Billie Eilish is a definitive icon for Gen-Z, but she doesn’t view herself that way. Endearingly, Eilish doesn’t suppress her formative fandoms and never hesitates to hype up her peers. Megan Thee Stallion received some of Eilish’s love this spring, and Rihanna is the subject of her latest declaration. (It’s a good day to be Rihanna — isn’t every day? — as Latto also shouted out RiRi.)
Vogue profiled Eilish around the recent release of her fragrance, Eilish No. 2. The one-time Oscar and seven-time Grammy winner reflected on her evolving style.
“I spent most of my life being very masculine and boyish, and I kind of recently, in the last couple of years, was kind of like, ‘You know what, I’m allowed to be whatever I want to be when I want to be it,’” she told the publication. “I don’t need to always prove to everyone that I’m a tomboy. Like, that is what I am, but I also am this kind of girl. I’m also feminine, and I’m also sexy, and I’m also cute, and I’m also just like, none of the above, and I’m just me.”
Eilish has to deal with what most 21-year-olds don’t: the treacherous illusion that strangers have toward her body, as if they should have a say about her relationship with her own body at all. Writer Calin Van Paris noted that Eilish combats the body shaming and constant public attention with things she likes, such as baths, family, friends, big dogs, phone games, and Rihanna.
“I think that I decided the other day that I think she’s the hottest person to ever exist in the history of the world,” Eilish said of Rihanna.
More vulnerably, Eilish noted, “It’s tough, man. Honestly, nobody can say anything about my body that I don’t have a stronger opinion about […] I also think that if I was younger, like if the internet talked about me the way they do now when I was like 11, I don’t think I would be able to exist, to be honest. … I like myself more than I used to, and I’m more interested in how I feel than how they feel. But then also that might be a load of bullsh*t because it still hurts my feelings like a sonab*tch.”
See more of Eilish with Vogue below.
Megan Thee Stallion is a Warner Music artist Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.