Billie Eilish Debuts Stunning New Short Haircut
Unconventional teen pop sensation Billie Eilish has already cycled through several striking hairstyles since becoming famous. Whether she’s rocking black hair with acid green roots or vibrant blue tresses, colorful hair has been one of her trademarks.
The singer and songwriter recently shared photos of her new chop, a gorgeous, shaggy bob, on her Instagram. How does Eilish feel about her new short hair, and what does her change in style mean?
Billie Eilish already changed her hair for “Happier Than Ever”
Eilish fans, sometimes called “Eyelashes,” know that Billie already just made a dramatic hairstyle change right before the release of her new album.
Eilish switched her dark hair with green roots to a bright platinum blonde, seemingly representing a new era for the singer. Her blonde mane, complete with layers and bangs, appeared to be inspired by Stevie Nicks, whom Eilish references on her Instagram.
The lighter hair color fits with the album’s promising title, “Happier Than Ever,” although ironically, almost none of the songs on the album are joyful. In Eilish’s own words, “When you’re happier than ever, that doesn’t mean you’re the happiest that anyone’s ever been. It means you’re happier than you were before.”
Many stars change their hair to symbolize a dramatic shift
Eilish isn’t the first celebrity to chop off her mane or make another drastic change in her hairstyle. Lots of stars change their hair to signify a new era and reinvent themselves.
Hair is likely an important symbol of the autonomy of celebrities and their ability to control their image. A change in hairstyle might seem like a fun and frivolous move. But when PR teams, managers, and the media control so much of how celebrities appear, having the ability to choose how one presents oneself to the world, even through a hairstyle, can hold a great deal of power and value.
Who could forget when Miley Cyrus sheared her long brunette locks for a blonde pixie cut?
“Never felt more me in my whole life,” the former Disney star wrote when she revealed the cut on Instagram back in 2012. Cyrus also said, “If you don’t have something nice to say don’t say anything at all. My hair is attached to my head no one else’s and it’s going bye bye :)”
Kim Kardashian West has also experimented with different hairstyles. In 2018, she swapped her signature tumbling dark tresses for platinum hair.
Her reason for the change had less to do with style and was more for personal reasons. “Went blonde again for my anniversary it’s @kanyewest’s favorite,” Kardashian West announced on social media on the couple’s fourth wedding anniversary.
She further explained in an Instagram Story, “I am back blonde. Kanye’s favorite is blonde so I did it for our anniversary.”
Billie Eilish compared her new hair to her mother’s
Eilish’s new hairstyle could represent her need for a change or desire for control over her image. But the pop star hinted in her Instagram Stories that the cut has sentimental value, too.
She posted photos of the cut in her stories interspersed with older pictures of her mother, Maggie Baird. Baird’s hair in the images is very similar to Eilish’s new style. Eilish wrote “like my mama” across one of the photos of Baird. She then wrote “i love it” over the following picture of herself.
Whatever her motivation is for the cut, Eilish is clearly feeling herself and loving the new look. She posted a series of photos on her Instagram zooming in on her face and highlighting the new cut. She captioned the pictures, “wouldn’t you love to love her,” a cheeky reference to Fleetwood Mac’s song, “Rhiannon.”
