Last year, a picture of her off-duty in a tank top (it was 34°C outside) rather than one of her usual baggy fits went viral. “I saw comments like, ‘How dare she talk about not wanting to be sexualised and wear this?!’” she says, shaking her head. At the start of this year, she posted a video of herself – or, more accurately, her head and shoulders – in a bathing suit while on holiday with friends. It was, especially if you compare it to the social media posts of other famous 18-year-olds, tame. “It was trending. 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.”
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Since then, says Eilish, her self-image has improved somewhat: “It’s not that I like (my body) now, I just think I’m a bit more OK with it.” That said, the singer is hyper-aware that any change in her signature look would come with its own backlash. Before it was postponed, her new tour visuals included a film where she sheds layers while opining on her body, clothes and the judgment of others. “If I wore a dress to something, I would be hated for it,” she says on set today. “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.”