Billie Elish strips down to her bra as she hits out at body shamers: 'If I shed the layers, I’m a slut'
If you needed further proof that Billie Eilish is a young, sensitive artiste who doesn't take any criticism lying down, look no further. The 18-year-old Grammy award-winner recently issued a special shout-out to her critics during the start of her latest Where Do We Go? World Tour in Miami, on March 9.
In a taped segment that was broadcast on a big screen for members of her audience, Eilish can be seen shedding layers of clothing while addressing the narrow-minded body-shamers who have targeted and judged her in the past.
The two-minute visual made an appearance towards the end of her 22-song setlist, immediately before the track 'All The Good Girls Go To Hell' started. In the video, Eilish started stripping off her clothes until she was left only wearing a bra, before symbolically sinking under the surface of a murky black pool. She then issued a moving, poetic rant against her fiercest critics with an equally fiery message of her own.
"Do you really know me? You have opinions about my opinions, 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." It was a clear case of "damned if I do, damned if I don't," and Eilish had had enough of it. She'd even famously started wearing baggy clothes in the past due to people objectifying her, and claimed she wanted to be judged based on her artistic merit alone. Her rant continued...
"So while I feel your stares, your disapproval or your sighs of relief, if I lived by them, I’d never be able to move. Would you like me to be smaller? Weaker? Softer? Taller? Would you like me to be quiet? Do my shoulders provoke you? Does my chest? Am I my stomach? My hips? The body I was born with, is it not what you wanted? If what I wear is comfortable, I am not a woman. If I shed the layers, I am a slut." This was a clear case of calling out the haters - the people who tend to criticize pop stars who wear revealing outfits.
Eilish then made a powerful social commentary on the state of today's misogynistic society: "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. We decide who they are. We decide what they’re worth. If I wear more, if I wear less, 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?"
The video was met by thunderous applause and Eilish's symbolic baring of her soul will go down in history as one of the most well-articulated statements against body shaming we've seen all year. This girl always speaks her mind and heart out and it's great to see her talking about body image positivity in this manner.