LUNCH

Billie Eilish's song 'LUNCH' explores themes of intense desire through language laden with gastronomic metaphors. The lyrics describe an attraction so overwhelming that it is compared to an appetite that needs to be satisfied, where the artist expresses the desire to “eat this girl for lunch”, suggesting a hunger that goes beyond the physical, touching the emotional and psychological.

Billie uses the repetition of phrases like “she dances on my tongue” and “she looks like she could be the one” to emphasize the intensity and uniqueness of her feelings. These expressions, together with the description of actions such as buying gifts and preparing a bath, illustrate an almost compulsive behavior, where desire is transformed into a continuous need for closeness and connection. We also see this compulsion in verses like “She's the headlights, I'm the deer”, which shows a certain fragility on the part of the singer compared to this girl and the possible dangers that can arise in a relationship, especially when one side is completely captivated by the other. In this way, the song also addresses the fine line between healthy love and obsession.

However, as well as exploring the complexity of human emotions, 'LUNCH' has become a milestone in Billie's career for a special reason: it is the first song in which Billie sings honestly about her bisexuality. Until then, the general public believed that Eilish was a heterosexual woman, and the singer had even tweeted that she was “as straight as a ruler is straight”. In 2024, however, commenting on her new era - the album 'HIT ME HARD AND SOFT' - the singer revealed her attraction to women in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine: “That song was part of what helped me become who I am, to be honest. I wrote part of it before I ever did anything with a girl, and then I wrote the rest. I've always been in love with girls, but I just didn't understand it - until last year when I realized that I wanted my face on a vagina. I never planned to talk about my sexuality, not in a million years. It's really frustrating for me that it came up.”

The context for this frustration was an annoying situation that occurred in another interview with Variety magazine in the fall of 2023, in which the singer mentioned that she was attracted to women. The following month, Eilish attended Variety's Hitmakers event in Los Angeles, and while on the red carpet, she was asked if she had intentionally come out, to which she replied: “No, I didn't, but I kind of thought: Isn't that obvious?”. Afterward, Eilish made a post on Instagram with the caption: “Thank you, Variety for my award, and also for bringing me out of the closet on a red carpet at 11 am instead of talking about anything else important. I like boys and girls, leave me alone please, literally, who cares?”.

So, 'LUNCH' became the retaking of the history and autonomy of her sexual orientation at the hands of Billie herself, on her terms, through her art, turning into a powerful song for the singer's fans and the general public.