Billie Eilish gets personal on her latest album Hit Me Hard and Soft with songs about her body image, sexuality and struggles of fame. In one song called “The Diner,” Billie recounts the true story of being victimized by a stalker.
Eilish and her collaborator, brother Finneas O’Connell, wrote “The Diner” from the perspective of her own stalker. Rather than run from the situation, she puts herself in their shoes, outlining their predatory patterns and voicing the delusional fantasies in their head.
“I saw you on the screens, I know we’re meant to be,” she begins. “I’m waiting on your block, but please don’t call the cops.”
It doesn’t take long for the situation to become life-threatening, with Eilish recounting how her stalker broke into her home in the chorus.
“I waited on the corner ’til I saw the sitter leave, was easy getting over and I landed on my feet,” she sings. “I came in through the kitchen lookin’ for something to eat, I left a calling card so they would know that it was me.”
Eilish has been open about her experiences with stalking since rising to fame. In 2021, she got a five-year civil harassment order against a man who camped across from her parents’ home, and later told The Irish Times that dealing with stalkers had made her afraid to be alone.
“I do like having anonymity, or autonomy, but I really am flipped out when I’m alone,” she said. “I hate it. I have a lot of stalkers, and I have people that want to do bad things to me.”
In February 2023, Eilish was granted a temporary restraining order against a man she found standing outside of her living room window without a shirt on. In November, she was granted one against a different stalker who reportedly sent hundreds of messages to her and her family, which included “disturbing professions of love” to her and “violent threats” to Finneas, according to the Los Angelos Times.
“I received a notification that someone was outside my residence and had rung the intercom bell several times,” Eilish wrote in the filing. “I was able to view a camera capturing the outside of my home, which showed the individual wandering around in front of the driveway gate of my residence, speaking into his phone, and eventually sitting down in front of the gate of my residence.”
One Response