Billie Eilish’s Most Quotable Moments

On social media backlash: “If somebody said something to me in person, I’d beat their ass.”

Billie Eilish has never been one to mince words. Although the young songstress is known for her light, breathy vocals, she is decidedly blunt in conversation. Eilish peppers expletives and slang into every sentence, but through the Gen Z aphorisms, the star touches upon real wisdom beyond her 17 years. We’ve rounded up some of her best quotes from recent interviews, including her newest feature for V’s 20th anniversary issue. 

 

On the wisdom of youth: 

“Teenagers know more about the country that we’re living in now than anybody,” Eilish said in an interview with  NME.“People underestimate the power of a young mind that is new to everything and experiencing for the first time,” she says. “We’re being ignored and it’s so dumb. We know everything.”

 

On feeling things for the first time: 

“When older people say, ‘What do you know about things like love?’, I know more about it than you do because I’m feeling it for the first time right now, whereas you haven’t felt that for a long time. That doesn’t mean it is any less powerful, but it is definitely a different feeling. They’re used to love, heartbreak, pain and just wanting to fucking die, but for a younger person that’s all new to you and it’s terrifying.”

 

On social media backlash: 

“Fuck that shit. I just don’t wanna see all the horrible things people say. I don’t wanna see that I should have died instead of this artist. It takes not looking at my phone to stop myself from engaging. I had to delete Twitter in March because of it. Nobody is going to win. If somebody said something to me in person, I’d beat their ass.”

 

On turning down the 27 Club: 

“I’m never gonna be 27 — that’s too old,” she famously told Rolling Stone

 

On fame: 

“I have this amazing thing in front of me, and I don’t want to hate it. And I don’t hate it. But I hate certain parts of it.”

 

On advice to her future self: 

“Don’t be so sad. It’s such a waste of time,”  she said in an interview with Vanity Fair, on what she would tell herself in year.

 

On advice to her past self:

“Don’t post everything you think,” Eilish responded to herself a year later. 

 

On connecting with fans: 

“You can do a show that’s a thousand people and maybe you don’t enjoy it as much as a little tiny room with like 400 people where the energy is through the roof,” she told Pharrell. It’s really not about the quantity or the quality of stuff—it’s more just the energy in the room and the actual connection there.

 

On nightmares:

“Instead of letting myself suffer in it, I was like, “You know what, I’m going to take this shit and I am going to turn it into art,” and I literally did. I made a whole album out of it and I made a video. I made an experience and exhibit about it. The thing is, my dreams haven’t changed. If anything it made it worse, because I kind of spooked myself. Like I kind of creeped myself out because, after we shot the “Bury A Friend” video, which is very kind of horror movie-esque, I started having these horrible nightmares. I saw [things] outside my window and I couldn’t sleep for days. I may have sabotaged myself but at least I made a fucking work of art out of it.”

 

On slut-shaming:

“I have always supported and fucked with and just loved when a woman or a man or anyone in the world feels comfortable in their skin, their body, to show just whatever they want. I don’t like that there’s this weird new world of supporting me by shaming people that [may not] want to [dress like me].”

 

Read the second half of Billie Eilish’s interview with Pharrell here

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