Billie Eilish responds to a reporter who called her an 'an emo kind of sad-looking teenager': 'It's just growth'

• Billie Eilish received an Academy Award for best original song for her James Bond theme.
• A reporter inquired if she felt "better" than she did as a teenager in the spotlight.

Billie Eilish responded to a question characterizing her as an "emo kind of sad-looking teenager" at the Academy Awards on Sunday evening.

Eilish and her brother-slash-collaborator Finneas Baird O'Connell took home the Academy Award for best original song for their James Bond theme in "No Time to Die."

The song previously earned Golden Globe and Grammy awards.

In the Oscars media room, Eilish was asked to comment on the process of experiencing her teenage years in the spotlight as well as what one reporter implied was a perceived shift in her public persona.

"When you first came out, you were sort of like an emo kind of sad-looking teenager and now you are, like, laughing and having a good time and you look very happy, and it's so nice to see," the reporter told her.

"I am glad," Eilish responded.

"Do you feel that you've had a change in your career as the last couple of years have gone along?" the reporter then asked.

"I went from 14 to 20, so that will do it," Eilish replied. The singer recorded one of her hit songs — "Ocean Eyes" — when she was 13 years old and uploaded it to SoundCloud in November 2015. She also famously released her debut album in 2017 when she was 15 and it topped the charts in 2019 when she was just 17 years old.

"Do you feel a lot better now?" he asked.

"Sure," she said, before reminding those in attendance that she was a "very young teenager" when she first stepped into the public eye.

"It's just growth," Eilish continued. "I'm super happy. I think that I'm just coming into my being aware of what is good around me."

"I was just a kid," she added.