Shadowing Practice: Billie Eilish Breaks Down Her Career, from 'Ocean Eyes' to 'Barbie' | Vanity Fair - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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I think that my relationship to the fans has been so vital to all of this.
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And I think like what you do for them
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and how you make them feel is what's going to be the most impactful and rewarding for you and for them.
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Hi, I'm Billie Eilish and this is a timeline of my career so far.
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Ocean Eyes was the start of everything.
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I think within about a week it had a thousand streams, which is not many now, but it was a lot then.
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Just stuff was just changing really fast and I'd never really seen anything like that.
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And it was alarming.
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I was like 13, I think it was my birthday was like the next month
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and I just remember things were just like building around me and I felt, I just was like, whoa, what is going on?
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I was super cautious about all of it.
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Hesitant and kind of making sure that I felt comfortable in every step of the way.
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And I remember my mom being like, you don't have to do this.
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You don't have to do this.
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You can at any time, you can get out of this, you know.
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My little excited, you know, determined, ambitious self wasn't going to listen to anybody.
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Right after Ocean Eyes came out, I got injured in dance.
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There was like a very, very intense injury that just completely just took me out of all things dance.
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And that just shifted my whole life.
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Dance was really like the thing that I loved the most and that I saw myself doing forever.
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And not being able to, I mean, it was really hard.
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Music really came in handy for me and got me through all of that.
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I got injured and then we made like, Bellyache and Hostage and My Boy and the songs that then would become Don't Smile At Me that then came out later.
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We wrote many of the songs from Don't Smile At Me in 2016.
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That whole year we were doing like tiny little shows
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and I remember there was a moment in 2017 where I got an encore for the first time
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and I remember them being like, play another one.
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And I was like, I don't have another one.
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I literally don't have another song.
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Like, I've played all of them.
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For the first time and the last time, we rented out a studio because we thought, maybe it'll be good for us to have a studio.
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Maybe it's bad if we make music at home.
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We should just have a studio and, like, decide that we're going to make the EP in a studio.
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And it was, like, hell.
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It was literally hell.
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Yeah, and then it came out in 2017 while I was on a tour with my choir in Canada.
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I remember being on the bus with my friends with all of our uniforms on, and we had one of those earbud splitter,
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like the dongle splitter, so we all would plug our headphones and our earbuds into the little dongle, and then I would play the new EP through it.
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And my friends would always be like, play I Don't Want to Be You Anymore, play my boy, play this, play that.
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It was very sweet.
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What I really appreciate about that EP, it's like very young people, you know.
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Wrote half of it when I was 13, 14, and then put it out when I was 15, and Phineas was 17, 18, 19.
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Like young little babies that had no experience at all.
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I look back and I'm like, ugh, I can't even.
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But what I do feel about it is that we were
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so experimental and we were so eager to try stuff and we were so eager to do anything.
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We would have an idea and be like, why don't we just try it, even if it's weird?
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And I appreciate that about the EP.
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I was very nervous about a public image though.
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I didn't know that everything I was doing was going to give me a specific image.
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I was just doing whatever I was doing.
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At the time, I remember I was just
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so anxious about how I was being perceived
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and really wanted to be seen as a certain thing and didn't really know what I was doing.
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But I think I did a good job.
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I think I did a good job given the fact that I was a little girl.
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I first started recording When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? when I was 16.
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Phineas was 19.
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It was my first studio album.
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We made a lot of it on tour in like little hotel rooms with Phineas' laptop.
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And I remember writing multiple verses of Ilo Milo on a plane.
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I remember like recording Wish You Were Gay in like El Paso.
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Yeah, wherever we could make it, we did.
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In the documentary, there's like a thing I say where somebody said about like, oh, well, your next album, this and I was like, I'm not making it in an album.
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No way.
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I really thought that.
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I was like, I'm not doing this again.
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I was like, love y'all. Be safe.
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I'm not doing this again.
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I didn't feel I was good at it.
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And I also didn't know what I wanted.
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The heavier theme thing in all my earlier music and now.
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I swear to God, I never thought about it one time.
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This was such a reoccurring topic for so long, which was like, why are your songs so sad?
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And I remember hearing that and being like, what are you, what are we talking about?
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People seem to forget that when you are a child and a teenager, emotion is the most intense thing in the world.
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Everything feels like the end or the beginning.
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I was just talking about this with a friend that like middle school felt like life was over.
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And that's how everything felt then.
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And so, you know, to be like, how could anyone young understand emotion?
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Are you stupid?
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That's all they have is emotion.
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I've always had a real love and passion for music videos and visuals in general.
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And I always wanted to direct them, but of course I had no experience and I was a teenager and why would I know what I was doing?
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I mean, you know, I can imagine being the adult in the room and me being like, I wanna direct it.
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And it's like, well, you can't, you know?
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But at the time I was like, you know, why not?
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Like, I don't, I know what I want.
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I know what I want.
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Oh my God, I know what I want.
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And I think that I understood that that wasn't enough to like know how to do it.
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But I think I convinced them all to let me, like, I think I proved myself is really what I mean.
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And the first music video that I fully directed was Zanny.
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Then Everything I Wanted.
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And then basically everything after that.
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But it's a lot of work.
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When I first started, I was like, oh my God.
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I would love to do it for other people as well, other artists.
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The reaction to When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? was so like surreal.
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And the response to Bad Guy, I mean, that changed my life.
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Like Bad Guy completely changed my life.
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That's really what this whole interview should be about, is Bad Guy and its effect on my life.
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And then the awards, the Grammys was amazing.
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It was literally the greatest thing that had ever happened to me.
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And I could not believe any second of it was real.
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That album really lives on for me.
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Like that album completely changed my life.
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So special to me and it's so pure to me.
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Like it's so genuine to me.
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The older I get and the farther away that album is from me, I feel so even closer to it.
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When we were first making music, Phineas and I used to come up with little challenges to write songs.
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We'd be like, let's try to write a song from the perspective of this person
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and this is happening and da da da.
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Like many times we would be like, let's pretend to write a James Bond theme song because that would be the coolest shit in the world.
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And we were such big fans of Bond and especially for me, I loved Skyfall and just everything about that.
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I remember it was like at a certain age where it really like stuck with me for some reason
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and that visual that is going on during the song
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and the movie and I just thought it was the coolest thing you can do as an artist.
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So we would joke about it all the time
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and it was never ever a reality
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and then in 2019 Barbara Broccoli who was working on the film I remember hearing kind of about the fact
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that they were looking for someone and looking for a song and I just remember just me and Phineas being like, whoa, whoa, whoa, like, please.
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And then it was just like many conversations and meetings and we weren't sure at all.
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Like we didn't think we were gonna get it.
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And it was also like, so not in the bag at all.
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Like it was very, very much, we're auditioning and maybe we get it and maybe not.
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We were sent like the first 10 pages of the script, kind of told the plot-ish without like being given any spoilers
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and then we wrote No Time to Die in a couple days on tour in like Texas or something.
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Recorded it in the bunk in the tour bus.
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And we didn't even know if we had the job.
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We honestly didn't know for a while and then we already had gotten it and I had no idea.
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And yeah, it was the coolest thing in the world.
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We felt like we made a good song and we really wanted the part.
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Hans is the best, the most incredible collaborator and he's such a genius and he's such a gork.
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He's such a goofball.
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I mean, it was just the most magical thing in the world.
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We went to London, we got shown the movie,
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and then we spent a few days in the studio with him and Johnny Marr and this whole orchestra,
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and it was insane.
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I mean, the Oscars is just one of those things, it's just like, Oh my god, I feel like I snuck in.
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It was very cool and intimidating.
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And I mean, we watched the Oscars every time when I was a kid.
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It was one of my favorite things that we did as a family.
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So performing was amazing, and then the next year I was nominated, and I couldn't even believe I was shortlisted.
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And then I was nominated, and then I went, and then I performed again.
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And that was insane.
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And then we won.
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And that was crazy.
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I'm away from you.
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Happier Than Ever was made with a little too much confidence.
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And that's not a bad thing.
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We're a little lazy.
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But I love that album.
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I really do.
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And I loved it at the time.
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And it meant that I grew.
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Like I wouldn't have been able to get where I am now had it not been for
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that album and everything that I did in that album.
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And it was also kind of a me needing to break free out of a box
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that I had felt like I put myself in or that the world put me in.
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And from putting out Ocean Eyes when I was 13
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and then getting injured and then being on tour for years
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and being in meetings with a million people and a million agents and, you know, being a 14 year old in a room with only,
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you know, grown ass people, mostly men.
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And you know, I wanted to be dancing.
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I wanted to be doing this.
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I don't know.
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I just, everything kind of just happened to me and I didn't really have much of a choice, but it's okay.
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I'm not complaining, but, but it was a lot.
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And then COVID happened and I was forced to stop.
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And that I think happened for a lot of people, but of course I felt like I was the only one that was happening to you.
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I was like, I just I just remember it was it was almost as
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if blindly doing something that I really wanted to do
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and felt like I really wanted to do and I was happy doing and then it was like just taken out, just just pulled away from me.
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And I was just like, Oh, oh my God, I haven't actually thought about anything for four years.
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And I don't know when I would have gotten to process anything that had happened to me if it weren't for that.
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And we wrote all of Happier Than Ever in that period of time.
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So it's a COVID album.
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I mean, that's what it is.
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The music was a completely different process than the reinventing of
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the look coming off of those crazy couple of years and had won those Grammys that year.
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And like, my shit did not stink.
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I don't know, I just felt good.
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But then I decided I wanted to go blonde and then I decided that I remembered that I was a girl, and I was like, wait,
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I wanna be other things and not just this one thing that I've been looked at as for all these years.
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And I remember ordering my, like a skirt off of Amazon.
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I didn't have a skirt.
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And I was like, I gotta wear a skirt.
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I don't know, I was just having a lot.
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Dude, I was 18, like I was trying to figure it out.
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You know, I'd been told that I was one thing for many years and I believed it, which was definitely a lot, but I think that I needed to do it.
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I'm an extreme person, like I need to have extreme sensation.
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And I think that that was my way of expressing myself in the way that I knew how,
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which was all, everything, all at once.
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You must have had a rough childhood.
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Did people ever call you things as a child?
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Liar, stupid, pig.
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What are you afraid of?
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Nothing.
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Are you afraid of death?
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No. Why?
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I think it was the day after I headlined Coachella.
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We were on some management call or something.
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I was talking to my managers and I remember one of them being like, there's this opportunity, but you're not gonna be available for it, so we're gonna pass.
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Are you okay with that?
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I was like, well, what is it?
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And they were like, well, it's this show that Donald Glover is working on and it's called this and it's about that.
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And I remember just being like, I'll drop anything.
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Like, that's my dream.
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What are we talking about passing on that?
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And then I was sent kind of the early on script
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and I just thought it was the coolest thing in the world.
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And then Donald called me and kind of explained what the show was about
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and explained how it was going and the things that, you know, whatever.
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And he just was like, yeah, I was thinking about you.
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And if you're interested, there's no pressure.
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But if you wanted to, you could.
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And I just, I mean, I was trying to keep it cool, but I was so, so excited.
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I mean, he knows it and I sound like a broken record, but he was like my favorite of all.
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I just love him so much.
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And I always have.
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And he's been one of my biggest idols since I was like 11.
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Acting was something that I loved doing so much as a kid.
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I just didn't do anything about it.
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I just loved it, but I didn't do anything.
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Also, like my brother acted and he would get jobs and I wouldn't, and that was annoying to me.
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Mom, can I talk about your, please?
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My mother wrote a movie about a family and it was a mom and a dad and a son.
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She starred in it and she cast her own son to play her son.
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And I was just kicked out, essentially.
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And by the way, my childhood bedroom, they took everything out of it and replaced it to be the bedroom in the movie.
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If she had had a daughter, she would have been happier.
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Right?
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Right?
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And so it would have meant a whole other thing.
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And I wasn't good.
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Also, this is the other part.
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So basically, I'm saying that was my villain origin story.
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What color was the milk?
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It was red. Did you hurt someone?
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Yes.
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Very good.
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Basically, the whole show is surrounding this character, Dre, which is Dominique Fishback, who is like filled to the brim, overflowing with talent.
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My episode is basically, she comes across this like sex cult.
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She doesn't know what the hell is going on or what it is.
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And it's kind of hard to tell.
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It's not very obvious, but that's kind of what's going on.
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And I'm like the leader of it.
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Yeah, we just like gaslight the shit out of her.
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I had so much fun.
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It was like truly like one of the best weeks of my life.
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She was also so amazing to work with.
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And so much of the scenes that we did was just the two of us.
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and that was really special.
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We shot in Atlanta, and also Donald was there the first day for the first scene that we filmed, and it was just so cool and scary.
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And they also changed the script five minutes before the scene, which was a lot, but I did it.
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I asked my mom if she would do my acting coaching for that show, and she is the reason that I did even a little bit of a good job.
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She is so good.
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I would love to do some more acting.
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I'm kind of embarrassed to say that, but I would love to.
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It was a very, very different experience compared to No Time to Die.
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It started off so casually.
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I remember Phineas just being like, would you ever be interested in doing like the Barbie, like a song for the Barbie movie?
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And I remember like that sentence, I was like, what?
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Like, huh?
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And I had no idea what that was gonna mean.
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And you know, that could go either way like, what are we talking about?
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Barbie movie, like, what does that even mean?
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And then I remember those paparazzi photos of Margot Robbie
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and Brian Gosling came out of them shooting and we were just like so excited about it.
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And then Greta, Phineas goes, hey we're gonna get on a FaceTime with Greta later.
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I was like, okay, okay.
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I had like no, we didn't even, hadn't even really talked about it.
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And we got on the phone with her and Mark Ronson, basically just told us what they had done and they were like,
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movie's basically done, it's, this is what we have so far and you know, this is what's going on, we really want you to see it, can we set up a time, like whatever.
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It was like so casual and I didn't think it was gonna really happen.
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She set up a day for us to go to Warner Brothers
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and the two of us went
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and it was just like us in this empty theater and her literally two days away from giving birth.
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And then a couple of people from her team, she showed us the work in progress movie, which is basically completely done.
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She kept being like, it's not done.
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But it, I mean, it was amazing.
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It was so good.
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I was so nervous.
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I was like, how could this possibly be good?
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Because how could anyone make a movie like this that's good?
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And it was so, so amazing.
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I remember just like moments during the movie, just looking at Phineas and being like, this is good.
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This is really good.
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And then went home, talked about it.
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And then the next day we had a whole day of writer's block.
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It was a whole day of creating stuff and just not coming up with a single goddamn idea.
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And I was like, all right, well, I guess I'm going to go because this was a waste of a day.
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And then as I was like getting up to leave, Phineas was like, do you want to try to write a Barbie song before you go?
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I was like, that's such a ridiculous, ambitious thing to do.
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Like, we're not gonna, we can't even write any other song.
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We're not gonna write a really good Barbie song right now.
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And he sat down at the piano and he immediately started playing those first chords.
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And I had the handheld mic and I was sitting on the couch and I just started.
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And then those first couple of lyrics came out and we wrote the whole song right then.
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I mean, we were just so overflowing with like inspiration from that movie and what was going on in my life.
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I had to fight so hard to not send it to her immediately, but it wasn't good.
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Like, I had the worst recording of it.
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So I waited like two weeks, and we recorded kind of a scratch vocal version of it.
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And we were really nervous, but we felt really proud of it.
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And she basically was like, I've been weeping all day.
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I hadn't heard somebody use that word like that in a long time.
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But the rest is kind of history.
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I really kind of thrive when I write from some perspective that isn't my own kind of first-person perspective.
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Like it can even be about my life, but if I think about it from just a different angle, it's a lot easier.
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And so something that Phineas and I think really, really thrive in is writing for film and TV.
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We have to like stop ourselves from saying yes to so many things when people are like, would you write a song for this movie?
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Because I'm like, I want to because I like, I love writing stories.
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It's storytelling, dude.
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I do also write songs from my own perspective
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and my own life and my own feeling but I think it's just harder to get there.
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It's more vulnerable and you can't really wear a mask.
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And both are great, so.
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The approach of making Hit Me Hard and Soft was so daunting.
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Never been more doubtful in our entire lives.
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Never one moment of like, wow, we did a really good job.
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Like we loved what we were making, but we really were terrified.
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Also, Phineas and I, honestly, you know, when you're siblings, you go through like different periods of being on the same frequency.
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And this was a period where we were pretty out of sync.
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Not to put him like tell his business, but like he was really not enjoying making music very much.
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And that was tough for me because I was the one that didn't enjoy making music for all those years.
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And I kind of finally was enjoying it.
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And then he would just be like, I have no I would rather be doing anything else like I want to be doing something else.
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And I got it because that's how I used to feel and it's, oh my God, I was so terrified.
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I was like, oh no. Phineas would remind me mostly, he'd be like, we don't have to put this out, you know.
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We can make it and not put it out.
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And I think that's important to remember is
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that not everything you make has to be amazing and perfect
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because I think part of the reason it felt so scary is the fact that we were so
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doing exactly what we wanted to do and that can be really scary.
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Being yourself is terrifying.
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You feel like, oh, they're not gonna like me if I'm myself.
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I have to kind of do this or like do this and then they'll like me.
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And you realize that it's just that you're avoiding the vulnerability of being seen and being known.
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And I think that this album is like a really good representation of that.
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And when I think about it, it's really good kind of juxtaposition of like my life,
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my friendships and my relationships and how I've been trying to really make an effort in being exactly who I am.
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I kind of been saying this for years, but never really doing it, which is like trusting my gut and like listening to my body.
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And it turns out that if you do what you want and if you are yourself, people actually like you more.
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It's really hard to accept that.
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And it's scary and it's vulnerable.
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And it means that you can have experiences that are more hurtful because it's actually you, but there's more pros than there are cons.
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I think I'm proud of myself, man.
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It's hard to process this kind of thing when it's you.
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It's really hard to see it and see it objectively
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and know what it looks like to other people because you have your own experience of it.
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I mean, when I think about my life, I get to do the coolest shit in the world.
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And I didn't see it for so long, and there's so many times that I really did not want my life.
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And honestly, I feel like for the first time maybe, I've experienced so much joy.
355
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Billie Eilish Just Wants Rihanna to Drop Another Album | Ask Me Anything | ELLE
TeensDaily ConversationHigh School Students
B22
320 sentences
Ariana Grande Breaks Down 21 Looks, From Victorious to Wicked | Life in Looks | Vogue
TeensDaily ConversationHigh School Students
B2124 sentences
Why Olivia Rodrigo isn’t afraid of heartbreak anymore | Interview
Interview EnglishTeensDaily Conversation
Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Billie Eilish Breaks Down Her Career, from 'Ocean Eyes' to 'Barbie'”. This video has 355 sentences and 4391 words to shadow. The speech runs for 22:44. The speaker talks fast, about 193 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 85% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| whoa | /woʊ/ | Stop (especially when commanding a horse or imitative thereof); calm down; slow down. |
| injure verb | /ˈɪn.d͡ʒɚ/ | To wound or cause physical harm to a living creature. |
| terrify verb | /ˈtɛɹɪfaɪ/ | To frighten greatly; to fill with terror. |
| skirt noun | /skɚt/ | A separate article of clothing, usually worn by women and girls, that hangs from the waist and covers the lower torso and part of the legs. |
| emotion noun | /ɪˈməʊ.ʃən/ | A person's internal state of being and involuntary physiological response to an object or a situation, based on or tied to physical state and sensory data. |
| dongle noun | /ˈdɑŋɡl̩/ | Any small device that plugs into an electronic device, typically a computer, and alters its functionality. Common examples include wireless modems, digital… |
| earbud noun | /ˈiɹ.bʌd/ | A small earphone designed to be placed in the ear canal for use with portable sound systems. |
| overflow verb | /ˌəʊvəˈfləʊ/ | To flow over the brim of (a container). |
| splitter noun | /ˈsplɪtɚ/ | A person or a thing that splits. |
| nominate verb | /ˈnɑ.mɪ.neɪt/ | To name someone as a candidate for a particular role or position, including that of an office. |
| thrive verb | /θɹajv/ | To grow or increase stature; to grow vigorously or luxuriantly; to enjoy a state of excellent health and well-being; to flourish. |
| ambitious adjective | /æmˈbɪʃ.əs/ | Having or showing ambition; wanting a lot of power, honor, respect, superiority, or other distinction. |
| eager adjective | /ˈiɡɚ/ | Desirous; keen to do or obtain something. |
| teenager noun | /ˈtiːnˌeɪ̯d͡ʒə/ | A person between thirteen and nineteen years old (inclusive). |
| blindly adverb | /ˈblaɪndli/ | In a blind manner; without sight. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| come out verb | /ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/ | To be discovered; to be revealed. |
| come up with verb | To manage to produce, deliver, or present (something) by inventing, creating, thinking of, or obtaining it. | |
| set up verb | /ˌsɛt ˈʌp/ | To make ready for use. |
| come across verb | To change sides; to cross over to work for the opposition. | |
| come out in verb | to be afflicted by (a visible disruption of the body) | |
| get out of verb | To leave, exit or escape from; to become free of. | |
| get up to verb | To do something, especially something that is forbidden or improper. | |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Did people ever call you things as a child?
- What are you afraid of?
- Are you afraid of death?
- Are you okay with that?
- I was like, well, what is it?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on | I've been weeping · I've been trying |
| “Used to” used to + verb — a past habit or state that is no longer true | used to come · used to feel |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | being perceived · be seen · were sent |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has been · I've played · haven't actually thought |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 99 contractions and reduced forms, such as didn't, I'm, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: emotion /ɪˈməʊ.ʃən/, ambitious /æmˈbɪʃ.əs/, juxtaposition /ˌd͡ʒʌk.stə.pəˈzɪʃ.ən/, casually /ˈkæʒuəli/, audition /ɑˈdɪʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: collaborator /kəˈlæbəɹeɪtɚ/, intimidate /ɪnˈtɪmɪdeɪt/, juxtaposition /ˌd͡ʒʌk.stə.pəˈzɪʃ.ən/, objectively /əbˈd͡ʒɛktɪvli/, paparazzo /ˌpɑ.pəˈɹɑt.soʊ/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like whoa, injure, terrify.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.