Billie Eilish Went to the Met Gala and Learned the Secret of Celebrities

At the young age of 19, Billie Eilish went to her first Met Gala and gained a piece of wisdom that many never accept: celebrities are literally “just randos.” Randos with some mix of talent, family or social connection, great cheekbones, or an ability to channel a charming personality, but randos nonetheless. Randos who, in ways very similar to the randos you went to high school with, also contain some mix of insecurity, shyness, and, in some cases, a propensity to be a bit annoying.

Eilish not only made her Met Gala debut this past September, but also played co-host for the “American Fashion”-themed fete. At the time, the talking point was her enormous, Marilyn Monroe-esque Oscar de la Renta gown, but Eilish went on The Howard Stern Show this week to discuss what went on inside the Metropolitan Museum of Art that night.

“It’s nuts,” Eilish told Stern. “It's famous people famous-people-ing ...That’s what it is.”

“The main thing that night made me think or feel was how famous people are just literally nobodies. Just randos,” she continued. “And it’s so weird. I mean, I was like, wow, all these people are just somebody that’s in class with you, and you think this person’s kind of annoying, or you really like this person, you get along with this person, and everybody’s just, like, embarrassed and insecure about what they’re doing and saying.”

Which is actually quite true. Granted, we’ve never been famous nor have we chaired the Met Gala, but spend any amount of time in a space where there’s a concentration of celebrities and you do start to realize that, for better or worse, they’re all just random people with their own quirks, intricacies, and insecurities.

Eilish, however, did say she enjoyed aspects of the Met Gala, noting that it was truly a beautiful setting. She was also relieved that being around other celebrities, randos as they may be, meant no one was randomly coming up to her and sticking a phone in her face, asking for a selfie (or worse, trying to sneak a picture without her noticing). She also got to meet Frank Ocean, who apparently is one of the few celebrities who is not just a total rando.