Billie Eilish Removes Shirt In Concert Video To Make Body-Shaming Statement

Billie Eilish is known for her signature style of dressing in baggy clothes, but now she has removed her shirt in a short film, in which she criticises the toxic culture of body-shaming.

The 18-year-old has had a huge 2020 so far, winning five Grammy Awards, a BRIT Award and releasing well-received Bond song 'No Time To Die'.

However, the ever-growing spotlight on her brings pressure with it, and the singer has taken aim at those who judge her body and how she dresses in a video which she debuted at a concert in Miami last night (Monday 9 March).

In the video, she can be seen slowly unzipping her top while her voice-over says: "I feel your stares, your disapproval."

She then proceeds to remove her top as the voice-over outlines the impossibility of pleasing everyone as a young female artist, the crowd screaming all the while.

She says: "If I wear what is comfortable, I am not a woman. If I shed the layers, I'm a slut."

PA

The full text of her monologue reads as follows:

"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.
So while I feel your stares,
your disapproval,
or your sigh 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?"

It continued:

"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?
We 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?
If my value is based only on your,
perception?
Or is your opinion of me,
not my responsibility?"

The two-minute video was played towards the end of Eilish's 22-song set, immediately before the song 'All The Good Girls Go To Hell'.

The gig was the first of her world tour, which will come to Europe in July - coronavirus permitting - and she will play UK shows in Manchester, Birmingham and London.

Topics: Billie Eilish, Music, US Entertainment

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey