Billie Eilish is fighting back against body-shamers who won't stop hating on her fashion choices.
The singer gets real about the pressure to maintain a certain image in a new interview with Dazed magazine, and reveals that she often gets mixed messages about how she "should" dress.
Eilish is known for her bold green hair and oversized clothing, but earlier this year, she shared a rare shot of herself wearing a bathing suit. The short video, filmed from the chest up, was part of a recap of her recent vacation with friends, and many of the singer's Instagram followers left judgmental comments on the post.
"It was trending," she said. "There were comments like, ‘I don't like her any more because as soon as she turns 18 she's a whore.' Like, dude. I can't win. I can-not win."
The Grammy winner also discussed the time she suddenly found herself trending on Twitter after being photographed wearing a tank top.
"I saw comments like, ‘How dare she talk about not wanting to be sexualized and wear this?!'" she said.
When the 18-year-old first broke onto the music scene, her baggy, oversized clothing confused many people. Eilish admits that she has struggled with maintaining a positive body image.
"There was a point last year where I was naked and I didn't recognize my body 'cos I hadn't seen it in a while," she said. "I would see it sometimes and be like, ‘Whose body is that?'"
These days, the hit singer is trying to be a bit kinder to herself. "It's not that I like (my body) now, I just think I'm a bit more OK with it," she said.
As Eilish has become more famous, she's grown to realize that people are closely following her style and often looking for something to critique.
"If I wore a dress to something, I would be hated for it," she said. "People would be like, ‘You've changed, how dare you do what you've always rebelled against?' I'm like, ‘I'm not rebelling against anything, really.' I can't stress it enough. I'm just wearing what I wanna wear. If there's a day when I'm like, ‘You know what, I feel comfortable with my belly right now, and I wanna show my belly,' I should be allowed to do that."
This isn't the first time Eilish has spoken out against body-shaming. Last month, the singer removed her baggy T-shirt at a concert and gave a moving speech about body image: "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. 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."
Wise words, Billie.