Billie Eilish is not what you think. Except now, she told Stephen Colbert on Tuesday night (May 21). The Late Show, after all he is what he always wanted to be. “I think I Hit with hard and soft it's like the first time since I came of age and maybe ever in my creative life… it's really the most authentic thing I've ever done,” she said of her just-released third studio album.
“I feel very, very me and I feel like all the music is just who I am, all the visuals are just who I am and that's honestly scary and that's why I'm literally shaking right now,” she told Colbert, who responded that exposing yourself like this requires vulnerability and removing the mask from the character you've been created to protect you.
He was asked what he meant in a recent Rolling rock cover in which she said until now that she felt like she was playing a character, Eilish said after releasing her first songs as a “very young” teenager, she felt like the public thought of her as “one thing”, leaving her little space to do whatever other than what people thought it was.
She named her previous album, 2021's Happier than ever, a 'reaction of, 'you can't tell me what to do! I'll do what I want to do and that's it!' And I think I might have gone a little bit… I really wanted to prove something and that's how I think I got this far, but that's what I had to do. I needed to play that whole “I'm not who you think I am” thing. At the time I thought I was very me, and I realized in hindsight that I was just trying to be seen and express myself and show that people can be multi-faceted and I'm one of those people.”
Eilish also noted that she is willing to suffer for her art, describing waking up at 7 a.m. the day after the most recent Grammy Awards and driving to some “random” place in Santa Clarita to spend six hours in a tank of water 10 feet. fully clothed, to shoot the album cover. “Man, I was wearing big, long pants, like giant Pro Club shorts. I was wearing a thermal long sleeve, button up shirt, tie, hoops, arm warmers, bracelet and dumbbell. I had a weight strapped to me,” she said, proudly confirming that it was all her idea.
In another segment, Eilish laughed when Colbert asked about a quote from her 2021 document, The world is a little blurry in which she described her family as “a song” in painting the music of her upbringing. “Man, my family is so musical and we always have been, and we still are,” Eilish said. “I grew up thinking that every family was like that. I thought everyone was singing all the time and playing music with their family.”
When the audience laughed, Eilish turned to them and swore that she actually thought all families were like that. “We are big fans. Our whole family, we are music lovers,” he said. “We love music and I think that's where it all comes from really.” The night before, he noted, the whole family sat around singing and playing guitar while harmonizing with the Beatles. “That's what it's always been and it's so great.”
Colbert also mentioned that Lana Del Rey introduced Eilish at Coachella last month, calling the 22-year-old singer “the voice of our generation. No pressure. How did it feel to be described like that by an artist you admire?' asked.
Eilish said it was “ridiculous,” returning the compliment by calling LDR the voice of her generation, doubling down by saying Del Rey is one of the “top three reasons” she is the person and artist she is, as well as the reason he started doing music. “It was crazy to hear her say that,” Ailis said. “I love her so much.” Then, while pointing out her early musical inspirations — which included the likes of legends Ella Fitzgerald, Chet Baker, Julie London and Johnny Mathis — Colbert asked if Eilish would ever consider recording a standards album, and she lit up with a sly smile.
“Yeah, yeah, I'd like to do that someday,” Ailis said with a happy smile.
When Colbert asked what song she planned to perform that night, Eilish blushed a little, laughed and said she was going to perform “Lunch.” He then closed out the night with brother/producer Finneas and her band, singing a tribute to sapphic love on a dark stage lit by swirling lights while rocking a backwards plaid hat, an oversized baseball jersey and a striped and plaid tie culottes.
Watch Eilish perform “Lunch” and talk about her new album below.
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/music/pop/billie-eilish-performance-lunch-talks-hit-me-hard-and-soft-colbert-1235689713/
