Article By: Maria Cundari
First-time Grammy Award winner, Billie Eilish, swept five awards this year, four of the five being the most prestigious. The 62nd annual Grammys Award show, was held Sunday, Jan 26 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Calif. Eilish, 18, has been a new artist since 2015, and is continuing that trend into 2020.
Resulting in her winnings, Eilish becomes the youngest solo artist ever to win the album of the year award. As well as being the first woman to ever win the four biggest awards in the same year, according to the Grammy Awards Records. Along with album of the year, Eilish received record of the year, best new artist, song of the year, and best pop vocal album.
She appeared to be uneasy about winning the award, then proceeded to say during her acceptance speech that Ariana Grande, also a nominee, was more deserving. During the Grammys, Eilish apparently mouthed, “Please don’t be me,” when the winner of the award she was nominated for was about to be announced.
Plenty of backlash resulted in this and Twitter conversations roared about the subject matter. The common idea that was talked about amongst users, was that Eilish was protecting herself by calling out the fact that she didn’t deserve these awards before anyone else could.
Fan bases online have become increasingly toxic and resemble cyber-bullying. The negative comments came from the fan bases of certain music artists, such as, Arianators (Ariana Grande), Swifites (Taylor Swift), and Barbs (Nicki Minaj). Eilish knowing she would receive resentment for winning so many awards, confronted the topic while accepting best new artist award,
“All the other artists in this category, you deserve this just as much as I do,” she said. “I know your fans are hardcore and they’re going to fight for you and they love you and they’re going to talk (bad) about me for years because of this.”
Eilish is new to the professional music industry, also her being the age she is, it can be difficult for her to be taken seriously. Her style of music and aesthetic resonates more with a younger audience. The topics discussed in her work lean towards the darker more taboo side, such as depression and anxiety. Usually weaved into her more catchy “pop” sounding songs.
Fans of Eilish jumped in to support her, all conveying the same idea. A fan tweeted:
“Billie is so talented and she deserves it just as much as the next person. A lot of artists got snubbed and we can focus on that but let’s not drag down other artists to boost our favs. She doesn’t deserve any hate."
Kalen Allen, comedian, joined in on the conversation, he posted:
"I hate that we are in a time that we have to downplay our own accomplishments so that internet trolls don't talk (bad).”
Whether Eilish was nervous about receiving hate or genuinely believed other artists should have won the awards she had been given, she was showing humility. An artist being humble about their work, gives them a more down to earth persona, which helps for fans to relate to them on a deeper level. Eilish does an excellent job with being gracious and relatable to followers of her music.