Billie Eilish made Grammy history this week, becoming the youngest-ever artist to receive nominations in the top four categories.
We all know by now that the “bad guy” singer is immensely talented. The topic of her age has been thoroughly discussed (she’s just shy of 18), but it’s still mindblowing to see her youthfulness in new perspectives; she was born in 2001, and during her appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last night, host Kimmel decided to poke fun at her by quizzing her on ’80s pop culture references. Spoiler alert: She did not do so well!
“Have you ever played with a Cabbage Patch Kid?” Kimmel asked Eilish, to which she responded: “Like a Sour Patch Kid? Is it a candy?”
“It was a doll,” Kimmel explained to a painfully oblivious Eilish. “Your parents would go to the mall and fight other parents for these, and then they brought them home to you, and that was how they proved they loved you.”
To be fair, my childhood home was filled with more vintage dolls than average, so maybe my knowledge of Cabbage Patch Kids is an anomaly among young people. But the fact that Eilish was fully unaware of such a ubiquitous toy made me feel, quite frankly, ancient.
But toys weren’t the only category in which Eilish showed a lapse in familiarity. She couldn’t name a Van Halen, she’d never heard of Huey Lewis (which also implies she hasn’t seen Back to the Future), she’d never heard of Run-DMC, and she couldn’t complete Mr. T’s iconic catchphrase. One of her few redeeming victories is that she knows who Madonna is.
“You’re makin’ me look so dumb,” Eilish told Kimmel. No, Billie, you’re making me feel so old, which isn’t fair because I was only born in the ’90s.
But I do have to give props to Eilish for being one of the most seemingly level-headed teen pop sensations ever to cross my radar; she still lives in her childhood home, her family follows her on tour and events, and she appears to have a mature grasp on navigating her own fame, which is especially impressive considering the overpowering role social media plays in teen virality today. As far as I’m aware, Eilish is a Very Good Kid. But it’s incredibly jarring to me that she’s become such a critical touchstone in modern pop culture while being entirely incognizant of so many musical precedents that made her career possible. I also get self-conscious being reminded of stars who are much younger than I am but also much more talented, but I guess that’s a problem for me and my therapist to discuss.
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