Billie Eilish's Reactions to the Oscars Are the Best Part of the Night

A meme that will go down in history.

I have at least 10 years on Billie Eilish, and yet the second I heard her sing "Shoulda taken a break/ Not an Oxford comma," I knew that she was my new icon. In the past month alone, Eilish has picked up 10 Grammys, turned the notion of "red carpet style" on its head (and looked great doing it), and, as of today, given me a gift that I shall be using in all my texts going forward: Her brilliant, brutal reactions to various celebrity presentations at the Oscars.

Believe me, I get it. When you're 17 and effortlessly cool, there are many, many things that grown-ups do that are painfully uncool (I mean, I was not a cool 17-year-old, and even I was regularly mortified by what my dad considered a joke). So when Kristen Wiig and Maya Rudolph performed an SNL-esque skit that saw the duo pretending to be mad, then not actually being mad, then pretending to be angry instead—I won't lie, I didn't quite get it either—Eilish was like, what?

An hour or so later, Eminem took to the stage for a surprise performance of "Lose Yourself," the classic song from his 2002 film 8 Mile. It was pretty confusing, largely because "Lose Yourself" is 18 years old, and Eminem just released a new album, so why did he pick that one? Don't get me wrong, I like "Lose Yourself," but I was confused, and so was Billie Eilish, who was...a one-year-old human when "Lose Yourself" came out.

In other news, I will now be responding to all my forthcoming messages using this meme. Am I free tonight?

Billie Eilish with a puzzled expression.

(Image credit: ABC)

What do I want for dinner?

Billie Eilish looking confused.

(Image credit: ABC)

Can I pick up some milk on the way home?

Billie Eilish looks like she can't believe what she's seeing.

(Image credit: ABC)

May we all endeavor to be as cool as Billie when we are twice her age, which for me is...coming up alarmingly quickly!

Billie Eilish looks incredulous.

(Image credit: ABC)

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Four female celebrities on the red carpet at the Oscars.

(Image credit: Getty Images)
Jenny Hollander
Digital Director

Jenny is the Digital Director at Marie Claire. A graduate of Leeds University, and a native of London, she moved to New York in 2012 to attend the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She was the first intern at Bustle when it launched in 2013, and spent five years building out its news and politics department. In 2018 she joined Marie Claire, where she held the roles of Deputy Digital Editor and Director of Content Strategy before becoming Digital Director. Working closely with Marie Claire's exceptional editorial, audience, commercial, and e-commerce teams, Jenny oversees the brand's digital arm, with an emphasis on driving readership. When she isn't editing or knee-deep in Google Analytics, you can find Jenny writing about television, celebrities, her lifelong hate of umbrellas, or (most likely) her dog, Captain. In her spare time, she also writes fiction: her first novel, the thriller EVERYONE WHO CAN FORGIVE ME IS DEAD, was published with Minotaur Books (UK) and Little, Brown (US) in February 2024 and became a USA Today bestseller. She has also written extensively about developmental coordination disorder, or dyspraxia, which she was diagnosed with when she was nine. She is currently working on her second novel.