Billie Eilish is calling out body-shamers in a new short film called “Not My Responsibility.” The four-minute long film, which can be seen on YouTube, is Eilish’s way of expressing her views on what it means to be a woman with a body in the music industry.
In the video, the 18-year-old Grammy winner is first depicted in her signature baggy clothing. She slowly unzips a first layer—a sweatshirt—to reveal a long sleeved blouse. Then that is removed to show Eilish wearing a black tank top. As Eilish removes the tank top, she sinks into a pool of black water. All throughout the video, a monologue plays as background music—Eilish narrating her thoughts.
“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,” says Eilish in the film.
“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?”
Eilish has spoken out about being objectified and body-shamed in the past. She explained she wears baggy clothing to cover her body. After posting pictures to Instagram of herself wearing a bathing suit while on vacation in Hawaii, Eilish was dismayed that some fans accused her of being slutty for wearing beach-appropriate wear.
“I saw comments like, ‘How dare she talk about not wanting to be sexualized and wear this?!’ ” she told Dazed in April. “It was trending. There were comments like, ‘I don’t like her anymore because as soon as she turns 18 she’s a whore.’ Like, dude. I can’t win.”
The singer apparently mentions this incident in the film, saying, “If I wear what is comfortable, I am not a woman. 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?”
Eilish’s “Where Do We Go?” world tour is currently postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.