Ever since 2017, Billie Eilish has taken one day each year to sit down with Vanity Fair for a Time Capsule interview, where she talks about her career, her personality, and the changes she has seen over the previous 12 months.
She debuted the new look on a British Vogue cover that showed her dressed as an Old Hollywood pinup, but assured everyone that she hasn’t lost her capacity for taking risks.
For Eilish, the last year’s changes are more than skin-deep.
“My attitude used to be like, ‘I can’t go out, I can’t go here, I can’t go there.’… I wasn’t able to go to a park or go get coffee, It freaked me out.
Behind her new set of bangs, Eilish projects a calm wisdom this time around, implying that Happier Than Ever isn’t just the title of her recent sophomore record.
“This is just me trying to convince myself that I didn’t care.
Now she feels more confident, in part because she’s figured out that it’s okay if some people don’t like her.
“She’s new to this just as I am, meaning fame, and this kind of world, but my mom has a very good way of looking at the world and she is the main person that I go to.
Looking back on the 2020 interview, where she was struggling with the pandemic’s effects on the music industry, she had some sympathy for her former self.
Now that she can perform again, she understands why.
In previous years, she said the technologies that blow her mind were facial recognition, holograms, wireless chargers, and robots, but this year, she had an emphatic message about the innovation she hopes everyone adopts.
In a sarcastic voice, she tries out a bit of persuasion for people on the fence.
In the last year, Billie Eilish scored five Grammys, went multiplatinum eight times, released the new Bond theme, and had to cancel a world tour.
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