Paparazzi

The intro is longer than my last relationship

if you think billie eilish is crazy, i hope you remember lady gaga

For those who don't know, this song isn't just about Paparazzi, but the music industry as a whole. The male producer/manager figure who tricks her into trusting him represents her first manager who SA'd her which resulted in a pregnancy. She had to make the choice to terminate or lose everything she'd worked for. She references this betrayal a lot throughout her career, but this is really the first time she clapped back. It was her big 'fuck you' to him after she broke out and had solidified herself.

The transformation she goes through in the video, represents how she built herself back up after the trauma he and the industry as a whole inflicted on her. She fought back, clawed her way to the top & made herself a star. The other girls laying dead around the grounds are his/the industry's other victims and she's getting revenge on her own and their behalf.

In the end, she plays him at his own game & kills his career. So many other little hidden messages, as with most of her songs/clips. 'My lashes are dry, purple teardrops I cry - it don't have a price'. Purple teardrops are a reference to drug use and sex with strangers - both common themes of the music scene.

So much to unpack in a single song, it often takes me a long time to fully appreciate the little hidden meanings in her work. Some still remains a mystery and I kind of love that lol

we weren’t ready for this art a decade ago