Billie Eilish's age tends to be brought up when discussing her breakout year. For example, the fact that she is only 17 years old makes her the youngest artist to be nominated for all four of the Grammys' top categories. If she takes home 'Album of the Year', she'll be the youngest person to have ever done so, stealing Taylor Swift's record for winning at 20. While her age is often results in praise, Jimmy Kimmel spun it into a reason for mockery. While interviewing the singer on his show last week, he took a break for a segment in which he ran through a list of things that preceded her birth and inquired whether she was familiar with them.
When asked if she could name a Van Halen, she looked puzzled and responded, "Who?" This left Kimmel on the verge of tears and apparently some people on Twitter too. This clip exposing her ignorance of the American band, which formed in 1972, went viral on YouTube and attracted a variety of reactions. Actually, not that wide of a variety because the reactors could essentially divided into two camps: 1) People who are dumbfounded that a recording artist can't name these rock legends 2) People who are dumbfounded that she would be expected to.
This sort of segment is likely targeted at Kimmel's veteran demographic, who might get some gratification from letting out a "kids these days..." sigh (or tirade). There isn't anything too interesting about a 17-year-old being unaware of things that weren't popular in her lifetime. Eilish is too busy performing sold-out shows around the world to touch-up her knowledge of rock trivia.
Read some reactions from both ends of the spectrum below.
https://twitter.com/_/status/1201520491166654464
https://twitter.com/_/status/1201557028860235776
https://twitter.com/_/status/1201302247365369856
https://twitter.com/_/status/1201565470635241473
https://twitter.com/_/status/1201559522193690624
https://twitter.com/_/status/1201483666301554688
https://twitter.com/_/status/1201547905011724288