Billie Eilish - "Chihiro" (Nadine's Version)

Chapter 4 of 10.

The first sound on When We All Fall Asleep, Billie’s proper debut album and pop breakthrough, is her acknowledging that she’s taking out her Invisalign before recording, not unlike a rapper sparking a blunt or asking if the headphones can go a little louder. It makes us aware of her mouth and body, like the bloody nose she sings of, but the Invisalign is also the perfect embodiment of the double-edged standard that have always been weaponized against women like Billie, to the point everyone starts to wonder if that's not actually a woman, because she dares to break with the mold that men said women should fill, ever since a man allegedly molded us from one of his very own bones.

You are expected to have perfect teeth, which are not naturally occurring, but when you get braces in order to have the perfect teeth, no one wants to kiss you or even see you until you take them out of your mouth, which will probably be 1-2 years, which means you have to hide them, like women have always had to hide the things we literally need in order to exist: whether braces, or birth control, or vials of Estradiol, or the actual blood we often shed without choosing to. Billie wonders where we go when we fall asleep, because it’s the only time she actually gets to be alone and unwatched, and the only time her body is not for sale.