Vital: Billie Eilish returns to her neon roots, this time in red

Billie Eilish has never been afraid to play around with her hair: she’s hopped seamlessly between bleach blonde and jet black looks, and even experimented with silver, blue, lavender shades before. Perhaps her most iconic hairstyle has to be slime green roots, contrasted against black lengths, which she kept for two years after dyeing it in 2019.

Now, the 21-year-old artist has gone back to her old, signature look – but with a twist. On Friday, she posted a photo on Instagram debuting neon red roots, captioned “remember me?”. Fans at Lollapalooza in Chicago caught the first real-life glimpse of her new look, when she headlined the main stage at the festival on Friday night.

When Eilish first dyed her roots bright green in 2019, it cemented her position as a cultural lynchpin. Her debut album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? had been released just a few months prior, and it was quickly becoming apparent that Eilish was a unique, rare talent. Her innovative hair made her stand out, just as her resonant, ethereal music did. 

She eventually moved on from the style permanently in 2021, bleaching her hair a Marilyn-esque platinum blonde. She later suggested in her yearly interview with Vanity Fair that she’d ditched the green in a bid to stop being so recognisable. “If I’m being cautious and like not trying to be in everybody’s faces, that’s like I can manage my way around people without them noticing, which is cool,” she said. “And my hair is blonde now. So it’s not like the only person you’ve ever seen with green hair walking by… It’s gotten a lot easier.”

Eilish has opted for darker, more natural shades since the end of 2021, but now, it seems as though the singer has gone back to her roots (literally). Does this mean she’s more comfortable with fame now? Or is she making music that is more in line with her old style? Many fans are speculating that this new ‘era’ could also herald a new album or a new tour – but only time will tell.

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