Billie Eilish’s British Vogue cover story, out today, is about a great deal of things: It’s about identity and reinvention, particularly in relation to the public scrutiny and pop album “era†rollouts. It’s also about systemic abuse and exploitation of young women “and men, too,†which she touches on in her new song, “Your Power.†Eilish is candid throughout, speaking about her decision to pose for the cover in an Old Hollywood–inspired corset, saying, “Suddenly you’re a hypocrite if you want to show your skin, and you’re easy and you’re a slut and you’re a whore. […] Let’s turn it around and be empowered in that. Showing your body and showing your skin — or not — should not take any respect away from you.â€
But there is one element of her identity that Eilish refuses to divulge: “whether she has a horse.†In 2019, her brother and collaborator Finneas told Vulture that if they weren’t making music, “Billie would probably be an equestrian. She’d probably work at a stable with horses all the time. That’s her other favorite thing in the world.†But when asked if she has a horsie of her very own in Vogue, she answers, “‘Maybe, maybe not, who knows?’ she says with cartoon bluster. ‘That’s a whole part of my life that I’m not interested in anybody having any info on.’†If we know anything at all about etiquette, it is so important for a person in the public eye to establish boundaries between the world and their horse. It adds to their glamour.