Billie Eilish and the dissing of Taylor Swift: “I wasn't talking about her”

“It would be nice if people would stop putting words in my mouth that I never said and read what I actually said in the article. I wasn't pointing the finger at anyone, I was talking about an industry-related problem”: so Billie Eilish , in a story on Instagram, denies the dissing of Taylor Swift that the latter's fans wanted to read in the reflection that the “Bad guy” voice indulged in in recent days in an interview with Billboard talking about how the various limited editions of records and vinyls are – in her opinion – means of inflating sales.

“We live in a time where, for some reason, it's very important for some artists to make all kinds of different vinyl and packaging. Which drives up sales and numbers and makes artists more money,” Billie Eilish said. Taylor Swift is a master of this practice: just think, for example, that the pop star's latest album, “Midnights”, was released on vinyl in 2022 in four versions that lined up form the dial of a clock: “Collect them all”, she said, encouraging fans to reach for their wallets. The reissue of “1989”, however, was printed in 14 different variations. But Swift isn't the only pop artist fond of the practice. Three years ago Billie Eilish herself sent eight vinyl variations of her “Happier than ever” to stores. Result: in one week the vinyl of “Happier than ever” became the second best-selling of the last thirty years.

“I find it really frustrating to be someone who really goes out of his way to be sustainable and tries his best to involve everyone on his team in being sustainable. Then you have some of the biggest artists in the world who do 40 different fucking vinyl packaging, just to make you keep buying copies. They only care about sales and making money,” Eilish added to Billboard. Now, however, the Los Angeles star clarifies: “When it comes to variations, many artists publish them. Including me. I say it clearly in the article. There is the climate crisis and each of us should do our part to address the problem “.