Billie Eilish: Ghosted
Billie Eilish is one of only three musical artists with over 100 million monthly plays on Spotify. How's your pop-culture knowledge?! Name the other two!
- Taylor Swift
- The Weeknd
This immense level of popularity makes it all the more shocking that she has been the victim of "ghosting". But wait, what's ghosting? The video below explains the concept, as well as the implications.
Task 1: Tuning In - Listening Comprehension
Project the following note-taking cloze activity on the screen. Listen to the audio of the video once through and have students write down possible answers for each gap (no more than three words). Play a second time (with the video if they. struggled) and have students settle on their answers.
- The nothing gambit is a -1- feature of online communication
- When we communicate in real life, we have to say -2- in response
- By not replying, the aim is to get -3-
- We begin showing this behaviour when we are -4-
- Because this happens when we're young, we -5- not receiving replies
- When we accept that it's ok to be ignored, we begin to see ourselves as having -6-
- Ultimately, we show less -7- towards others
Answers
- unique
- something
- rid of people
- adolescents (do not accept adolescence)
- get used to
- no feelings
- empathy
Discuss the meaning of any of the vocabulary in the text.
Discuss why adolescence wouldn't be accepted for question 4 (this is the adjective form when a noun is required).
Have students reflect on their approach to answering this question, one of the five types on the paper 2 listening exam.
Handouts
The first handout is the text, taken from BBC News. You can find the original text here.
Billie Eilish GhostedTask 2: Reading Comprehension
Ask students if they can name the top 3 most-played artists on Spotify. Then, ask them: "If you were friends with them, would you ghost them?" This could be an opportunity to review the 2nd conditional if you've taught it before or know your students are aware of it. If they aren't, park it for another day.
Hand out the text and ask students to predict what it will be about based on the headline: Billie Eilish: 'I was ghosted. It was insane'. Try getting them to go beyond simply repeating the headline; what sort of reactions do you think she will give? Have them read the text and see if their predictions were correct. What else did they find?
Hand out the text-handling activities. You could either conduct this as a straight-up exam-style task, a more informal practice exercise, or a competition with students working in pairs and discussing their answers. I like the latter for formative tasks as I get to hear students thinking through the options. It's good to strike a balance, though.
Answers
1. Why does Billie describe the experience as “insane”?
a. She had been ghosted by someone she had known for years, even after making specific plans to meet.
2. How did Billie react when she found out the person who ghosted her was dating somebody else?
b. She was shocked and couldn’t believe people still behaved like that.
3. What does Billie blame for her difficulties in having friends?
Stardom / being famous
Accept other wording with similar meaning.
4. What has Billie been doing to address this problem?
making new friends / rekindling old friendships / reconnected with a bunch of old friends
Accept other wording with similar meaning.
5. What is the main purpose of this article?
b. To report Billie Eilish's personal experiences with ghosting and her difficulties maintaining friendships after becoming famous.
It's worth discussing that this text is reporting on an interview that took place on a podcast. It's essentially an embedded interview.
Which word or phrase between lines 1-20 could meaningfully be replaced by…
6. unfamiliar
uninitiated (line 6)
Discuss the nuanced meaning here; "the uninitiated" should be seen as a set phrase, including the definite article. It refers to "people who do not have special knowledge or experience of something" (Longman Learner Dictionary).
7. ends
cuts off (line 6)
Draw attention to this being a phrasal verb. When Paper 1 and Individual Oral criteria ask for "idiomatic language", this is a great way to show the examiner what you know.
8. released
unveiled (line 10)
"Released" is perhaps the more common verb choice when talking about a musical artist making a song or album available to the public.
9. actually
Literally (line 13; 15)
This has the potential to be a lesson in its own right! Language purists claim "literally" should only be used to denote something is true as stated, as opposed to "figuratively", which means something is symbolic, not meant to be taken as fact. However, language evolves! Like it or not, it is now acceptable to use "literally" differently. Let's look at the two uses in the text:
1. She said the incident happened last December, adding it was "literally unbelievable. To this day, [he] never texted me again."
Here, Eilish uses "literally" to modify the adjective "unbelievable" to emphasise her shock at the incident.
2. "I was like, did you die? Did you literally die?," she said.
In this case, "literally" functions ironically or humorously, emphasising the opposite of its literal meaning. Eilish doesn't seriously believe the person died but uses "literally" to dramatise her reaction in a playful or exaggerated way. It's like a hyperbolic intensifier.
Conceptual Understanding
An important teaching point here would be to reflect on register. Eilish's use of "literally" in an interview is acceptable, given her audience and the context. Students could feasibly use it in a text requiring a less formal register, such as an email to a friend or a diary entry.
10. Honestly
genuinely (line 19)
There is not as much controversy over this one! But you may wish to discuss the way in which people (often younger generations) use terms like "honestly" and "genuinely" to come across as more sincere or authentic. Emotional honesty and relatability are important in gaining the trust of our audience, especially in today's social media-driven world.
TOK Connection
The evolution of language is a topic that is ripe for exploration through the lens of TOK. The introduction of new words and reappropriation of old, as with "ghost" becoming a verb and "literally" gaining a new meaning, shows us that established knowledge can change over time.
Have students choose one of the following research questions, conduct some research in pairs, and then present their findings to the class.
- What role does social context play in shaping the meaning of words over time?
- Can a word’s meaning ever truly be “fixed,” or is all language inherently fluid?
- What is the role of authority (e.g., dictionaries, language academies) in determining what is “correct” language?
- How does the acceptance of new meanings for words influence our ability to communicate across generations?
Task 3: Writing
Give students a choice of task from the options below.
Diary Entry: Imagine you are Billie Eilish, reflecting on being ghosted. Write a diary entry to describe your experience and how it made you feel.
School Magazine Article: Write an article for your school magazine explaining the concept of ghosting and its impact on relationships.
Forum Post: Share your thoughts about Billie Eilish’s ghosting experience in a post on a Billie Eilish fan forum.
Argumentative Essay: Write an essay arguing for or against introducing new words into a language. Consider the impact of language evolution on communication and culture.