At the age of 20, Billie Eilish – owner of many Grammy awards – is not only a special musical talent but also considered a symbol of Generation Z (those born in 1997 to 2012).
‘Happier Than Ever’ by Billie Eilish: Happiness on a different path
Billie Eilish just earned her second No.1 on the Billboard 200 as her latest release, “Happier Than Ever,” debuted at the top with 238,000 equivalent album units in the US in the week ending August 5 , according to MRC Data.
Earlier this month, Eilish kicked off a world tour titled Happier Than Ever , named after the chart-topping album of 2021. So what makes her so special?
Conquer the world in your own ways
While still a teenager, Eilish became a pop culture icon as her albums sold hundreds of millions of copies. Worth mentioning, the most recently released album – Happier Than Ever – topped the Billboard chart after being released in July 2021 and set a new standard for prospective pop artists. Not only her music but also her fashion and personality have made a lasting impact on young people. Eilish is conquering the world in her own ways.
Billie Eilish
In music, Eilish also has thoughts that can be said to be “ahead of her time.” Music has traditionally been categorized by genre, but now streaming services like Spotify organize their music by mood in self-curated playlists. And that’s how Eilish once saw it in an interview with German magazine Der Spiege .
This young female singer often combines pop, trap, emo, alternative and Brazilian rhythms like in the song Billie Bossa Nova . However, listeners have always recognized Eilish’s sound for her signature whispery vocals and melancholy lyrics that her large fan base can always relate to.
Besides expressing novelty in music, Eilish often speaks out against the act of “body shaming” (mocking someone’s appearance). As a teenager, her baggy clothes became a world fashion trend. Then, in 2021, Eilish experimented with her look, appearing on the cover of Vogue in an Alexander McQueen corset. “My body was the initial reason why I suffered from depression at a young age,” Eilish shared with Vogue.
Billie Eillish on her Happier Than Ever tour
Previously, the female singer became the target of malicious comments online criticizing her body. In response, Eilish posted a video titled “Not My Responsibility” on YouTube . In this video, she strips down and criticizes strangers – mostly men – for judging her body without asking: “Even though you’ve never seen my body, you’re still judging it and rate me. Why can people use their own size to judge others?
Not only does she protect and speak up about things that concern herself, Eilish also clearly shows her spirit of protecting animals, especially with her fashion products. Eilish is a vegan so she is committed to protecting animal rights and launched a vegan Air Jordan shoe collection with Nike in 2021. Eilish’s own perfume is also for vegans. At the Met Gala in September 2021, she wore a gorgeous dress by designer brand Oscar de la Renta, but in return, the brand had to remove animal hair from its products.
Artists associated with many “bests”
At the 2020 Grammy Awards, Eilish became the youngest winner in all major categories, including Best New Artist and Song of the Year with Bad Guy. She was also awarded Album of the Year for her debut – When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?.
She is the first person to achieve this achievement by winning “4 major awards” in one year. This achievement once belonged to American singer-songwriter Christopher Cross in 1981. However, Eilish is the youngest person to win the Album of the Year award.
Eilish is also a pioneer in demonstrating how to become famous through the Internet. In 2015, the girl, who was not yet 14 years old, uploaded her song Ocean Eyes to the online music service Soundcloud – initially a song for dance practice. But by then the song had been shared millions of times. This brought Eilish to the attention of Interscope Records, who signed her and her brother Finneas.
Finneas O’Connor (24 years old) is not only Eilish’s brother but also a producer and co-writer of her songs. Her brothers grew up in Los Angeles in a family of artists. They produced their first songs, including Ocean Eyes, together in the bedroom.
Eilish achieved a milestone when she was the youngest artist ever commissioned to compose the theme song for the James Bond film – No Time To Die . And yet, Eilish’s song Bored was included on the soundtrack of the teen drama Dead Girls Don’t Lie , while the track Lo Vas a Olvidar which she recorded with Spanish singer Rosalia became a hit. soundtrack of the hit HBO series Euphoria .
Taking advantage of influence on Instagram
Eilish currently has about 100 million followers on Instagram . She uses this influence to address issues that are important to her. When African American George Floyd was murdered by police in 2020, she posted with the keyword “#blacklivesmatter” to call on people to address the issue of racism and white privilege. She also shared on Instagram a link to the documentary They’re Trying To Kill Us, which she co-produced.
In 2018, the singer shared on Instagram that she had Tourette syndrome (a nervous system disorder) after her videos were compiled and uploaded to YouTube. In a 2019 interview with famous TV host Ellen DeGeneres, she said: “It’s a disease that I’ve lived with my whole life.” Eilish said that when she went public with her diagnosis, she realized that many of her fans were also living with Tourette syndrome and through that they forged a connection.
Eilish has always publicly committed to protecting the environment. She performed at the Global Citizen Live concert series in September 2021 to raise money for the fight against climate change, poverty and the consequences of the pandemic. She also addresses the climate crisis in her songs, like the MV All The Good Girls Go To Hell.
