You wanna guess the color of her bandanna.
Photo: Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for Live Nation

In the span of a week, a viral concert interaction has made a teenage Billie Eilish fan the most famous red-bandanna girl since Rosie the Riveter. At Eilish’s October 9 concert in Miami, a man grabbed at Eilish from the barricade, pulling her into the crowd. While security physically handled the situation, the internet latched on to a young woman wearing a red headscarf who followed to verbally reprimand him.

Eilish’s supporters have reason to be protective. Like many A-list artists in the age of Chappell Roan, she’s tried to assert boundaries as a public figure over the course of her career — sharing her desire for the internet to discuss her body and relationships less, criticizing “invasive” paparazzi, and even being granted a five-year restraining order against a stalker. Overnight, “Red Bandanna Girl” has become, yes, a meme but also a symbol for fans’ outspoken defense of their idols. “I know that you have my back,” Eilish told the crowd during a recent show. “And you just prove it to me over and over.”

A man grabbed at Eilish as she passed by fans during the October 9 show, knocking her into the barricade just as her fingers touched “Red Bandanna Girl,” 18-year-old Aniyah Saint-Surin. Security pushed him away, and as he stumbled back, Saint-Surin followed and — in a moment that has been immortalized in a fan edit with more than 31 million views on TikTok to date — started cursing him out. “All I thought was, ‘You just put your hands on this little lady? Now it’s me and you,’” she recalled to Rolling Stone. Security later asked Saint-Surin to answer questions about the incident. She told Cosmopolitan that she was upset to see the offender again: “In the corner of my eye, 10 feet away from me, as I’m talking to the police, he’s sitting right in the chair. I go, That’s him right there? The police were like Whoa, ma’am.”

The 18-year-old high-school senior Aniyah Saint-Surin is a nonprofit co-founder who hopes to major in event and entertainment management in college — and of course, she’s also one of Eilish’s “real stans,” which she defined to Rolling Stone as fans who respect “boundaries” and aren’t “Googling into [an artist’s] business and trying to find out what’s going on in their personal life.” Her first time seeing Eilish (whom she’s been stanning for six years) perform was during that October 9 show in Miami, she told Cosmopolitan. Saint-Surin attended the concert alone and secured a front-row spot. As for the red bandanna that she accessorized her outfit with? “I’m not gang affiliated. It was just to tie my wig down, I swear!” she says.

Even her brother saw the viral moment. “Red bandana girl from last night’s show rules,” Finneas wrote in an Instagram Story after the concert. Eilish’s manager reached out to send her some merch, Saint-Surin confirmed to Cosmopolitan. At Eilish’s next show — StubHub got Saint-Surin, her brother, and his girlfriend free tickets — Eilish appeared to smile and recognize her defender when she passed her at the barricade.

At a subsequent Miami show, during a speech that many fans felt was inspired by Saint-Surin, Eilish thanked her fans for their support. “I know that you have my back, and you just prove it to me over and over,” she said. “It just means so much to me. The way that you guys protect me and care about me is so, so special, and I feel exactly the same way about you.”

Although Saint-Surin said she was initially worried about being perceived as an “angry Black woman,” Eilish fans rewarded her for her reaction. In less than a week, Saint-Surin has gained more than 660,000 followers on TikTok, many of whom thanked her in the comments for confronting the offender. In the immediate aftermath, she had fans bowing to her in person. At the Orlando stop of the tour on October 14, multiple fans paid tribute by wearing red bandannas.

Meanwhile, the phrase has entered the vernacular of other fandoms with “red-bandanna-girl energy” and, in response to Tate McRae being pulled by a fan, “i’ll red bandana girl the f–k outta you.”

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