When Billie Eilish was shooting the cover for her album HIT ME HARD & SOFT, she spent six uncomfortable hours underwater to get the perfect visuals. And now she reveals in a new episode of Vevo Footnotes that when she was shooting the video for her song “Lunch,” she also had to do something unpleasant and challenging.
The video’s retro look was inspired by ’90s visuals by Biggie Smalls, Tupac Shakur, Spice Girls, Green Day and My Chemical Romance, Billie says in the episode. Throughout it, she dances around while eating a sandwich, an apple and other foods.
“The most challenging thing about shooting the video was all the food I had to eat,” she says. “I had a giant table of food that I would take bites of and spit out throughout the day. I should have done that from the beginning though, because at first I was actually eating everything and I was full immediately. It was kind of a lot, but worth it.”
As for why she didn’t want the video to directly depict what she’s singing about — her attraction to a girl — Billie says, “I didn’t want to make the video directly on the nose.”
“I thought that the lyrics spoke for themselves and then the video would be an exciting visual to watch while you listen to the lyrics. I just wanted a classic, simple video.”
Like many of her videos, Billie directed “Lunch” herself. “Directing is a lot harder than it seems and that’s something I wanted to do when I was younger,” she shares in the episode. “When I finally got to direct my first video, it was such a great experience. I’ve learned so much along the way over the years.”
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