Pop phenom Billie Eilish has pushed back against body-shaming and related issues in the past, and during her most recent tour she debuted a moodily-lit short film in which the 18-year-old singer slowly removes her shirt during an emotional monologue addressing perceptions of her.
The film, “Not My Responsibility,” wasn’t publicly available till now. It’s brilliantly made in that it confronts others’ opinions head on both visually and in words.
Watch the video above, and read the full transcript of her compelling voiceover below.
You have opinions
about my opinions,
about my music,
about my clothes,
about my body.
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
always
and nothing I do goes unseen.
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.
Would you like me to be smaller?
Weaker?
Softer?
Taller?
Would you like me to be quiet?
Do my shoulders provoke you?
Does my chest?
Am I my stomach?
My hips?
The body I was born with,
is it not what you wanted?
If I wear what is comfortable,
I am not a woman.
If I shed the layers,
I’m a slut.
Though you’ve never seen my body,
you still judge it
and judge me for it.
Why?
We make assumptions about people
based on their size.
We decide who they are,
we decide what they’re worth.
If I wear more,
If I wear less,
who decides what that makes me?
What that means?
If my value based only on your perception?
Or is your opinion of me
not my responsibility?
Eilish has been busy during the COVID-19 Pandemic, even while riding it out self-isolating at home in California. She’s performed in the Living Room Concert for America, and the Together at Home concert series, events intended to raise money to go toward fighting the deadly pathogen.
Her song “No Time To Die” will be the featured title track in the 25th James Bond film of the same title when the movie makes its coronavirus-delayed premiere on November 25, 2020.