If you reduce Billie Eilish to a sexual object, she will drag you to the bottom of the ocean.
That’s the message the artist projects in a new video interlude, which sees the 18-year-old attack rampant sexism and body shaming while sinking in a pool of pitch-black water.
The clip, which aired at the Miami, Florida leg of her Where Do We Go? World Tour, features the Grammy Award-winning artist address some of the worst commentary she’s faced in her extraordinary career.
“You have opinions about my opinions,” Eilish says.
“About my music, about my clothes, about my body. Some people hate what I wear, some people praise it. Some people use it to shame others, some people use it to shame me. But I feel you watching, always. And nothing I do goes unseen.”
The clip sees Eilish undress while savaging the attention directed at her body.
“If I wear what is comfortable, I am not a woman,” Eilish says.
“If I shed the layers, I’m a slut. Though you’ve never seen my body, you still judge it, and judge me for it. Why?”
The interlude closes with Eilish rising from the depths.
“Is my value based only on your perception? Or is your opinion of me not my responsibility?”
It’s an arresting statement of personal agency and ownership, which defies the expectations traditionally placed on young, female pop stars.
As the predictably excellent Laura Snapes writes for The Guardian, the video targets the notion that “Until she offers up her prime commodity as a young female pop star, it will never be enough.”
You can watch a fan-shot clip of the video below.
