Billie Eilish Apparently Had "No Idea" Who She Was With Blonde Hair

The singer feels much more at home with fluorescent hues.

Billie Eilish
(Image credit: Getty)

While rumor has it that blondes have more fun, Billie Eilish isn't necessarily the biggest fan—when it comes to her personal style, anyway. Although she became one of the biggest stars of the 2023 Barbie resurgence with her song "What Was I Made For," the tune reminds the 21-year-old to run far away from her former hair color.

In an interview for the Los Angeles Times’ Envelope magazine published Tuesday, November 14, Eilish shared that her once-platinum blonde hair felt 'like a costume," and not in a good way. The singer first premiered the look in March 2021, sharing a photo captioned "pinch me" that broke an internet record for quickest Instagram post to reach a million likes. While fans went wild for a bleach-blonde Eilish, her own feelings about the situation were much different.

Billie Eilish

A blonde Billie Eilish in September 2021.

(Image credit: Getty)

“At first it was fun. I was really excited for the blond era—like, Blond Billie is gonna be so cool. But it did not go how I wanted it to go," the Grammy winner said in the article. “I completely had no idea who I was.”

Eilish went on to share that she got "swallowed up into" the aesthetic. Though she felt better after cutting the blonde hair short, dying her hair brown didn't do the trick either. Eventually, she went back to black—the color, often worn alongside a bright hue, that she was first known for—and felt her creative passion restored. That's when she wrote her Barbie track.

These days, Eilish's hair is still dark. She's also back to supplementing her black locks with fluorescent colors (most recently, she's been sporting bright red roots) as she did early in her career. According to the singer, it's easy to correlate certain memories with her hair color from the time.

“2019, that period of my life when I dyed my hair green, I was completely unstoppable,” she shared in her LA Times article. “I felt like I was on the moon."

Sophia Vilensky
Freelance Writer

Sophia Vilensky is a Freelance Beauty Writer at Marie Claire with a beauty, wellness, and entertainment journalism portfolio that includes contributions to Byrdie, Bravo, Teen Vogue, and Us Weekly. Growing up in a family of beauticians—and through her own personal studies—she developed an in-depth understanding of aesthetics, cosmetic product formulation, and beauty treatment development and has also held roles as a senior copywriter, content strategist, and proofreader for top beauty and wellness brands. Even so, you'd be hard pressed to find her with her hair and makeup actually done. Sophia is based in Minneapolis and is a 2019 graduate of the University of Minnesota, where she majored in English and minored in cinema studies. During her time at the university, she was the Arts & Entertainment Editor for the Minnesota Daily, earning the 2019 Editor of the Year award for her work. She connected deeply with the Twin Cities arts scene, collaborating with leading beauty professionals, designers, and artists. Graduating Summa Cum Laude, her thesis—a close-reading of Vanderpump Rules—was featured on NPR. When not immersed in writing or testing new products, Sophia enjoys watching reality TV, reading, and exploring the newest woo-woo wellness trends. Keep up with her on Instagram @sophiavilensky.