Winner at the 2020 Grammy Awards, Billie Eilish has upended the pop star imagination, shifting attention to environmental problems and the darker sides of Generation Z. We trace her rise in a podcast.
The Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, the Oscars of music, concluded with a success far beyond expectations for young Billie Eilish. Despite a ceremony that began under the shadow of the suspension of president Deborah Dugan and, above all, the shock of the passing of basketball legend Kobe Bryant, the singer took home to a standing ovation the four most coveted awards: best new artist, album of the year (When we fall asleep, where do we go?), song of the year and record of the year for Bad guy. As well as best pop vocal album and two further awards for her brother Finneas, co-writer and producer of her music.
Called to the stage time and again, the pop star kept giving her thanks, surprised, elated and embarrassed at having edged out Ariana Grande and Lizzo for several awards. At just eighteen years old, having turned that age last month, Billie Eilish has become the youngest winner in Grammy history, surpassing Taylor Swift's record. To trace her rise — from the first songs written in her bedroom to her current 50 million followers — we brought together a group of journalists, writers, artists and activists in a podcast produced by Giacomo De Poli, available on Spreaker, Spotify and Apple podcasts.
Listen to "2027.music" on Spreaker.
Although Billie Eilish has been spoken of as a rising star of pop music for some time, it is only in the past year that her name has exploded worldwide. After Greta Thunberg — one of her own heroines, incidentally — she has probably become the most famous teenager on the planet. The daughter of two little-known Hollywood actors, she was born in December 2001 and raised alongside her brother Finneas, four years her senior, with whom she has shared a passion for music since childhood. She began writing songs very early on. At eight she joined the Los Angeles Children's Chorus; at thirteen she uploaded her first track, Ocean eyes, to SoundCloud and, with no record deal behind her, achieved enormous success. It was only the beginning of a dizzying rise.
The first artist born after 2000 to sign a number-one charting song, last year Billie Eilish broke every sales, streaming and download record in the United States with her debut album. She has been called by Dave Grohl "proof that rock isn't dead yet," as well as "innovative and hugely inspiring" by Jack White. Yet the musical dimension is only one part of her fame, even if that fame began with a song.
Having quickly become a cultural phenomenon and been courted by the fashion world, this artist has even managed to turn a colour — lime green — into her trademark. Painted as the voice of Generation Z, she is an unfiltered personality who has learned to live with Tourette syndrome and with generational anxieties, the spectre of depression and suicidal impulses. Vegan and committed to the defence of animal rights, as well as women's rights, Billie fights above all to raise her fans' awareness of the gravely serious climate emergency. And her upcoming world tour will aim to be as eco-friendly as possible, also in view of her participation in the Global citizen festival in September.
Pinning down a small prodigy hidden beneath oversized clothing is no easy task. We tried in this podcast, split into two parts. In the first, music journalist Elia Alovisi analyses Billie Eilish's lyrics and songs, explaining how she managed to establish herself in the pop world through sounds and themes that are usually at odds with pop itself. Billie's look is described as eye-catching, masculine and playful by stylist and fashion consultant Ilaria Norsa, for whom the extra-large garments and layers the singer plays with are a kind of "defence, a way of hiding her figure, her femininity, and avoiding being judged."
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Given Billie Eilish's enormous popularity relative to her young age, journalist Gaia Berruto speaks of social media used by the pop star in a balanced way, often as a springboard for her environmental campaigns — much like Greta Thunberg and Emma Gonzalez. According to Berruto, the three activists use social media with greater maturity than many adults, managing to "exploit them without being exploited by them." The question of "gender" is another recurring theme when discussing Billie and Generation Z. Writer Giulia Blasi offers a reflection on the subject, describing the artist as "a spirit of the times," part of a historic shift that sees the end of gender and sex as we know them.
In the second part of the podcast, Elena Favilli, author of the international bestseller Storie della buonanotte per bambine ribelli, also considers Billie a "rebel girl." Non-conformist and irreverent, the writer sees her as an artist who is revolutionary both in her lyrics and in her aesthetic. "A Lana Del Rey who met Avril Lavigne to become a meme" and "the embodiment of an internet aesthetic." That is how journalist Alice Oliveri sees Billie Eilish, spokesperson for dark themes that resonate deeply with Generation Z. Sofia Pasotto of Fridays for future shares Billie's environmental "battles," praising her courage in putting herself out there. "It's almost an angelic vision in this hell of superficiality dictated by social media and the need to be seen, because she uses her popularity to activate her followers and raise awareness among her audience about issues that are important and difficult to address," says the activist.
For Tommaso Perrone, editor-in-chief of LifeGate, climate change has struggled to make its way into the work of writers and musicians — at least until the arrival of Greta Thunberg. "Eilish, like Thunberg, wants to send messages charged with positive aggression to make everyone understand that we need to act here and now, before it's too late," Perrone argues, citing the video All the good girls go to hell. Finally, we discover that Italy's greatest singer of recent years, Elisa, is an admirer of Billie Eilish. "I find her very mature, ready, focused on her artistic mission," says Elisa, who compares her to Alanis Morissette for the different image she projects of herself and of women. She adds, as ingredients in Eilish's success, "the strength to go against the grain and beautiful songs that will stand the test of time."