) "all the good girls go to hell" 6) "wish you were gay" 7) "when the party's over"

After building up a villainous persona in an unrestrained, self-destructive environment and explicitly displaying extreme greed, one of the Bible's seven deadly sins, Lucifer inevitably enters into the narrative in the fourth track "all the good girls go to hell" and further corrupts the protagonist. The upbeat track opens with the protagonist eerily reciting "My Lucifer is lonely," followed by narration from Lucifer who sees the protagonist's vulnerability and exploits it. The chorus illustrates the perversity and wickedness of the song:

"All the good girls go to Hell

'Cause even God herself has enemies

And once the water starts to rise

And Heaven's out of sight

She'll want the devil on her team"

God is feminized ("herself"), and goodness is associated with hell, implying that badness or evil is really what is worth pursuing to live a happy life. The track also features climate apocalypse images of alarming sea-level rise and man-made forest fires in California destroying natural habitats and degrading the environment ("Hills burn in California"/ My turn to ignore ya"). Finneas later confirmed climate change is a central message to the song and not just an interpretive conspiracy theory.

After Lucifer further corrupts the protagonist, it would make sense for her to pursue or at least visualize one of her wishful impulses. Such is the case of the subsequent song "wish you were gay." Here, the protagonist drills through her mind and exposes the most taboo impulse expressed in this entire album: her wish that her crush was gay. The sexuality of her crush is much less significant than the catalyst for Billie's impulse: rejection. Here are a few lines from the bridge of the song:

"To spare my pride

To give your lack of interest an explanation

Don't say I'm not your type

Just say that I'm not your preferred sexual orientation

I'm so selfish"

The protagonist wishes her crush was gay in order to make sense of his "lack of interest" in her. If this were true, she would be exonerated of any fault of her own doing - her crush would simply not just be interested in her by virtue of her being a female. An interesting element of this song is its usage of comedy sitcom sound effects: "Aww" in the first verse and audience clapping at the end of the song. In this context, Billie wishes her love story was fabricated like a sitcom narrative; she uses comedy as a coping mechanism for the harsh reality.

Following "wish you were gay" is "when the party's over," a slow, quiet song about a relationship coming to an end - Finneas describes it as feeling "compelled" to be with someone despite desires to the contrary. Narratively, in line with the theme of this act ("Fall of Villainy"), the last song in this triptych represents the unmasking of Billie's villainous persona. The metaphorical party in which she wore the evil mask of the "bad guy" and let her dreams run wild is now over. Macabre lyrics alluding to Lucifer and deranged, hyper-erotic sentiments are gone snd the villain has fallen. The party is surely over and ultimately, evil is transient. Eventually, we all come to our senses.
Transitional Interlude: Protagonist's hurt friend
[Themes: empathy, transparency, emotional turmoil]

This is precisely why Billie and Finneas place the song "8" in the exact middle of the album - six songs precede and succeed the eighth song (excluding the prelude, of course). Since all of the other tracks have such significant, important titles like "bury a friend" and "listen before i go," the eighth track titled just after a number suggests a break or transition in the album. Initially titled "see-through," "8" is neither upbeat and boastful like the first half of the album, and it's certainly not suicidal or depressive like the second half. "8" is kind of like the palate cleanser in between tastings.

Atticus Finch famously states, "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view...until you climb into his skin and walk around in it" in To Kill a Mockingbird. Billie quite literally follows this truth in "8." With a babyish voice over a soft ukulele instrumental, the song is sung from the perspective of a friend Billie hurt. Billie confirmed this theory :

"I wrote '8' from the perspective of somebody that I hurt....I feel like when people hear that song they're like, "Oh, poor, baby, Billie, she's so hurt" I was just a ******** for a minute. I really was. The only way I could deal with it was to just stop for a second and put myself in that person's place. It's me empathizing and the thing is that every lyric in that song is towards me."

This friend that Billie hurt emphasizes Billie's mistreatment of him or her:

"You're lookin' at me like I'm see-through

I guess I'm gonna go

I just never know how you feel

Do you even feel anything?"

Billie treated this person with a total lack of compassion and interest - the identical complaint she made against her crush in "wish you were gay." As we will notice in Act 3 of the album ("Self-examination"), the sentiments of "8" trigger Billie into deep self-examination and reflection of the world outside of her impulsive desires and bloated ego.
Act 3: Self-examination
[Themes: addiction, reconciliation, inner demons]

Songs: 9) "my strange addiction" 10) "bury a friend" 11) "ilomilo"

The narrator uses another witty metaphor to express her romantic addiction:

"I'm the powder, you're the fuse

Just add some friction"

Billie sexually craves her love interest and compulsively desires his company. This is the key purpose of this song: to illustrate the danger of compulsively pursuing toxic relationships, no matter how strong or addictive the attraction. An unusual feature of "my strange addiction" is snippets from "The Office" spread throughout the track. We hear strange quotes like "No, Billy, I haven't done that dance since my wife died" by the character Michael Scott.

Once again, Billie uses comedy as a way to cope with her vices. Apart from reinforcing the sardonicism of the song, the "The Office" clips also create a deft double-entendre: the narrator is addicted to this other person, but she is also addicted to "The Office" - a subtle comment on consumer culture and how we often use fiction to escape from harsh reality.

Followed by the narrator's self-examination of her romantic addiction, we get the outlandish song "bury a friend," a haunting nightmare in which Billie encounters the monster under her bed - perhaps an allusion to Kanye West's explosive song " ." Billie "bury a friend" is literally from "the perspective of the monster under my bed." The song opens from the monster, and it asks a series of existential questions:

"What do you want from me? Why don't you run from me?"

But very quickly, the song reverts to the protagonist's point of view:

"The way I'm drinkin' you down

Like I wanna drown, like I wanna end me"

The protagonist is using alcohol to escape from her inner demons, which is destroying her body. Not only does this line foreshadow the narrator's attempt at suicide in the last act of the album, but it also suggests this "monster" is more symbolic and visceral than literal.

Later, it becomes clear that this "monster" is more of a rough personification of Billie's inner demons than a literal character in the plot. Billie said it best in her interview with The Fader:

"I also confess that I'm this monster, because I'm my own worst enemy. I might be the monster under your bed, too."

Billie's attempt to grapple with her "own monster" results in her personifying a host of dark, depressing, and insecure thoughts into a single, fictional entity. All the questions in the chorus are those that arise from various insecurities in relationships.

Ending the penultimate act of the album, we experience the calm and adorable track "ilomilo" named after a 2010 puzzle game in which the objective is to unite "ilo" and "milo." Here, once again, the song is best interpreted as a loose metaphor within the context of the narrative opposed to a literal event in the plot - even if this song carries a personal significance in Billie's life. Throughout the song, Billie expresses her desire for this other person to "come home" because she doesn't "wanna be lonely." Contextually, this song signifies the narrator's attempt to reconcile her "ilo" and "milo" - her dark and positive sides. She's coming to grips with all of the horrors and turmoil she has experienced thus far: her encounter with the devil, the monster under her bed, her toxic social environment, etc.
Act 4 (Denouement): Suicidal ideation
[Themes: suicide, love, circularity]

Songs: 12) "listen before i go" 13) "i love you" 14) "goodbye"

"Well, Billie loved the linear nature of those song titles, just saying 'Listen Before I Go, I Love You, Goodbye.' She liked the readability of that. I think in broad terms they are [related]. They're different sentiments about a farewell."

Like the tightly woven nature of the opening act of the album, the last act of the album - the denouement - is woven together very cohesively. The denouement in a story is the final part in which the strands of the plot are tied together, and matters are explained or resolved. Each of the three tracks here compliments the next, and the story ends with a dramatic, unexpected conclusion.

Musically, the denouement stands in stark contrast to the exposition, which featured heavy bass, distorted vocals, and psychotic lyricism. Here, we get a set of soft, bittersweet, and sentimental ballads that dissolve in one's ears despite the tragic underlying meaning.

"Take me to the rooftop

I wanna see the world when I stop

Turnin' blue"

The narrator wants to see the world one last time before making such a monumental decision as ending her life. In terms of growth, the narrator has matured quite a bit since her villainous phase. She's now repentant, apologetic, and remorseful for her sins:

"Sorry can't save me now (Sorry)

Sorry I don't know how (Sorry)

Sorry there's no way out (Sorry)"

The last word of this song is even "sorry." Compare this with the extreme impulsivity and materialism the narrator flaunts in "you should see me in a crown" for example - it's clear Billie has gone through dramatic dispositional growth.

Also, the narrator foreshadows the circular finale of the narrative with the line "Sorry, there's no way out (Sorry)." At the very end of the song, we also hear emergency vehicle sirens fading in the back, signaling the speaker pursued her desire to go to a "rooftop" to consider suicide. Seeing someone casually standing on top of a roof and staring down surely raised some red flags, and the first responders appear to have been alerted.

Instead of physically committing suicide out of remorse and self-contempt, Billie, fortunately, chooses "love" as we transition to the penultimate track of the record "i love you." "i love you" is such a poignant acoustic ballad that it even evoked tears from someone like me - a nerdy 19-year-old literary critic who spends all day listening to heavy rap music and writing articles.

Literally, "i love you" depicts the narrator professing her unadulterated love for another person. Continuing the emotional growth of "listen before i go," we see the protagonist self-reflecting even more:

"Never been the type to

Let someone see right through, ooh"

Unlike the first half of the album, where the narrator conceals her emotional turmoil and vulnerability under the guise of a villainous persona, now she is presenting herself completely transparently. She's finally opened up and embraced life and its struggles. Rather than ending her life, Billie finds a new purpose in love and devotion.

And, now we get the epic finale of the album, the piece that completes the puzzle, ties the knot, and ends the film: "goodbye." In its entirety, here are the lyrics of the song:

"Please, please

Don't leave me

It's not true

Take me to the rooftop

Told you not to worry

What do you want from me?

Don't ask questions

Wait a minute

Don't you know I'm no good for you?

Baby, I don't feel so good

And all the good girls go to Hell

Bite my tongue, bide my time

What is it about them?

I'm the bad guy"
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Decoding the Narrative of Billie Eilish's "When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?"

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On January 26th, Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas O'Connell stole the stage at the Grammy awards collecting a total of 5 Grammys, including the most prestigious award of 'Album of the Year' fo...

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When We All Fall Asleep World Tour (2019)

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When We All Fall Asleep World Tour (2019)

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The world tour initially set to include concerts in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia was set to begin March 9th 2020 and end September 7th 2020. Subsequently it concluded 3 days into tour life with it cancelled due to COVID-19.

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Billie became the youngest ever headliner when she headline Lollapalooza in Berlin in 2019, where she drew one of the biggest crowds of the festivals and also performing at Lollapalooza Chicago where despite being the top-billed act drew a crown of thousands just a few months after the release of her debut album.

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Bad Guy is the 5th single from WWAFAWDWG. Billie is constructing her image of a pop star that subverts typical genre functions. With her lyrics and delivery it wins Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the 2020 Grammy Awards.

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Billie's hair becomes a staple in her appearence as a pop star. With the growth of her influence in the industry her hair evolves over time as well. The neon green roots and black ends became a singature of her WWAFAWDWG era.

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No one does hair quite like Billie Eilish. When the singer-songwriter opts for color, she goes bold and leans all the way in. Jewel-toned reds, electric greens, and ocean blues-it's safe to say there isn't a color Eilish is scared to try. Even her haircuts and styles seamlessly transition between long layers and voluminous bobs. A beauty chameleon (to put it lightly), her hair looks are almost as cool and transformative as the lyrics she writes. Almost.

In honor of our cover star-one of the few celebs who could convince us to dye our hair a completely new shade-below are 15 of Eilish's best hair colors and styles. Scroll through and take a stroll down memory lane.

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A Timeline of Billie Eilish's Greatest Hair Transformations

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From neon green to blue streaks, we look back on Billie Eilish's best hair colors, cuts, and styles.

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'No Time To Die' the slow-burning ballad was written and performed by Billie and Finneas as a part of the James Bond franchise. Billie became the youngest artists ever to do this and solidified her status as a cross-genre talent.

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No Time To Die: The verdict on Billie Eilish’s James Bond theme

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The verdict on the teenager’s ballad for Daniel Craig’s final outing as 007, which she released overnight.

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Billie was recognised for her James Bond ballad and her record WWAFAWDWG, acclaiming Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Best New Artist and Best Pop Vocal Album. Cementing her status as a global music icon.

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Billie Eilish Delivered the Performance of the Night at the Grammys

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Fresh off her win for Best Pop Vocal Album, she sang a tremendous, haunting rendition of “When the Party’s Over.”

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Billie begins the roll-out of her 2nd record with the single 'my future'. A song that explores the tension between identity, control and emotional vulnerability.

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Billie's second album focuses on her struggle with fame, the self-reflection she pursues and her vulnerability as an artist.

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The single is about protecting herself as an artist and symbolising her solitiude despite the global attraction towards her. Her privacy as long been a key aspect of her career that she has carried throughout.

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Billie Eilish - NDA (Official Music Video)

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Billie speaks on her fame, performances and life.

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Billie speaks on her fame, performances and life.

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Amidst the release of her second album, Billie gives an interview on the pressures of the industry, making her mark and the future of her success.

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Billie Eilish has a message for the world: " I'm not your friend / Or anything, damn / You think that you're the man / I think, therefore, I am." Still just 19, the pop supernova has spent the past few years living a very public life. She's won seven Grammys over two consecutive years, run circles around her peers on the Billboard Hot 100 and become a figure of discussion and scrutiny, some of it perhaps a little too familiar.

Her second full-length album, Happier than Ever, is out now. Like its predecessor, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, it's a collaboration with her brother and producer, Finneas O'Connell. But after a career debut like few others, Eilish's style is evolving: new sounds (including a detour into bossa nova-inspired grooves), a new visual toolkit and lyrics shaped by experiences as a very young woman on a worldwide stage.

Eilish spoke with NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro about where Happier than Ever finds her and her outlook on life, fame and performance. Hear the radio version at the audio link, and read on for an edited transcript.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Lulu Garcia-Navarro: You had huge success with your first album, and there's always a lot of pressure for a second album after something like that. Did you feel that way?
What's funny is, for the making of the album, I felt no pressure. I wasn't worried; I was super confident. I really felt that I did the best that I possibly could have done with a second album: I didn't stay exactly doing the same thing, but I also didn't change into something else, I grew. I thought that that was really good. It was when I started releasing music from the album, putting out singles, that suddenly I was like, "Wait."

Yeah! "People are going to listen and tell me how they feel now? No!" But, it's OK. It's really just about me liking it, and the real fans liking it. That's all I care about.
This album is called Happier than Ever Tell me why. What is it about this song? . So, how are you: Are you happier than ever? Why did you call it that? Is it about a particular person, or just more about that feeling when you actually understand something about a relationship that you've had?
I mainly wanted a title for my album to be, like, un-mispronounceable. I feel that was a strong, easy to pronounce, easy to say, can't-get-it-wrong title. [But the song it's named after] is one of my favorite songs on the album. It's one of my most important songs I've ever written.

Do you ever want to say something to somebody for a really long time? You don't really know what you want to say or how to say it - and then maybe you have a conversation with somebody else, or you think a little bit about it, and you figure out what it is you've been trying to say for this entire period of time? That's how it felt: That was the entire writing process, that was the recording process. Everything involved in this song felt like how it feels when you finally find the words for something.

I mean, obviously it's about somebody, but it's also really about a feeling, and kind of a realization. I just mainly hope that people listen to this and go, "Oh, yeah - that's what I'm trying to say."
What have you learned about coping with that glare, though? I mean, what do you do to remain you?
You are now 19, and you've been in the public eye for a while. Tell me about the song "OverHeated."
And I mean, you are changing: You've changed your look recently, you are experimenting with different types of music on this album. I want to ask about your aesthetic, how you see clothes and appearance playing into your art - and if you see that as part of the music, and how you interact with people who love your music.
You can kind of understand it by just listening, I would say. I think it was just a moment of being really pissed off as a young woman in the public eye: You know, it's infuriating. It's hard enough to be a young woman not in the public eye, and just have lots of public eyes looking at you ... let alone being famous and having a million people look at you constantly. I think it's just thoughts coming from a place of fury and unfairness and just feeling angry at the world and society, I guess.

I honestly don't know. I think that there's not much you can do. ... It's like, if you're at the dentist getting your wisdom teeth done, and they give you anesthesia and then you say to yourself, 'I'm not going to fall asleep, I'm not going to fall asleep,' you can't not fall asleep. ... I think that you just have to keep going and not not be scared of living, I guess. And I wish I would take my own advice in that realm of just like, it doesn't matter. You can change, and you can change your mind, which I think the internet forgets.
To that point, the song "Not My Responsibility There's a lot about womanhood in this album and exactly what you're talking about, the ways in which it can be twisted, the ways it can be taken advantage of. When the song "Your Power" was released, I sent it to a bunch of my female friends and relatives, because I think it speaks to something that a lot of girls and women have dealt with. When did you start to realize that every girl, every woman, has a story where they were sort of taken advantage of? We should say, there are also happy songs here - about love, the good part of connecting, the sort of empowering part of being with someone. I want to actually go to Billie Bossa Nova because I used to live in Brazil, so I was real happy to hear this. Have you been to Brazil? " is saying something similar with its title - which is, whatever you see is about you, not me. Am I right in understanding it that way? Oh, you gotta go.
With aesthetics and eras of a musician or an artist, it's all just for the eye. It's not really real. I guess that you can change your look to try to change yourself, for sure. But in terms of album promo, and the photo shoots being a certain style - that doesn't change you. It's just a choice for something that you wanted to accomplish visually, you know? I did the same thing for my first album: I chose to have a look and an aesthetic and a style for that album specifically, and all of the shoots and stuff involved in the videos, I wanted that to be kind of creepy, more like horror and dark and in the theme of monsters under your bed.
Oh, wow.
For this one, I wanted the theme of old Hollywood and beautiful and classy. It's just funny that people see new photo shoots and immediately think that you're a different person. I see people call me Blonde Billie - like, "Blonde Billie said this, but Green Billie didn't say this." And I'm like, what the hell? I'm not a category of a person. I'm the same person, for my whole life. I like this thing this time, and I like this thing that time.
And you've just made a lot of people in Brazil happy, I can tell you right now ... The last thing I want to talk about is "My Future Well, what do you want now? I mean, you kind of conquered the world in every possible way. When you look at that, what do you want? ." In this song, there's a line that says, "I'm in love with my future / Can't wait to meet her." I haven't been able to stop thinking about it; it's a really interesting line. Why did you write it? What does that do for you, when you're out performing?
Yeah, for sure. And that goes for so many different things. It goes for all women who wear what they want and a man says, "Oh, don't expect me to not harass you if you're wearing that." It's like, no - that's your responsibility to not harass me. It's nobody's responsibility to cover themself or restrict or restrain themself for somebody else's, like, weak willpower. It's not our job.

I don't even know when I realized it. The song is kind of from the perspective, like ... this wasn't an actual situation of my life, but I thought it would be interesting to write it as if it was me talking to somebody that I was friends with or in my family, or somebody that I knew, and they were abusing their power. And I was having a like, heart-to-heart with them, trying to tell them not to.

It's about many, many different situations that I've witnessed. Some lines are about my life, some lines are about things that I've seen, some lines are just general things that I've noticed about women being taken advantage of. And it's a crazy thing and I wish that when I was younger I had a song like this to listen to.

No, I haven't!

It's like the main place that I should go. The first fan account I ever had was Billie Eilish Brazil. For real.

I have a very special place in my heart for Brazil. I wanted to pay respect to bossa nova and Brazil and just the entire culture around it cause I love it so much. I don't know, I just love a little feel-good, you know, move around feeling, sexy little song.

Thank you. I love that line, too. I think it means a lot of things. I think that the most straightforward meaning is the future me, the future person that I'm going to be - but also the future world that I'm going to live in and the future friends I'm going to have and the future people that I'm going to surround myself with. It's really about not wishing away the present and the past and wishing you were in the future, but just being hopeful and content with the idea of change. And I can't wait to see what it holds.

Good question. I want joy and content with myself. I want to feel better about myself, and more, I guess, proud of who I am. I don't know what my future holds, but I really want to do shows - that's the main thing that I hope and see for myself.

There is no feeling like the feeling on stage in front of people that just truly adore you and that you adore, just looking at you and you looking back at them. ... I don't ever feel like I'm above anyone when I'm on stage: I feel like one with them, and I feel like I want to impress them and just have fun with them. I never want to spend this much time away from doing shows ever again, thank you very much.

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Billie Eilish Can't Wait To See The Future

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Billie Eilish has a message for the world: " I'm not your friend / Or anything, damn / You think that you're the man / I think, therefore, I am." Still just 19, the pop supernova has spent the past few years living a very public life.

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Billie switches it up during her 'Happier Than Ever' era (2024)

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Billie switches it up during her 'Happier Than Ever' era (2024)

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During the release of 'Happier Than Ever' she changed her style to 'prove a point' with a contrast from the oversized gothic style to a typically 'feminine' style.

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Billie Eilish Complex Cover Interview: Breaking the Mold

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As a teenager, Billie Eilish broke the mold of pop stardo…

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Just a few shorts months after meeting Justin Bieber in Coachella, Justin featured on Billie's hit song 'Bad Guy' as apart of a remix. Billie previously shared her admiration for Justin Bieber and how he was a figure that she adored since she was little.

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Billie Eilish - bad guy (with Justin Bieber) [Audio]

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Billie's first attendance at the Met Gala saw her appointed as co-chair of the gala. The theme of “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion” she stunned in a Oscar De La Renta gown. It was a radical transformation for the 19-year-old to be rarely seen in anything other than oversize tracksuits.

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Billie embarked on her first full arena tour, running from February 3, 2022, to April 2, 2023.

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The World's A Little Blurry - Documentary (2021)

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The World's A Little Blurry - Documentary (2021)

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The coming-of-age documentary offers an intimate, behind the scenes look at her rise to fame and the making of her debut album, alongside the pressures and struggles of relationships and the teenage years.

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Watch Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry - Apple TV+

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Take a deeply personal look at extraordinary teenager Billie Eilish. Award-winning filmmaker R.J. Cutler follows her journey on the road, onstage, and…

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In her documentary Billie revealed at 17 years old, she started dating the then-22-year-old rapper Brandon Quentin Adams. The relationship received some backlash due to their age gap.

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Another controversial relationship due to the age gap of 21 and 31. Billie and Jesse Rutherford's relationship amicably came to an end less than a year later in May 2023 where it appears they are still good friends.

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Billie Eilish and Jesse Rutherford’s Relationship Timeline

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Billie Eilish and Jesse Rutherford began publicly dating in October 2022 and broke up in May 2023. Here is a complete timeline of their relationship.

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In 2021, Billie joined the REVERB's music climate revolution to make the tour more sustainable, reducing single-use plastics and promoting climate awareness.

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Since 2019, REVERB has been Billie Eilish's tour sustainability partner, helping Billie and her team meet their environmental goals on tour and beyond.

Billie announced the partnership on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon in 2019 and we have been working together ever since to reduce the environmental footprint of touring.

In 2021, Billie joined REVERB's Music Climate Revolution, committing to take immediate, ongoing, and increasing action on the climate crisis. Billie and REVERB worked together in 2022 to make Happier than Ever World Tour sustainable - reducing waste, emissions, and engaging fans on climate issues!

In 2023, Billie co-founded the Music Decarbonization Project, which fast-tracks innovative climate solutions to directly eliminate carbon pollution from the music industry. At Lollapalooza that same year, Billie joined forces with REVERB and the festival to bring solar-powered, intelligent battery systems to partially power the festival main stage. Billie's headline set marked the first time a large-scale US festival stage was powered in this way.

Billie, REVERB, and Support + Feed are currently partnering on HIT ME HARD AND SOFT: THE TOUR to reduce the environmental footprint of the tour and support fans in taking action on the climate crisis.

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Billie Eilish and REVERB have partnered together since 2019 to help meet Billie's sustainability goals on tour and beyond.

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In 2023 Billie co-founded the 'music decarbonization project' a fast-track innovative climate solution to directly eliminate carbon pollution from the music industry. Working with festivals to bring solar-powered battery systems into the spaces.

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She received the honour of being celebrated as Billboard's Woman of the Year, where she was recognised for her groundbreaking impact on music, culture, and the industry as a whole just 1 album and EP into her career all before the age of 18.

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Billie Eilish Is Billboard’s 2019 Woman of the Year

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Without a doubt, 2019 has been Billie Eilish’s biggest year yet -- and she has one more accomplishment to earn before her 18th birthday next month: Eilish will be named 2019 Woman of the Year at Billboard’s Women in Music event on Dec. 12. Eilish revealed the news Thursday night (Nov. 21) during her appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”

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The opening night of her tour received the recognition it deserved, playing the album in its almost entirety whilst showcasing stripped down versions of songs alongside her brother Finneas. The first night of the worldwide tour was a hit!

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Outside New Orleans' Smoothie King Center on Thursday night, a torrential downpour turned the scene into an accidental remake of Billie Eilish's "Happier Than Ever" video. It was an appropriately epic meteorological moment, as the 20-year-old had just touched down in the city for the start of her new world tour. Finally.

In the spring of 2020, Eilish made it three dates into her biggest headlining trek ever before Covid-19 forced her to postpone then eventually cancel the tour. Her sudden free time allowed her to complete her second album, the sublime Happier Than Ever. She performs that album almost in its entirety for the new tour, which comes after scattered performances throughout late-2020 and 2021.

Opening night was hit with some opening-act bad luck: Willow dropped out of the first four dates of the tour because her stage show was not ready yet. Her replacement, Dora Jar, came down with Covid the day of the NOLA date. So tonight, it was just Eilish, who went on 30 minutes earlier than scheduled to a packed house of lookalikes in her early signature green-and-black hair and oversize T-shirts.

In time for the tour, Eilish switched her hair back to black, dropping the bombshell-blonde of the Happier Than Ever rollout. And though she made a bold statement in 2021 with a somewhat vampier look, this tour is not some sudden pivot to bedazzled bodysuits and heels. She ran, skipped, and twirled around the large, angular stage in a graffitied oversize tee, bike shorts, and gym shoes. If she had stepped out into the rain-drenched crowd at any point before the show, she probably would've blended right in.

As strobe lights flashed, ambient noise and the sudden injection of the "Happier Than Ever" line "You made me hate this city" bounced around the arena, immediately amping up the crowd. Eilish was launched onto the stage from below it, and kicked off the 90-minute set with "Bury a Friend" bathed in red lights.

Eilish perfectly blended her three projects together, transitioning quickly into the newer, slinkier tracks "I Didn't Change My Number" and "NDA." For the latter, the stage turned into a dark road that she was traversing in the middle of as cars sped by on the screen behind her.

There was a noticeable shift in how she presented herself: Eilish has been open about how she was at a personal, emotional low during her tour in 2019. There was a gloominess to her onstage that was as much a reflection of the nightmare-inspired songs as it was her own disposition at the time. For this show, she was flirty and floating, dancing through the songs on her own or winking and gyrating at the pit to get a rise out of it (it, of course, worked every time).

The pacing was masterful. For such a young artist, still at the dawn of what is likely a long career, the show was packed with already memorable songs. And for any detractors who believe all her songs sound the same or are too "mumbly," this concert is the perfect argument against it: This was a show designed to keep the audience on its feet the whole time, and was effective at its mission.

Eilish seemed to get a kick out of instructing the audience to do something: During "You Should See Me in a Crown," she requested everyone stay still "like Squid Games " until she instructed them to jump around. During the slithering "Oxytocin" (which interpolated a bit of "Copycat" into it), she made the crowd get as low as they could before jumping up from the ground all at once.

The visuals were top-notch. Song-matched colors bathed the stage and audience during each song (an oceanic blue for "I Don't Wanna Be You Anymore" and golden light for "Goldwing" were among the choices). A giant spider crawled across the screen during "Crown," and the legs of ballroom dancers moved in time to "Billie Bossa Nova." Home videos of Eilish, her parents, and her brother Finneas (who has joined her again for this tour) complemented "Getting Older." During "All the Good Girls Go to Hell," a montage of our planet being destroyed by pollution, oil spills, trash, and global warming made for the show's most sobering moment. Eilish noted that she cried several times watching it while putting the concert together, but knew it was crucial to show. (In alignment with her ethos, straws were banned from the venue, per her request).

In the middle of her set, Eilish rode to a giant crane that let her get closer to the back of the audience. There, she performed a mash-up of her earliest songs: "Bellyache," "Ocean Eyes" and "Bored." The only messily constructed moment was the transition between "Bellyache" and "Ocean Eyes": She cut the former so short that it confused the thousands screaming along to the lyrics as it transitioned to the next track.

The most stripped-down moment of the show was also one of the best moments. For "Your Power," Eilish and Finneas came to the front of the stage, both strumming guitars and singing the intense single. Finneas then stepped away for Eilish to sing "Male Fantasy" alone, just her and her guitar.

Eilish decided to forgo an encore, announcing the near-end of her set by singing her Grammy-winning song "Everything I Wanted." It was the perfect one-two punch: "Bad Guy" was up first, with Eilish slipping back into the gothic bravado with ease, then ending the show with the song that got the audiences amped up in the beginning: "Happier Than Ever."

A heavenly projection of clouds accompanied the acoustic first half of the song before they began to brew a storm. Eilish morphed into headbanger mode for the electrifying second half, and so did her fans: It felt as good to scream along to with a room full of strangers - as good as anyone could have hoped.

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Opening Night of the First Billie Eilish Tour in Two Years Was Everything Fans Hoped For (Plus Rain)

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Outside New Orleans' Smoothie King Center on Thursday night, a torrential downpour turned the scene into an accidental remake of Billie Eilish's "Happier Than Ever" video. It was an appropriately epic meteorological moment, as the 20-year-old had just touched down in the city for the start of her new world tour.

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Billie alternated her brand for the Happier Than Ever tour where she was often seen wearing over-sized graphic t-shirts and pigtail buns. A significant contrast to the start of the Happier Than Ever era.

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Billie Eilish’s First Tour Fit Featured Pokémon and Sailor Moon

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I like shirts. They’re comfy and easy to wear.

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Following the release of the 'Barbie' movie, Billie and her brother Finneas attended the Oscars where they were nominated and received the award for 'Best Original Song'.

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Billie Eilish’s Oscars 2024 look is giving school girl chic

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Tall socks and Mary Janes at the Oscars? Big yes.

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Another record-breaking moment for Billie, as she headlined the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury during her Happier Than Ever Europe leg, becoming the youngest ever solo headliner at just 20 years old.

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Glastonbury 2022: Billie Eilish to make history as youngest-ever headliner

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The pop star will be the festival’s youngest-ever solo headliner when she tops the bill on Friday.

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With Variety magazine, a blend of trade journalism and cultural commentary whilst being known for its insider coverage of music, film and television, Billie speaks out on her sexuality and how she 'didn't intend to make a grand gesture of coming out'. She often discusses how she doesn't feel the pressure to label her sexuality. Her openness and vulnerability towards the subject has encouraged others to do the same, however she continues to advocate for her own privacy.

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Billie Eilish on Coming Out: ‘I Didn’t Realize People Didn’t Know’

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Billie Eilish has confirmed that she recently came out in her Variety Power of Women cover story, in which she revealed her attraction to women.

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Billie's third studio album 'HIT ME HARD AND SOFT' is a bold departure from traditional pop music, the record consists of artistic integrity and emotionally raw lyricism that connects Billie with her fans on a more emotional level.

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An insight into Billie's vulnerability. (2024)

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An insight into Billie's vulnerability. (2024)

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In an interview with Rolling Stones magazine; a prestige, culturally influential and music news outlet, Billie opens up about her mental health and the mastering of the record. The interview also discusses the intensity of the album cover and the logistics that allowed it to become a creative piece of work.

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Billie Eilish Is More Playful, More Pissed, and as Brilliant as Ever on ‘Hit Me Hard and Soft’

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Billie Eilish’s ‘Hit Me Hard and Soft’ Review

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Describing the album as a 'coming-of-age trilogy' the out-pour of reviews that 'HMHAS' received completes the arc of her previous releases. The album debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200 with chart topping hits across the board.

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Billie Eilish’s Audacious ‘Hit Me Hard and Soft’ Completes Sublime Coming-of-Age Trilogy: Critic’s Take

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Billie Eilish’s third studio album ‘Hit Me Hard and Soft’ is sharp, sensual and revelatory. Read Billboard’s album review.

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'BIRDS OF A FEATHER' is one of the many stand-out songs from the album. It is a hauntingly romantic track and highlights the fear of losing someone you love. The melodic tone and a soft piano blend is what amplify's the song's weight to create a poetic and mature track.

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Billie Eilish - BIRDS OF A FEATHER (Official Music Video)

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The tour spanned from September 2024 and is set to end in November 2025. The round stage setup creates a 360 degree intimacy with her audience. With a total of 106 shows spanning across America, Europe and Asia it was and still continues a tour highly spoken about.

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During the height of her career, Billie appeared on the April cover of Vogue. A globally influential fashion and lifestyle publication that creates a space for expression and creation. It marked a powerful evolution of her public image mixed with a blending introspection, fashion-forward styling, and a celebration of her artistic maturity.

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“I Like Who I Am A Lot At This Point”: The Rise And Reign Of Billie Eilish

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Billie Eilish has a lot on the horizon: a European tour, more records to smash, a soaring summer ahead. En route, she contemplates just how far she’s come and what the path ahead might look like for a compassionate, generation-leading, Grammy- and Oscar-collecting superstar.

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With the fusion of Billie's fashion identity and NBA nostalgia the collaboration with Mitchell and Ness for the NBA League Collection was produced. The creation of 17 limited edition hats has touches of retro logos to fit Billie's retro style. A major merge of Billie and her style into a creative project.

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// MELODIC Magazine » Melodic Magazine keeps you up to date on your favorite musicians with interviews, tour dates, live photos, and live show reviews.

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Billie Eilish collabs with Mitchell + Ness for their NBA League Collection » // MELODIC Magazine

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Billie Eilish has joined forces with Complex and Fanatics, introducing their Mitchell & Ness x B.E. snapbacks. She is collaborating with the brand on their NBA League Collection. The drop includes a variation of 17 different NBA team hats, all limited edition. The hats remain true to the singer’s style and brand: Y2K-inspired and very

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One of the most anticipated brand collaborations of 2021. Billie and Nike established a creative relationship to release and Air Jordan and Air Force 1 collection. What sets this apart from other brand collaboration with celebrity figures is that the materials are made purely from vegan and recycled materials - fitting in with Billie's eco-conscious values.

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Shop exclusive music and merch from the Official Billie Eilish Store. Vinyl, hoodies, tees, accessories, and more.

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Billie presents a reinvention of the Horsebit bag 1955 but reimagined through asymetrical designs and sustainable craftsmanship. Again aligning with Billie's economical values the bag persists of vegan, animal free materials.

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Vanity Fair since 2017 have offered longitudinal interviews of Billie as we see her evolving views on fame, identity, mental health and creativity over the years. Going from a small artist to a global sensation the format allows audiences to track her transformation and also gives Billie a space to reflect on her years as a young woman and the transition that comes along with it.

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Billie Eilish: Same Interview, The Eighth Year | Vanity Fair

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A documentary featuring all 16 of Billie's tracks from Happier Than Ever presented in an intimate performance at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. Billie appears both as herself and as an animated alter ego, in which animated Billie wanders through surreal LA landscapes, symbolizing her emotional detachment and public persona as an artist

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Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to LA | Official Trailer | Disney+

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Billie has sustained her identity as a person who vulnerably speaks out about mental health, she uses this within her work that follows themes of depression and it becomes a language within its own songwriting along with subdued performance styles. The emotional transparency she gives her supporters is portrayed throughout her performances which then reflects onto a generation that may also suffer with corresponding issues.

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Clear prior granting of permission for release of your information to this service.

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Billie subverts traditional spectacle embracing what could be considered anti-glamour, the over-sized clothes and muted colours. We are able to see Billie as not just a pop star but as a media construct shaped by emotional and strategic confession. Her met gala and award show appearences give audiences a look inot more symbolic statuses that has visual excess and creates a spectacle that is expected of a celebrity.

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Billie has transformed her unique styles several type, often entering a new era of her career this can be applied however the backlash reflected from doing so see the gendered expectation that women in the industry must remain consistent in their public image. Billie subverts this entirely and despite the backlash she uses her aesthetic to navigate the ordinary and blur the line of what is and is not acceptable for a female pop star.

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Today, the widespread scorn and derision directed at celebrities is aimed predominantly at a particular kind of female celebrity. This celebrity is either an ordinary girl whose fame is a result of appearances on reality TV shows, or she is a pop star who has been on a drug- or alcohol-fuelled course of self-destruction. The gendered politics of the treatment of these female celebrities is questionable, and it acts to mask a deeper class prejudice which has resurfaced in recent years in Anglo-American culture. This piece will treat Britney Spears and Kerry Katona as examples of the way the treatment of 'ordinary' and 'car crash' female celebrities serves to highlight a return to open class prejudice that is concealed behind sexism.

The media treatment of Britney Spears is one of the most visible signs of this cultural trend. Globally there has been intense media interest in Spears's breakdown and widespread speculation about the nature of her problems. It is hardly a surprise to note that most of this treatment has been unsympathetic. While her stints in rehabilitation clinics have garnered the usual epithets of a pop star car crash ('toxic singer'), it was the episode of her shaving her head that precipitated a frenzy of media interest: 'Bald and broken' screamed the headline of ABC on-line news, while America's favourite gossip magazine, People, told its readers 'Britney Spears goes bald', recapping a year later with a commentary on Spears' 'Mental meltdowns'.

What emerges from an examination of the coverage of Britney's shaved head is a misogynistic attitude towards the pop star, who is judged by a set of paradoxical female norms that she is seen to be failing. By removing one of the key signifiers of femininity - her hair - Spears is not just failing in her femininity, but also in what Dyer has identified as the central ideological function of the star - the holding together of contradictory social ideals (Dyer , p. 49). Spears's sexualised image - her naughty schoolgirl outfit in her 'Hit me baby' tour of 1998 - and her much-publicised virginity (and her equally publicised loss if it to Justine Timberlake) manage to suture together the 'virgin/whore' dichotomy that has long been at the heart of female fame. Spears' 'erratic' behaviour subsequently revealed, rather than covered, this gendered paradox and made her an easy target for the celebrity-orientated media. While it is true that Spears and her publicity team constructed her dualistic image carefully, it is also the case that female pop stars today are constrained in their image construction by a focus upon their sexuality that is not the case for their male counterparts. Media interest in Britney has certainly focused upon her sexual status; her short-lived marriages, her divorces and her 'out-of-control-lifestyle' are seen to have resulted in the ultimate female crime - bad mothering and the loss of custody of her two sons in September 2007. It is not insignificant that Spears's comeback has been accompanied by widespread comments on her improved mothering. While People reporter Joey Bartolomeo couples female baldness with bad mothering when he tells readers in September 2008 that 'you'd never know it was the same girl who shaved her head and had her kids taken away', a month later People treats readers to the headline 'Britney's boy time with mommy: singer gets into maternal mode with sons Preston and Jaydon as friends say Spears is "getting it together" '.

However, underlying the gendered treatment of Spears is more than a hint of class prejudice and this, too, is a significant trend in contemporary celebrity culture. Spears's southern, blue-collar origins are derided regularly as 'trailer trash', and this reveals that a deeper class chauvinism is in play. On 24 February 2008 the British tabloid News of the World online ran a piece on the top 10 most tasteless and low-class celebrities. It was an all-female list, with Britney Spears coming second. Spears is condemned thus:

One time pop Princess Britney Spears has been called trailer trash - and she's the only American to make it on to our chavs' top table... . Looking this rough she'd be more at home in Croydon, then [ sic] LA.

Yet Spears, despite the waves of condemnation, is still seen to have talent. The tendency to conceal class bigotry behind sexism is even more pronounced in the media treatment of 'talentless' female celebrities who emerge from reality TV. The remaining nine celebrities on this list are all female celebrities who are 'famous for being famous' rather than because they have any special talent or skill, and all are deemed to come from a lower-class background. Number one on the list is Kerry Katona, the first female winner of I'm a celebrity get me out of here in 2004. At the time of her win, Kerry Katona (then Kerry Mcfadden) was heralded as an 'ordinary' girl - an unpretentious working-class girl made good. Four years later she was ridiculed as the News of the World's 'Chav no. 1' accompanied by her picture, topless and flabby on a beach, hunched over burger and chips. The paper provides the reader with a fictional checklist of 'chavdom' to explain Kerry's place at the top:

Boobs out? Check.

Belly hanging over bikini bottoms? Check.

Busy stuffing her face with a burger? Check. (Walford )

The term 'chav' is a relatively new term of abuse in Britain that refers to working-class people who are seen to possess little established 'taste' or culture (not unlike the US term 'trailer trash'). It is a term that connotes 'disgust and contempt' for working-class people in British society (Lockyer 2010, p. 6). The term 'chav' has been used recently to label certain celebrities who are seen to embody a lack of taste and accomplishment, and the 'celebrity chav' in Britain is almost exclusively gendered female. Kerry Katona may top their list, but she is only one of a raft of female celebrities from working-class backgrounds who, having become famous due to media exposure rather than 'talent', have become the widespread objects of derision and scorn.

Leo Braudy points out that the dichotomy between idolisation and denigration of stars has long been with us (1997). However, the gendered and classed derision of the 'ordinary' (female) individual that characterises today's celebrity-bashing points towards a wider return to open class prejudice that may have a new lexicon but which, as Biressi and Nunn have pointed out, comes from a previous era (2008). The United States and Britain share a context for this phenomenon, despite national differences. Both countries have long promoted the myth of 'meritocracy' and this ideology has intensified in recent years. Indeed, this myth sits at the heart of celebrity culture. Both countries are also in the throes of neo-liberal economic policies which are attacking welfare provision, resulting in a staggering reduction in social mobility. In this atmosphere, fewer people are able to 'make it' and the poor are blamed for their poverty. The 'ordinary' celebrity emerges out of this context. The rise of the 'ordinary' celebrity has tapped into narratives about media-driven social mobility for the working class while their ridicule and denigration in the media indicates that they are not really part of the 'meritocracy': their fame is based on luck, not talent, and this figure holds up a mirror to (particularly female) ordinary working-class people which alludes to their place or potential place in public culture. The question remains, then: is the mere fact of visibility of ordinary people in celebrity culture a cause for celebration of the growing democracy of our culture, or is the content of that visibility an important question to which we must attend?

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Female celebrities and the media: the gendered denigration of the 'ordinary' celebrity

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Today, the widespread scorn and derision directed at celebrities is aimed predominantly at a particular kind of female celebrity. This celebrity is either an ordinary girl whose fame is a result of appearances on reality TV shows, or she is a pop star who has been on a drug- or alcohol-fuelled course of self-destruction.