Bad Guy by Billie Eilish rapidly gained popularity after being released in March 2019, but with this song fans also got a unique music video to go along. From beginning to end it’s filled with many colors as well as strange and unexpected visuals that keep people watching until the end. On November 11th, 2020 the music video hit a huge milestone by reaching one billion views on YouTube. This is an amazing accomplishment for Billie, but it also poses the question of how many of those people truly know the meaning behind this song and video.
One of the most memorable images from Bad Guy is of Billie standing in front of a blue wall, wearing all white, and having a bloody nose. This is an example of one of the more “grotesque” images from the video. This shot is shown multiple times in the video except each time, her bloody nose gets worse and she even wipes it. This cause the blood to get all over her face. Then later in the video there are shots of the blood dripping onto her shoes and her shirt. Some of these shots correspond with the lyrics, “White shirt now red, my bloody nose, Sleepin’, you’re on your tippy toes, Creepin’ around like no one knows…” White is a color that usually symbolizes purity and cleanliness, while red typically represents anger or love. The blood being wiped all over her face and dripping onto her all white outfit could be showing that she is not who people may expect her to be.
Another sequence from the video is at the very beginning. There is a yellow backdrop that Billie breaks and climbs through from the other side and when she stands up, she takes out her Invisalign and puts it into the hand of what looks like a security guard. Putting this sequence at the very beginning was a good idea because it commands the viewers attention. Naturally, anyone would be confused if they witnessed someone take out their Invisalign and casually hand it off.
The last image we’ll address is the very end scene where Billie is in a room lit with red lighting, sitting on a man’s back while they do push-ups. Just like in the first scene with the bloody nose, the color red is probably being used for symbolism purposes. As mentioned previously, red can represent anything from anger to passion and love. Based on the lyrics of the song it is safe to assume that red represents passion and love in this instance.
These particular shots from the video and also the lyrics seem to express a common theme. Billie is portraying herself as unexpected, rough and dominant which aren’t traits that people would use normally use to describe young women. Women are stereotyped to be feminine, dainty and pure. In an interview with KIISFM, Billie said, “It’s basically making fun of everyone and their personas of themselves. Even mine…The initial idea for the song is, like, people who have to tell everybody that they are a certain way all the time? They’re not that certain way…” For example, the imagery of her bloody nose dripping onto her white shirt and shoes would symbolize a loss of innocence and impurity. The Invisalign scene and push up scenes show that she doesn’t mind taking control in situations (relationships specifically) and she will be the dominant one. The lyrics also suggest this when she says, “I do what I want when I’m wanting to, my soul? So cynical.”
At first glance, it’s hard to decipher how this video correlates with the song. But after close examination it is clear that Billie is great at thinking outside of the box and leaving people guessing. Overall, she did an excellent job at making her lyrics a visual experience, but she also kept viewers’ attention and created conversation with her work.
