Her stance regarding wealth is equally vomit-worthy. She has consistently leaned into anti-billionaire sentiment, aligning herself with the “eat the rich” crowd and suggesting the 1 per cent should donate significant amounts to charity (both Eilish and Cameron are involved with philanthropic ventures supporting environmental causes).
At the 2025 WSJ Magazine Innovator Awards, she was honoured for her contributions to the music industry. Again, instead of just a simple “Thank you”, she took to questioning the audience, which included Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, asking: “If you’re a billionaire, why are you a billionaire? No hate, but yeah, give your money away, shorties.”
It’s an interesting question: where does one draw the line? Is it, perhaps, in the realm of $54m (£40m), which is Eilish’s estimated net worth? Or does she only vehemently hate the people with $55m? (One also has to laugh at her apparent ignorance of Cameron’s bank balance: last year, Forbes declared him one of only five film-makers – along with Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Tyler Perry and Peter Jackson – to have reached billionaire status.)
Of course, the easy defence – and the one Eilish’s army of fans frequently use – is to cry misogyny. After all, we do have a long history of tearing apart women in pop the moment they dare to voice their opinion. If a male artist with Eilish’s “woke” credentials did the same, would he face criticism? Perhaps not.
We often expect our female pop stars to be silent mannequins. But to dismiss all criticism of Eilish as sexism is a lazy way out. It’s not her womanhood that invites an eye roll and a “calm down, dear”, but the finger-wagging tone of her delivery. When you lecture your fans on their carbon footprint while regularly travelling the world, or insist wealth is evil while doing everything in your power (more tours, more streams, more merchandise) to get richer, you aren’t being a revolutionary – you’re being a hypocrite.
In Hit Me Hard and Soft, Cameron captures every bead of sweat and every profound glance. It is a beautiful film, a testament to genuine talent. But as the credits roll, one can’t help but feel that Eilish and Cameron are two sides of the same coin: artists who are so consumed with their own righteousness that they’ve forgotten that the rest of us can see the wires. They want us to save the world, but they’d prefer if we did it while buying their merch and booking tickets for their three-hour epics.
‘Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour’ is in cinemas now
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