A World of Change
THIS MONTH, we bring you three covers, each shot by a different
photographer—along with many more images and works of art
inside—of our March cover star, Billie Eilish, the young pop singer
who has become rather a cultural provocateur in the last year or
so. Not that she’d ever define herself that way: Billie told writer Rob
Haskell as much when they met at her home in California—her
parents’ home, in fact, where she still lives, as Billie only turned 18
at the end of last year—that she bristles against the very idea of
being considered a rule-breaker.
It’s very rare that we would choose to give the accolade of a cover
so soon in anyone’s career, but there is something about Billie that is
completely compelling, as you will discover for yourself when you
read Rob’s excellent profile of her. Just as she refuses to be categorized
as a subversive figure—to someone of her age in this moment, the
very notion seems rather outdated and ridiculous; better to simply
speak her truth, confessionally and intimately, to her peers—Billie also
refuses to be co-opted into becoming part of the commodification
of the global music industry. Her stance is admirable.
It’s telling that when we asked those who worked with her to create
this issue’s series of images—photographers Ethan James Green,
Harley Weir, and Hassan Hajjaj; multimedia artist Xu Zhen; and
artist Jesse Mockrin, who painted a portrait (fans Nastya Kovtun
and Kaylee Yang also contributed artwork)—pretty much everyone
immediately said yes. I’d also like to take a moment to thank the
talented young fashion editor Alex Harrington, who so brilliantly
pulled everything together. Given Billie’s