Billie Eilish made news in March 2020 when she debuted a head-turning video during a concert, in which she spoke about body shaming and expectations, all while taking off her shirt. A couple months later, she released that video as a short film titled “Not My Responsibility.” When Eilish later shared the tracklist for Happier Than Ever (which is out today), it was revealed that a song called “Not My Responsibility,” presumably derived from the short film of the same name, was included.
Indeed, the album version of the song seems to be mostly the same as the audio from the short film, except for the transition into “OverHeated” that’s tacked onto the end of the album version. The track gets its title from the closing lines: “If I wear more, if I wear less / Who decides what that makes me, what that means? / Is my value based only on your perception? / Or is your opinion of me not my responsibility?”
Listen to “Not My Responsibility” above and find the song’s lyrics below.
“Do you know me?
Really know me?
You have opinions about my opinions
About my music
About my clothes
About my body
Some people hate what I wear
Some people praise it
Some people use it to shame others
Some people use it to shame me
But I feel you watching
Always
And nothing I do goes unseen
So while I feel your stares, your disapproval or your sigh of relief
If I lived by them, I’d never be able to move
Would you like me to be smaller, weaker, softer, taller?
Would you like me to be quiet?
Do my shoulders provoke you? Does my chest?
Am I my stomach? My hips?
The body I was born with
Is it not what you wanted?
If I wear what is comfortable, I am not a woman
If I shed the layers, I’m a slut
Though you’ve never seen my body, you still judge it
And judge me for it
Why?
We make assumptions about people based on their size
We decide who they are
We decide what they’re worth
If I wear more, if I wear less
Who decides what that makes me, what that means?
Is my value based only on your perception?
Or is your opinion of me not my responsibility?”
Happier Than Ever is out now via Darkroom/Interscope. Get it here.