Published at 1:18 am. Updated at 8:30 a.m.
Cover girl
COVER OF VARIETY MAGAZINE
Billie Eilish on the cover of Variety
The story begins on November 13th, when Variety magazine published a written interview with Billie Eilish, the issue's cover girl. In response to a question, Billie Eilish spontaneously speaks about her attraction to women. The topic makes sense: Variety just honored the Bad Guy singer as part of its “Power of Women” event, which celebrates the achievements of women. Billie Eilish explains that for a long time she believed that women didn't like her. “I never really had the feeling that I got along particularly well with girls,” says the 21-year-old. I love her so much. I love them as people. I am attracted to them as a person. I'm really attracted to them. »
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Two weeks later, on December 2, these comments – initially reported without much fanfare – came to light. On the Variety red carpet, Billie Eilish gives a video interview to Tiana DeNicola, a Variety producer who is openly dating a woman herself. He asks her if she still has the impression that women don't like her. “I'm always afraid of them, but I think they're pretty,” Billie Eilish replies, which made the interviewer react. “Billie, did you want to have a say in this story? » “No,” replies the singer. But I said to myself: Wasn't that obvious? I didn't realize that people didn't know that. » She says she doesn't really believe in the concept of coming out. “Why can’t we just exist?” »
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IMAGE FROM BILLIE EILISH'S INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT
Billie Eilish's message to Variety
This interview excerpt is spreading rapidly on social networks. The traditional media picks up the news. And Billie Eilish's sexual orientation is discussed in all forums and causes numerous positive and negative reactions. The artist lost 100,000 followers on Instagram, then 50,000 more, but gained almost as many. Billie Eilish is visibly annoyed by this media hype and publishes an update on Instagram. “Thank you, Variety, for my award and also for putting me on the red carpet at 11 a.m. instead of talking about everything that matters.” “I like boys and girls,” she wrote, urging us , to “leave them alone” about this topic that “doesn’t matter” and listen to their music instead. “Let’s respect his decision to make it a non-event and continue listening to his music,” proclaims Vogue France (after, paradoxically, devoting a long article to the saga).
Reality check
PHOTO MARIO ANZUONI, Portal ARCHIVE
Billie Eilish on the red carpet at Variety magazine's Power of Women event last November
Martin Blais, Research Chair in Sexual Diversity and Gender Plurality, would like to say that this is a non-event. In fact, he would have preferred not to bother with it. The reality, however, is that society has not yet reached the stage where sexual orientation is considered a “non-issue,” he says: the noise surrounding the news and the fluctuation of his followers on Instagram show this clearly. “The idea that it's a non-subject is also the idea that we could just slip into this facet of ourselves without it coming in the form of an admission and a confession,” he explains. For Marie Houzeau, director general of GRIS-Montréal, many people strive for sexual orientation to become a characteristic of a person, like so many others. This vision exists among certain groups of young people, but in her opinion it is still in the minority. “I understand that Billie Eilish was honestly surprised at how big this was, but it's a reality check, probably for her too,” she said.
The importance of models
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, LA PRESSE ARCHIVE
In Osheaga, Montreal, on Saturday, August 5th, in front of thousands of fans
In this story, we can think about the Instagram subscribers who have unsubscribed. To sponsors who may be hesitant to work with Billie Eilish in the future in a divided American society. But we can also think of all the people who feel alone and who have recognized themselves in them, emphasizes Martin Blais. While there is still some price to pay for artists, there is also much to gain. “This representation in the media by popular figures continues to play an extremely important role in the visibility of people, communities, identities,” he says. And even if we strive for it not to become a subject, it is still important to do it. » There are still few models of bisexuality, pansexuality and even lesbian women, emphasizes Marie Houzeau. And that's perhaps why Billie Eilish's comments caused such a stir. “The more this noise is shared, the more it becomes completely normal,” she concludes.