At just 19-years-old, Billie Eilish has already won seven Grammy Awards, a Brit Award, two American Music Awards and the list just keeps on going. She's made Time's Time 100 Next list, released multiple chart-topping hits, and an Apple TV+ documentary. Despite her massive success, Eilish is still a teenage girl. And just like most kids her age, she struggles to navigate mean comments left on her social media posts.

While chatting with the LA Times, Eilish revealed she's recently stopped reading the comments on her Instagram account altogether. “Because otherwise I will spiral out, and s—’s mean as f—. There are some people, like my brother, who can get a text from someone he doesn’t like and delete it immediately. He won’t even read it. I can’t do that. If Satan himself texted me, I’d be, like, ‘What did he say?’" she told the mag.

“I want to hear what people have to say, and also, because I’ve grown up on the internet, I mostly agree with a lot of what the internet says," Eilish continued. "Some of the things that they make fun of people for are funny because they’re kinda true, right? Which then worries me because I’m like, ‘Oh, God, are the mean things [about me] actually true? And what are they?’ I want to know them! But I don’t want to know them, because what is that going to do for me? Nothing.”

As somebody who grew up online, a true digital native, Eilish is acutely aware of the many hypocrisies that exist on social media apps like Instagram, especially for young women. Having been launched into the public eye at just 15-years old, Eilish has had to navigate growing up in front of a global audience. Often, that global audience offers unsolicited commentary on subjects that would normally be off-limits, including the way her body looks. Eilish recalled sharing a photo of herself in a swimsuit following her eighteenth birthday. "And because you could see my shoulders, everyone was, like, ‘Oh, my God, she turned 18 and she’s a slut!’” she recalled.

"Every girl wants to feel desirable," Eilish continued. "But then there’s a whole world of men who argue that women say, ‘Oh, I don’t want men to sexualize me’ but then wear shirts that show their boobs and sing songs about having sex.’ I’m like, do you not get the idea that we want to wear what we feel good in but we don’t want you to jump in? It’s very dumb.”

Anne Hudson

About Anne Hudson