The Environmental Activism of Billie Eilish

Billie Eilish is a 21-year-old American musician, who got her start in the industry when she was only 14. While ranked as the 11th most listened to artist on Spotify, Eilish uses her platform to promote awareness of our environmental issues. Throughout her entire career, Eilish has helped with activism through songs, fashion, and interviews. She is bringing these issues to forms of media where the general public will hear about them. Two specific examples of her activism can be found in her song “all the good girls go to hell”, and in her 2021 Met Gala look. Eilish has inspired her audience to go out and make change with her music.

In 2019, Eilish released her song “all the good girls go to hell”. In her pre-chorus she writes:

“Hills burn in California

My turn to ignore ya

Don’t say I didn’t warn ya”.

Eilish repeats these lyrics later in the song, emphasizing her point. Later, in verse 2, Eilish also writes:

”Man is such a fool, why are we saving him?

Poisoning themselves now

Begging for our help, wow.”

In 2021, Billie Eilish attended the Met Gala in an outfit designed by Oscar de La Renta.

In her song “all the good girls go to hell”, Eilish is calling society out on its ignorance of our environmental problems, specifically climate change. She explains how mankind knows that these problems exist, but instead of doing anything to evoke change, they instead ignore the problems and wait for someone else to come save them. In many cases, they even make the problems worse. Meanwhile, in 2021, Eilish used her status to perform another act of activism; this time through fashion. She brought awareness to animal cruelty through her Met Gala look. She would only wear her gown designed by Oscar de La Renta if his team stopped using fur. Furthermore, she did not hide this ultimatum from the public; instead, she made sure people knew.

In “all the good girls go to hell”, Eilish is specifically commenting on the wildfires that occurred in California, and how it became something people who live in the area adjusted to as their new normal. The wildfires in California have been an issue for years, and only continue to grow worse as the years go on. Many people have had to evacuate and lose their homes as a result of these disasters that will only worsen with rising temperatures in our environment. This is a problem that Eilish has faced herself, as she grew up in California. Eilish is using her popularity and songs in the mainstream to call those listening to realize how bad our environment is becoming. In her 2021 Met Gala look, Eilish brought awareness to one of the most relevant environmental issues in fashion. Animal cruelty is a problem throughout many industries, but especially the fashion industry. Many designers will use animal furs to create articles of clothing such as coats, or use animals to test products. By harming these animals, we are also harming the environments surrounding them. Animals are an extremely important part of our environment, and humans should not be killing them for material things. By then showcasing her gown at one of the biggest events of the year, and letting those watching know about the conditions under which she is wearing it, Eilish is also bringing the practices of animal cruelty in the fashion industry to light and helping end them.

Billie Eilish is doing what many artists of her popularity fail to do: bringing awareness to the problems in our environment through her forms of media. With each form of media, Eilish is touching on different issues, such as climate change and animal cruelty. While not all of her music is strictly environmental, Eilish is still taking the time to put these aspects into some of her songs to make a statement. In doing this, she gains a bigger audience and more people will hear her message. She has taken her rise to fame to call those listening to her music out; to try to invoke change in how her audience, and the general public, act within their own environments. Eilish’s target audience is teenagers, who simply enjoy her as a musician. However, by using her platform to address the issues in our environment, she is inspiring rising generations to help make a difference for our world.

Sources:

https://genius.com/Billie-eilish-all-the-good-girls-go-to-hell-lyrics