The headlines are all about how Billie Eilish “STRIPPED DOWN TO HER BRA” at her concert in Miami last night. But what the 18-year-old superstar was really doing – despite what the tabloids might tell you – was not about how many items of clothing she was wearing at all.
It was about sending a powerful message to her millions of fans and followers that body-shaming and slut-shaming is not okay and that it’s time we started valuing each other for who we are, not what we look like.
During the show, Billie played a two-minute video interlude addressing the criticism she receives about her own appearance:
“Do you really know me?” she begins.
“You have opinions about my opinions, about my music, about my clothes, about my body” Billie continues. “Some people hate what I wear, some people praise it. Some people use it to shame others, some people use it to shame me.”
She then highlights how ridiculous it is to judge each other based on appearance: “Would you like me to be smaller? Weaker? Softer? Taller? Would you like me to be quiet?” she asks.
“If what I wear is comfortable, I am not a woman. If I shed the layers, I am a slut. Though you’ve never seen my body, you still judge it and judge me for it. Why?”
It all ends with Billie making an empowering point about self-worth and self-value:
“You make assumptions about people based on their size. We decide who they are. We decide what they’re worth….Is my value based only on your perception? Or is your opinion of me not my responsibility?”
And yes, somewhere in there she does shed her signature baggy clothes before sinking under the surface of a black liquid. But the point isn’t that she took off her clothes – it’s that there is more to her than we see. And that there’s more to all of us than society sees. And that we cannot value ourselves or each other based on appearance.
Powerful stuff Billie!