"Alright, Billies... we're gonna do something new!"
November 28, 2022 6:14 PM Subscribe
For six years in a row, Billie Eilish has sat down with interviewers from Vanity Fair on the same calendar day in October to answer questions about her career, her life, and her state of mind, reflecting on an eventful 12 months of pop stardom and media scrutiny. (single link YouTube)
Thank you for this. The last 30 sec brought tears to my eyes and I needed that. ❤️
posted by photoslob at 7:29 PM on November 28, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by photoslob at 7:29 PM on November 28, 2022 [4 favorites]
Fantastic. As a parent of homeschooled adult children I can relate to her mom.
posted by salishsea at 10:49 PM on November 28, 2022
posted by salishsea at 10:49 PM on November 28, 2022
Get yourself someone who looks at you like 20 y.o. Biilie Eilish looks at 15 y.o. Billie Eilish.
Seriously, though, the sometimes-slightly-embarrassed but also totally loving and indulgent and understanding way she looks at the younger versions of herself is something we should all strive for. I'm twice her age and I'm still working on it.
posted by cilantro at 3:18 AM on November 29, 2022 [11 favorites]
Seriously, though, the sometimes-slightly-embarrassed but also totally loving and indulgent and understanding way she looks at the younger versions of herself is something we should all strive for. I'm twice her age and I'm still working on it.
posted by cilantro at 3:18 AM on November 29, 2022 [11 favorites]
As an old who has never intentionally heard her music, and who is watching her for the first time, it is still interesting just as a "seven up" type experiment. Wow what an achiever, and seems fairly happy and OK with all the $$$ and fame.
posted by Meatbomb at 5:52 AM on November 29, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by Meatbomb at 5:52 AM on November 29, 2022 [4 favorites]
As an old who has never intentionally heard her music, and who is watching her for the first time...
As an old who does intentionally hear her music (and really like her work) I found this pretty fascinating. The 2022 Billie seems so centered and in-touch with herself, as compared to the other Billies who were quite obviously searching and, as she says, playing “Billie Eilish”.
I hesitate to say the 2022 Billie is “mature” because that word comes with a bunch of judgmental baggage, as if the other Billies weren’t “mature” in their own idiosyncratic ways. Just that this Billie seems to know who she is and is very comfortable with that person. That’s pretty cool, really.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:31 AM on November 29, 2022 [3 favorites]
As an old who does intentionally hear her music (and really like her work) I found this pretty fascinating. The 2022 Billie seems so centered and in-touch with herself, as compared to the other Billies who were quite obviously searching and, as she says, playing “Billie Eilish”.
I hesitate to say the 2022 Billie is “mature” because that word comes with a bunch of judgmental baggage, as if the other Billies weren’t “mature” in their own idiosyncratic ways. Just that this Billie seems to know who she is and is very comfortable with that person. That’s pretty cool, really.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:31 AM on November 29, 2022 [3 favorites]
As an old who was raised by fundies I am generally against homeschooling because I have seen it fuck up a lot of innocent kids - several of whom were family - but I have to admit that:
1) she and her brother are probably the two most talented musicians to debut in the past decade, creating (as opposed to just buying) killer tracks at an incredible rate, and
2) from this interview whatever kind of homeschooling her mom was doing clearly produced absolutely amazing and assumption-breakingly healthy results.
Billie and Finneas are the real fucking deal, no matter how old, jaded and get-off-my-lawn you may be.
posted by Ryvar at 8:02 AM on November 29, 2022 [4 favorites]
1) she and her brother are probably the two most talented musicians to debut in the past decade, creating (as opposed to just buying) killer tracks at an incredible rate, and
2) from this interview whatever kind of homeschooling her mom was doing clearly produced absolutely amazing and assumption-breakingly healthy results.
Billie and Finneas are the real fucking deal, no matter how old, jaded and get-off-my-lawn you may be.
posted by Ryvar at 8:02 AM on November 29, 2022 [4 favorites]
Man I love this series. It's so fascinating to see a young woman getting to not only think and talk about herself but to watch her own progress over the years and react to that. And it is incredibly impressive that she seems to have made it through a famous adolescence and still be reasonably grounded. I like her music quite well but honestly this interview series might be my favorite thing she's done.
posted by restless_nomad at 8:37 AM on November 29, 2022
posted by restless_nomad at 8:37 AM on November 29, 2022
She is just so charming. Growing up in the public eye would be a tough gig, and she is so thoughtful and introspective. There is something to be said about how she has changed her style to something that is more traditionally female presenting, which I recall a vanity fair cover story had a significant role in. Which I expect she will address in some future version of this.
perhaps its entirely in my head, but the change I mostly see is young person who came of age during Covid.
posted by zenon at 8:50 AM on November 29, 2022
perhaps its entirely in my head, but the change I mostly see is young person who came of age during Covid.
posted by zenon at 8:50 AM on November 29, 2022
This was [indistinct] great.
posted by joannemerriam at 9:32 AM on November 29, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by joannemerriam at 9:32 AM on November 29, 2022 [3 favorites]
Ryvar: As an old who was raised by fundies I am generally against homeschooling because I have seen it fuck up a lot of innocent kids - several of whom were family
Counterpoint: As an even older who was raised by normal-range middle-class folks who could afford school fees, I am generally against schooling because I have seen it fuck up a lot of innocent kids - one of whom was me. The cohort of our kids' home ed pals, now 20-somethings, are multi-talented, kind, creative, free-thinkers . . . and happy out. A bit like Billie Eilish?
posted by BobTheScientist at 9:37 AM on November 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
Counterpoint: As an even older who was raised by normal-range middle-class folks who could afford school fees, I am generally against schooling because I have seen it fuck up a lot of innocent kids - one of whom was me. The cohort of our kids' home ed pals, now 20-somethings, are multi-talented, kind, creative, free-thinkers . . . and happy out. A bit like Billie Eilish?
posted by BobTheScientist at 9:37 AM on November 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
BobThe Scientist:
I’m like 99% sure we’ve stumbled on a US <> European cultural divide. In the US public school is free, whereas private religious schools charge a fee (usually a few thousand USD per year) if you particularly want your kid to have a Bible class every morning or all science education to be contextualized with “here is what the state is requiring us to teach, and here is what the Bible (as interpreted by the Discovery Institute) reveals of God’s truth.”
Homeschooling is most often - in my experience 90% or more of the time - for people who think that the local private religious schools don’t hate gay people enough, or are simply terrified of their children making friends outside the church / their parents’ control.
It’s probably not that bad in the major cities, but in towns and rural areas homeschooling in the US is a massive, massive red flag. I’m guessing that’s not the case at all in Europe, from your comment.
posted by Ryvar at 10:28 AM on November 29, 2022 [4 favorites]
I’m like 99% sure we’ve stumbled on a US <> European cultural divide. In the US public school is free, whereas private religious schools charge a fee (usually a few thousand USD per year) if you particularly want your kid to have a Bible class every morning or all science education to be contextualized with “here is what the state is requiring us to teach, and here is what the Bible (as interpreted by the Discovery Institute) reveals of God’s truth.”
Homeschooling is most often - in my experience 90% or more of the time - for people who think that the local private religious schools don’t hate gay people enough, or are simply terrified of their children making friends outside the church / their parents’ control.
It’s probably not that bad in the major cities, but in towns and rural areas homeschooling in the US is a massive, massive red flag. I’m guessing that’s not the case at all in Europe, from your comment.
posted by Ryvar at 10:28 AM on November 29, 2022 [4 favorites]
I'm not a fan of Billie Eilish's music (mostly because the music is < 20 years old) but I'm a fan of Billie Eilish.
posted by alex_skazat at 10:29 AM on November 29, 2022
posted by alex_skazat at 10:29 AM on November 29, 2022
Ryvar, your numbers aren't very good and this is dangerous rhetoric. While there's lots of fundie homeschoolers, there's lots of homeschoolers who don't have a choice because the US public school system is being dismantled from every available vector and it stops being an option for many people, especially if your kid is marginalized or vulnerable in any way, or not the kind of learner that schools demand.
So out of kindness to all the people who have had to become homeschoolers to keep their kids safe, and all the people who couldn't return to whatever's on offer after COVID threw everything off, and all the people who are just trying to meet their kids' learning and emotional and need and interests, regardless of the demographics of where they live, let's not brand them with that brush.
Billie Eilish is great, and I actually hadn't listened to her until seeing maybe the second or third of these VF interviews, so I'm delighted she's still game to do them.
posted by Lyn Never at 10:47 AM on November 29, 2022 [5 favorites]
So out of kindness to all the people who have had to become homeschoolers to keep their kids safe, and all the people who couldn't return to whatever's on offer after COVID threw everything off, and all the people who are just trying to meet their kids' learning and emotional and need and interests, regardless of the demographics of where they live, let's not brand them with that brush.
Billie Eilish is great, and I actually hadn't listened to her until seeing maybe the second or third of these VF interviews, so I'm delighted she's still game to do them.
posted by Lyn Never at 10:47 AM on November 29, 2022 [5 favorites]
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