Billie Eilish has been making music ever since she was a preteen. But in recent years, the singer has gone from an underground alt-pop fave to one of the most popular musicians in the world. Her transition to bona fide pop star has been documented in her music and documentaries. But nothing shows her growth more than her yearly interview with Vanity Fair, where the singer answers the same exact questions. This year marks her fifth year doing the same annual interview, where she discusses a previous identity crisis and reflects on her career successes.
Now with platinum blonde hair, Eilish sat down to answer questions about her social media following (she now has upwards of 94 million Instagram followers) and things that are most important to her. After watching a clip of her talk about being recognized in public in 2020, Eilish says she was going through a major identity crisis at the time. “Gosh, that girl was going through an identity crisis, oh my gosh. You can see it in my eyes, I mean really. The low bun!? Please.”
Eilish then opened up about how she navigates her massive fame while going out in public:
“My attitude used to be, ‘Well I can’t go out. I can’t go here, I can’t go there.’ I used to just not even be able to go to a park or get food or get coffee. It freaked me out. In the last year, I have been opened up to it. I really feel grateful for that because being able to feel confident in stepping outside without a hat and a good and glasses and a mask and a jacket, it’s so much better. And you don’t have to live like that. […] If I’m being cautious and not trying to be in everybody’s faces, I can manage my way around people without them noticing. I didn’t used to be able to do that because my pride was too huge. I was like, I only want to be seen if I look like myself so I would never wear anything normal.”
Watch her same interview with Vanity Fair for the fifth year above.