Billie Eilish is currently experiencing some frustration with seemingly fickle fans who complain about her style no matter what she does. Recently, the singer has been exploring some more feminine fashion options, including a stunning dress at the 2021 Oscars along with a blonde bob that many did not see coming from the icon who often goes for more counter-culture looks.
Eilish expressed her irritation on a number of Instagram stories in which she pointed out that people never stopped complaining when she dressed in a more masculine manner or wore her hair in bright colors. Now that she’s been trying out looks considered a bit more traditional for her gender, suddenly the fans who had been supporting her by saying she can dress how she wants are the ones who are whining about her style.
“I spent the first 5 years of my career getting absolutely OBLITERATED by you fools for being boyish and dressing how I did & constantly being told Iād be hotter if I acted like a woman,” she wrote, “and now when I feel comfortable enough to wear anything remotely feminine or fitting, I CHANGED and am a sellout… and ‘what happened to her.'”
“I can be BOTH you f—ing bozos,” she concluded. “LET WOMEN EXIST!”
One thing all celebrities must eventually learn is that you can’t please everyone, and a single change to your usual beat will make some people happy and others furious. However, celebrities are indeed human beings, and all of this would be a whole lot easier on them if people didn’t develop weird parasocial connections to them and act as though their personal lives and choices are subject to public whims.
Multiple celebrities have spoke out in recent months on how everyone’s experience online and off is impacted by the widespread habit people have of commenting on other people’s bodies and how those bodies might be decorated by their owners. From Lizzo getting fed up with people trying to tell her to lose weight or stop losing weight and what to wear, to Twilight actor Taylor Lautner getting heat for daring to age, folks across spectra are tired of the appearance police.
Women, of course, get a disproportionate amount of these comments in their faces all the time.
“FUN FACT! Did you know that women are multifaceted!?” Eilish wrote in another Instagram post. “Shocking right? Believe it or not women can be interested in multiple things.”
This isn’t the first time that Eilish has struggled after presenting herself in a different way than what her fans were used to. In a 2021 interview with Elle, she claimed to have lost 100,000 social media followers after a photo shoot that included a shot of her in a corset that showed off her chest, as they are meant to do, even though you’d think the opposite would have happened. According to the singer, the photo simply contradicted an image people had constructed of her in their minds.
“People hold on to these memories and have an attachment. But itās very dehumanizing,” she said. “I lost 100,000 followers, just because of the boobs. People are scared of big boobs.”
The good news is that at least some people are supportive of Eilish’s desire to present herself as she feels like and are praising her for talking back to the weird control freaks out there.
