Billie Eilish criticized her music industry peers over their ‘wasteful’ practice of releasing numerous vinyl versions of albums to increase sales.
The 22-year-old Grammy winner — who recently revealed she partied til 6am after winning her Oscar — voiced her opinion during an interview about her sustainability efforts with Billboard published on Thursday.
‘For some reason, it’s very important to some artists to make all sorts of different vinyl and packaging,’ she claimed. ‘Which ups the sales and ups the numbers and gets them more money and gets them more.’
‘I can’t even express to you how wasteful it is,’ she continued. ‘I find it really frustrating as somebody who really goes out of my way to be sustainable and do the best that I can and try to involve everybody in my team in being sustainable.
‘And then it’s some of the biggest artists in the world making f****** 40 different vinyl packages that have a different unique thing just to get you to keep buying more.’
Billie Eilish criticized her music industry peers over their ‘wasteful’ practice of releasing numerous vinyl versions of albums to increase sales; pictured in February
‘For some reason, it’s very important to some artists to make all sorts of different vinyl and packaging,’ she claimed. ‘Which ups the sales and ups the numbers and gets them more money and gets them more’ pictured Happier Than Ever album cover
The Bad Guy singer is not exempt from this practice as her latest studio album, Happier Than Ever, was available in eight different vinyl variations.
However, the variants were ‘100% recycled black vinyl, plus recycled scraps for colored variants and shrink-wrap made from sugar cane,’ according to Billboard.
Eilish went on to say that she finds it ‘so wasteful’ and ‘irritating’ to witness ‘all your favorite artists doing that s***’, prioritizing their sales figures and financial gains above all else.
While the singer refrained from specifying any names, a multitude of well-known artists, including Taylor Swift, Travis Scott, Olivia Rodrigo, and Blink-182, have released numerous vinyl versions of their recent albums.
As for how Eilish fans are responded to her sustainability efforts, Eilish’s mom Maggie Baird offered to the outlet: ‘The truth is, you just have to do it anyway.
‘Artists can cast a giant shadow of influence. If you’re not perfect, but you are influencing many, many, many people to do better, it’s multiplied hundreds of times.’
Towards the ends of the interview, Eilish reflected on the widespread apathy towards the severity of the climate crisis, noting the common sentiment of resignation: ‘What’s the point? We’re all going to die anyway.’
‘Believe me, I feel that way too. But ‘what’s the point’ goes both ways: ‘What’s the point? I can do whatever I want. We’re all going to die anyway.’ Or, ‘What’s the point? I might as well do the right thing while I’m here.’ That’s my view,’ she explained.
The Bad Guy singer is not exempt from this practice as her latest studio album, Happier Than Ever, was available in eight different vinyl variations. However, the variants were ‘100% recycled black vinyl, plus recycled scraps for colored variants and shrink-wrap made from sugar cane,’ according to Billboard
While the singer refrained from specifying any names, a multitude of well-known artists, including Taylor Swift, Travis Scott, Olivia Rodrigo, and Blink-182, have released numerous vinyl versions of their recent albums’ Swift pictured 2019
Swift’s 1989 album has several variants
In February, the musician disclosed that her upcoming album had been mastered and hinted that she was delaying its release until Ariana Grande’s album came out first.
The upcoming album will succeed Eilish’s previous works, including 2021’s Happier Than Ever and 2019’s When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?.
In 2022, she also unveiled a two-track EP titled Guitar Songs and delivered an acclaimed single titled What Was I Made For? for the Barbie soundtrack.
The single went on to win the Best Original Song Oscar.