Billie Eilish told Swifties to stand down after they unleashed their fury at her over an interview in which she criticized the release of albums with multiple versions.
Eilish spoke out against the now-common practice in an interview with Billboard that was published on Thursday.
However, observers on social media began to speculate that her comment may have been a thinly veiled statement about Taylor Swift, who is infamous for not only releasing rerecorded versions of her early albums, but also putting out multiple slightly tweaked physical and digital versions of all her new albums.
However, the 22-year-old singer–songwriter clarified that she wasn’t singling out any artists, including the Eras Tour hitmaker, 34, though she didn’t list any artists by name.
Her clarification didn’t come fast enough for some Swifties, though, as they slammed Billie on X (formerly Twitter) and even bragged about Taylor’s superior sales compared to her own album sales.
Billie Eilish, 22, clarified she wasn’t pointing fingers at Taylor Swift after she spoke out to Billboard against artists releasing multiple variants of their albums due to its negative impact on climate change; seen February 24 in LA
Observers and several Taylor Swift fans — known as Swifties — assumed she was singling out the hitmaker and began slamming Eilish on social media in recent days; seen January 7 in Beverly Hills
Billie tried to clear up matters by posting a simple statement to her Instagram Stories, while also tagging her original Billboard interview so that fans could confirm that she didn’t single Taylor or any other performers out.
‘okay so it would be so awesome if people would stop putting words into my mouth and actually read what i said in that billboard article,’ which had focused on her efforts to make her professional life more ecologically sustainable.
‘i wasn’t singling anyone out, these are industry-wide systemic issues,’ she explained.
Beyond making clear that she wasn’t pointing fingers, Billie even admitted that she was guilty of releasing variants to encourage fans to buy the same album multiple times, though it wasn’t clear if she makes those decisions or if her record label has the final say over releases.
‘& when it comes to variants, so many artists release them — including ME ! which i clearly state in the article,’ she said.
The Bad Guy singer concluded by trying to focus on the bigger picture.
‘the climate crisis is now and its about all of us being part of the problem and trying to do better sheesh,’ she added.
In her Billboard interview on about her sustainability efforts, Eilish remarked that, ‘some of the biggest artists in the world making f***ing 40 different vinyl packages that have a different unique thing just to get you to keep buying more.’
Eilish said she was speaking about ‘industry-wide systemic issues’ and mentioned that she is also part of the problem
Eilish sparked speculation she was shading Swift after she criticized her music industry peers over their ‘wasteful’ practice of releasing numerous vinyl versions of albums to increase sales
Eilish never named Swift or any particular artist, but fans interpreted her comments as a jab at the Love Story songstress, as she is known for releasing numerous vinyl version of her albums
Eilish never named Swift or any particular artist, but fans interpreted her comments as a jab at the Love Story songstress, as she has released numerous vinyl versions of her albums.
DailyMail.com has contacted representatives for Eilish for comment.
‘Swifties and kpop stans found on the floor,’ one X user tweeted.
‘She clocked taylor so bad i’m crying,’ one posted.
‘oh the swifties are going to HATE this,’ another wrote.
‘She cooked Taylor!’ one posted.
Another person pointed out Taylor isn’t the only artist to go down this route: ‘Everyone clocking Taylor for this when we’ve seen artists like Ariana, Olivia, etc. doing the exact same thing now. So let’s not point any fingers…’
One shared video of Billie splattering white paint on her latest album. ‘She was literally doing this for sales calling it “signed”‘, one tweeted.
‘The Taylor diss,’ another posted.
‘Taylor fight back,’ a fan urged.
During her interview with the outlet, Billie criticized ‘big artists’ over their ‘wasteful’ practice of releasing numerous vinyl versions of albums to increase sales.
‘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.
‘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
Fans speculated about a potential Taylor diss on X
‘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.’
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 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 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.