
Celebrity news, beauty, fashion advice, and fascinating features, delivered straight to your inbox!
Thank you for signing up to Marie Claire. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
Los Angeles native Billie Eilish might be the world’s busiest 17-year-old: She’s a moody singer-songwriter with an angelic voice, a newly signed model with a major contract, and an artsy upstart with a reputation for making music videos that go mega-viral. She’s also an influencer in the least cringey sense of the word, with seven million Instagram followers and an obsessively supportive fan base that’s been with her since she burst onto the music scene with the surprise 2016 hit “Ocean Eyes.” And with her first full-length album slated for this spring, there’s a good chance she’ll be a household name in a matter of months—or at least in the households that haven’t already been introduced by the legions of existing Eilish proselytizers.
Eilish performs at the Deck the Hall Ball, December 2018.
Despite her prodigy status, Eilish seems intent on redrawing whatever image the “pop star” label usually conjures. She remembers what it was like to adore bigger-than-God pop stars desperately and from afar, but Gen Z doesn’t really work that way anymore. “I grew up being such a fan of so many people, and I never got any sort of connection with them,” Eilish says. As a tween in the mid-aughts, her first true love was, naturally, Justin Bieber. “It wasn’t like I was just a fan, man,” she says with a laugh. “I’ve been in love before, and it was with him.” Bieber was one of the biggest pop stars in the world at the time, and Eilish distinctly remembers crying to her 12-year-old self, thinking he’d never know who she was (a scenario that’s less and less likely the longer she makes music).
Fame is horrible. It’s worth it because it lets me play shows and meet people, but fame itself is fuckin’ dreadful.
And yet, that experience as a fan deeply informs her approach to fame now that she’s the one in the spotlight. It’s why she wants to stay so accessible to her own fan base, no matter how big she gets. “I feel like mainly what I’m trying to do is be the artist that I never got,” she says. Her social-media dominance has helped, of course. “I have certain days when I say, ‘OK, I’m just going to DM a bunch of different fan accounts or kids that I know genuinely care about the art and the idea of it,’” she says. “All of the shit in this whole whatever-I’m-doing—none of it matters except for when I get to share it with those people.”
Just because Eilish is shirking the typical pop-star aloofness, though, doesn’t mean she’s totally dodged the less savory trappings of celebrity. She’s still not used to having to be “on” all the time, she laments, especially when she feels self-conscious or exhausted from her constant tour schedule. “Fame is horrible,” she says dryly. “It’s worth it because it lets me play shows and meet people, but fame itself is fuckin’ dreadful.”
Eilish greets fans at 2018’s Bonnaroo festival.
Still, the ability to draw a crowd that can drive her crazy has also gotten her some pretty massive opportunities. Her song “Lovely,” a collaboration with buzzy singer-songwriter Khalid, has millions of views on YouTube, she sat front row at the Calvin Klein show during New York Fashion Week, she’s toured with Florence and the Machine, and next month she’ll wrap up a headlining world tour that’s lasted the better part of a year.
So with all her newfound notoriety, is there anyone she’s dying to work with? “Tyler, the Creator,” she says immediately. “To make anything with him, to work with him on any level, would just be insane.” The same goes for Childish Gambino, she says—another highly visual musicmaker. As for Justin Bieber? “I don’t even want to meet him,” says Eilish. “I don’t want to cry in front of him.”
This story originally appeared in the February 2019 issue of Marie Claire.
Marie Claire Newsletter
Celebrity news, beauty, fashion advice, and fascinating features, delivered straight to your inbox!
Cady Drell is a writer, editor, researcher and pet enthusiast from Brooklyn.
-
Princess Charlotte Can Do This Difficult Skill, Just Like Her Mom Princess Kate—But Kate Admits Charlotte is Better at It
“I’ll have to keep practicing now.”
By Rachel Burchfield
-
Pete Davidson’s Latest Romance Appears to Be with Madelyn Cline of ‘Outer Banks’ Fame
Both went through breakups this summer.
By Rachel Burchfield
-
Selena Gomez Roasts Herself in TikTok Video: “Guess Who Has a Boyfriend? Not Me, Bi—”
She has been embracing her single status as of late.
By Rachel Burchfield
-
Pink Calls Gwen Stefani "The Coolest, Kindest" After Their Joint Concert Appearance
A mid '00s dream.
By Iris Goldsztajn
-
Harry Styles Stopped His Concert So a Pregnant Fan Could Go for a Pee and "Not Miss a Thing"
I'm DYING.
By Iris Goldsztajn
-
Miley Cyrus Heartbreakingly Admits That She Carried "Guilt and Shame" After Her 2013 Twerking Controversy
She's let those feelings go now.
By Iris Goldsztajn
-
Miley Cyrus' Song 'Flowers' Was Originally Going to Have VERY Different Lyrics, She Reveals in 'British Vogue' Interview
This is unexpected.
By Iris Goldsztajn
-
Miley Cyrus' New Song Is Packed With References to Ex Liam Hemsworth, And People Are Obsessed With Her "Queen Behavior"
Exhibit A: She released it on his birthday.
By Iris Goldsztajn
-
Sarah Hyland and Adam Devine Play 'How Well Do You Know Your Co-Star?'
The 'Modern Family' stars reunited for the 'Pitch Perfect' spinoff series.
By Brooke Knappenberger
-
Taylor Swift Fans Have Big Feelings About Ticketmaster Crashing Due to "Historically Unprecedented Demand"
There was heartbreak.
By Iris Goldsztajn
-
Taylor Swift Beat the *Actual* Beatles With Her New Billboard Chart Rankings
I am shaken to the very core.
By Iris Goldsztajn