I’m not sure I understand Billie Eilish’s style of feminism, says Finn McRedmond in The Irish Times. For years the 19-year-old singer has worn oversized clothing to obscure her figure. Now she’s on the cover of Vogue, “transformed into full pin-up mode, replete with corsets, stockings, latex gloves and a shock of blond hair straight from Marilyn Monroe’s playbook”. This rebrand, we are told, is an empowering, feminist decision. Really? Ultimately, Eilish is a businesswoman with an album to sell – and, as she knows, the female body is “a powerful marketing tool”.
Who can blame her? It’s not unusual for female singers to rebrand themselves, and nowadays, thanks to the likes of TikTok and Twitter, they have to do it more often than ever. “Social media is eviscerating our attention spans and feeding our calls for pop stars to present new versions of themselves as quickly as possible.” Eilish, and Vogue, assure us it was her decision to shake up her image. Of course it was. In the environment we have created, what choice did she have? Just don’t pretend it has anything to do with feminism.
Read the full article here.