Billie Eilish has shared her thoughts on just about everything in a brand new interview with Rolling Stone.
The recent Grammy and Oscar winner is set to release her new album, Hit Me Hard And Soft, on May 17, and believes it is the best representation yet of her as a person.
“I feel like this album is me. It’s not a character," she explains. "It feels like the When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? version of me. It feels like my youth and who I was as a kid.”
Her brother, co-producer and co-songwriter Finneas believes Hit Me Hard And Soft is their example of “an album-ass album” along the lines of classics such as Coldplay’s Viva La Vida, Lana Del Rey’s Born to Die, and Tyler, the Creator’s Goblin.
"I love being dropped into a universe on a person’s album,” Finneas says, “when you find a whole body of work that you love to listen to, top to bottom. I’m so much happier than when I hear a great song, when you’re like, ‘Oh, wow, I get to cook my whole dinner listening to this album.’”
Eilish also elaborates on her decision not to release any singles from the album, saying, “I don’t like singles from albums. Every single time an artist I love puts out a single without the context of the album, I’m just already prone to hating on it. I really don’t like when things are out of context. This album is like a family: I don’t want one little kid to be in the middle of the room alone.”
Other topics of discussion include her reluctance to go out and have fun, which she has tried to do more of lately, such as attending ceremonies like the Grammys and Oscars.
“I had this moment of like, ‘Oh, my God, I haven’t had fun in seven years.’ Truly," she says. "I had this illusion that I had, because who experiences going to the Grammys at basically 17 and winning five? But in life, I realized I had really not experienced that much. I didn’t go outside for five years. How was I supposed to have any experiences?”
She explains that a lot of her decisions to stay away from the limelight stem from feeling unsafe around other people.
“I’m afraid. For a f**king good reason," she says. "I’m afraid of people, I’m afraid of the world. It’s just scary for somebody like me, and even if it’s not scary, it means being on and being vulnerable and being seen and being filmed and whatever. But with that all in mind, I have been choosing to do the thing that scares me more. I am biting the bullet and existing in the world for once.”
Perhaps the biggest revelation is her openness towards discussing her sexuality. Eilish says she was "outed" during an interview with Variety in December where she was the cover star of its "Power of Women" issue.
But her sexuality is a theme on Hit Me Hard And Soft, in particular one song called "Lunch," which she credits with helping her open up.
“That song was actually part of what helped me become who I am, to be real,” Eilish admits. “I wrote some of it before even doing anything with a girl, and then wrote the rest after. I’ve been in love with girls for my whole life, but I just didn’t understand — until, last year, I realized I wanted my face in a vagina. I was never planning on talking about my sexuality ever, in a million years. It’s really frustrating to me that it came up.”
As far as being outed, Eilish appears to be moving on from the incident.
“Who f**king cares? The whole world suddenly decided who I was, and I didn’t get to say anything or control any of it," she says. "Nobody should be pressured into being one thing or the other, and I think that there’s a lot of wanting labels all over the place. Dude, I’ve known people that don’t know their sexuality, or feel comfortable with it, until they’re in their forties, fifties, sixties. It takes a while to find yourself, and I think it’s really unfair, the way that the internet bullies you into talking about who you are and what you are.”
You can read the full Rolling Stone cover story here.
.@billieeilish Would Like to Reintroduce Herself — And She's Using Rolling Stone's May 2024 cover to do so.
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) April 24, 2024
Before dropping her best album yet, the megastar talks to us about revisiting her past self and rethinking everything.
Cover story/photos: https://t.co/C9wZPMBRlX pic.twitter.com/2mWqhQbclL