In April of 2019 Billie Eilish became the first artist born in the 21st century to top the Billboard 200. Twelve of the 13 songs from her debut album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? charted on the Billboard Hot 100—the most ever for any female musician. At the time she was 17 years old. By the time she was 18, she'd become the youngest musician, the first woman, and the second person ever to sweep the major Grammy Award categories. Her Instagram following rivals Donald Trump's Twitter following and is three times more than his Instagram following.
Her influence as a whole is staggering. But more specifically, her influence among her own age group is unparalleled and immensely valuable. Marketers in every industry spend billions of dollars to know what teenagers and young adults want—to reach them in organic ways. Billie does this on a massive scale that cannot be understated. Who else could inspire everyone from teens, to celebrities, to models to dye their hair slime green?
In other words, it would be phenomenally stupid to ignore the power she has in reaching her own generation. As we saw last night after Eilish's performance at the Democratic National Convention, many conservatives, unsurprisingly, are that stupid.
A day after Joe Biden was formally nominated as the Democratic presidential candidate, Eilish took the screen at the DNC to urge people to vote Donald Trump out of office.
"Donald Trump is destroying our country and everything we care about. We need leaders who will solve problems like climate change and Covid, not deny them. Leaders who will fight against systemic racism and inequality, and that starts by voting for someone who understands how much is at stake, someone who is building a team that shares our values," Eilish said. "It starts with voting against Donald Trump and for Joe Biden."
She then performed her new song, "my future"—a track that speaks to the hope her generation has for when we get out of this dark time in American history. It's sombre, powerful, and beautiful.
After the performance, she shared it, and her message with her many millions of fans across her social platforms. And let me ask you a question: how many of Billie Eilish's followers were tuning into the DNC on Wednesday night? How many do you think watched specifically this performance and her message urging young people to vote Trump out of office? How many of the young people who watched this performance are newly 18 and are preparing to vote in their first presidential election—voters that neither party had accounted for in polling or voter registration statistics? I know we debate the youth vote a lot—but this is how it happens right here.
Republicans didn't see it that way. Many, like conservative strategist Matt Mackowiak just saw the green hair, which really spooked them.
Republican congressional candidate Monica De La Cruz-Hernandez just saw some naive kid.
Others, like Ben Shapiro—an 80-year-old man trapped in a small boy's body—responded by bullying an 18-year-old over her physical appearance:
Trump's rapid response campaign advisor came through with a purely idiotic tweet that shows he doesn't understand that music has been used to protest tyrants throughout all of American history:
Oh there are many more of these—from disgusting batshit conspiracy theories, to sad jokes, and those literally saying Eilish "needs Jesus" (for what exactly? to dye her hair back to its natural colour? Can he do that?).
Republicans—as they tend to do—see the easy target of calling out someone who looks different. They see the fodder of a culture war. They see Hollywood elites. But this is isn't the same as Robert DeNiro calling Trump a "fucking idiot". This is a young woman who actually has the clout among a key demographic—one that if mobilised could help turn the tide of this election. Certainly, that punk ass twerp who harassed the native elder doesn't have the same reach.
Like this article? Sign up to our newsletter to get more articles like this delivered straight to your inbox
Need some positivity right now? Subscribe to Esquire now for a hit of style, fitness, culture and advice from the experts
Matt Miller is a Brooklyn-based culture/lifestyle writer and music critic whose work has appeared in Esquire, Forbes, The Denver Post, and documentaries.
