Billie Eilish is throwing down the gauntlet… right at Taylor Swift‘s feet it seems!
The What Was I Made For singer spoke to Billboard on Thursday about all the work she’s doing trying to keep her career eco-friendly, and in doing so couldn’t avoid calling out artists who do the opposite. Obviously she’s not careless enough to drop any names — that would be littering. But it’s impossible not to think of Taylor when certain transgressions are described.
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When asked about using 100% recycled vinyl and biodegradable sugar cane shrink-wrap for Happier Than Ever, she drags artists who aren’t being more thoughtful about their environmental impact:
“We live in this day and age where, for some reason, it’s very important to some artists to make all sorts of different vinyl and packaging… which ups the sales and ups the numbers and gets them more money and gets them more…”
The interviewer notes “it counts toward No. 1 albums.” Billie isn’t having it. She goes off, saying:
“I can’t even express to you how wasteful it is. It is right in front of our faces and people are just getting away with it left and right, and 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.”
Here’s where the Tay talk comes in…
“And then it’s some of the biggest artists in the world making f**king 40 different vinyl packages that have a different unique thing just to get you to keep buying more. It’s so wasteful, and it’s irritating to me that we’re still at a point where you care that much about your numbers and you care that much about making money — and it’s all your favorite artists doing that s**t.”
Artists who have done multiple versions of their latest releases include Beyoncé, Olivia Rodrigo, Travis Scott, and Blink-182.
But obviously Taylor is the first name that pops into your head when it comes to multiple versions, right? It makes sense she gives her fans a curated experience, but it’s a fair point that it would only cost a small portion of profits to do it in a more eco-friendly way. Clearly Billie isn’t feeling the pinch from the extra effort, right?
Billie helped launch and fund REVERB’s Music Decarbonization Project. She partially powered her Lollapalooza set with zero-emissions batteries charged with solar, she partnered with Nike to start using recycled materials and vegan nubuck leather, she works to include water refill stations so fans can bring refillable bottles to her concerts to cut down on plastic bottle waste.
The Bad Guy singer says she’s been struggling to make whatever changes she can since her career started — and laments how hard it is to get most people on board:
“It’s a never-ending f**king fight. As we all know, it’s pretty impossible to force someone to care. All you can do is express and explain your beliefs, but a lot of people don’t really understand the severity of the climate [crisis]. And if they do, they’re like, ‘Well, 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.”
Damn. We guess the ball is in these other artists’ court.
What do YOU think about Billie’s statement? Is she calling out Taylor in particular? Will Swifties think so??
[Image via MEGA/WENN.]