WHY IS LUCIFER LONELY? BILLIE EILISH AND THE INFERNO OF CLIMATE CHANGE (2019)
When J. K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter she had to face a lot of criticism from children’s parents regarding darkness in her books. The author’s response was that adults greatly underestimate youngsters’ capacity for comprehending and processing death and evil. Need an example? Billie Eilish, who somehow still is one of those kids, befriended darkness by exploring it through her art.
Billie’s authenticity and zero fucks attitude leave little room for criticism. She’s so unapologetic in staying true to her creative self that at this point very few people would dare to question her genuineness. For this reason she seems to have more mental capacity to dig deeper and focus on whatever nightmares she wants to explore. Moreover, laughing at beauty standards, this girl does not shy away from making herself ugly for the sake of art (just wait until you see the new video). It seems that for the last decade or so we’ve been waiting for Billie to roll her eyes, kick the door open and instigate us to do whatever we want. It’s not like we’re going to hell for it… right?
Most recently brought to life from her mental theater is a single called “all the good girls go to hell”, an equally sinister and eerie sequel to “bury a friend”. The video begins with a pair of angel wings all too realistically sprouting from Billie’s back. The next thing you know she’s falling from heaven straight into an atramentous oil spill. Having dragged herself out of it, dripping blackness all over her body, she arduously moves forward trailing her wings. Hell on earth bursts into wildfire while Billie, possessed by a lonely Lucifer, sings about heaven being left unprotected because Saint Peter is on vacation, hills burning in California because God (herself) decided to be ignorant and about the fact that from the devil’s perspective, mankind is beyond saving and nobody cares anymore.
It’s because Billie understands darkness so well that she’s been playing with it like it’s no big deal. The imagery is strong but let’s face it, it has to be to get the message across. Shortly after its release Billie confirmed that the song is about the climate change. She posted a message on Instagram about the UN’s 2019 Climate Action Summit in New York and asked for our participation in the climate strike on September 20th and 27th. Hopefully, we’ll manage to save those fallen angel wings from burning.
