Billie Eilish is setting the record straight after her comments about vinyl in Billboard‘s recent sustainability issue caused a bit of a stir.
In response to fan speculation over who she may have been referring to in the interview, during which the 22-year-old pop star called out the “wasteful” practice of releasing numerous album variants to drive sales, Eilish took to Instagram Stories Sunday (March 31) to clarify what she meant. “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,” she began, writing in white text over a black background.
“i wasn’t singling anyone out,” she continued. “these are industry-wide systemic issues. & when it comes to variants, so many artists release them – including ME! which i clearly state in the article.”
Leading up to her new comments, Eilish and her mom, Support + Feed founder Maggie Baird, spoke to Billboard about their desire to see more sustainable practices in the music industry. Their past initiatives have included using 100% recycled black vinyl, as well as recycled scraps for colored variants and shrink-wrap made from sugar cane, when releasing different variants for the Grammy winner’s Billboard 200-topping album Happier Than Ever.
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“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,” Eilish said in the interview, published Thursday (March 28). “I can’t even express to you how wasteful it is.”
“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,” she continued at the time. “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 sh-t.”
After the piece went live, some fans on social media assumed that Eilish was targeting specific artists with her comments. Some thought that the two-time Oscar winner was indirectly shading Taylor Swift — whose upcoming album The Tortured Poets Department has four different deluxe editions available for purchase — while musicians such as Beyoncé, Ariana Grande, Harry Styles, Ed Sheeran, Olivia Rodrigo and more have all released a variety of different pressings for single albums in recent history.
But as Eilish clarified in her new post, protecting the environment is a global issue that — much like her comments in the article — doesn’t come down to any one artist. “the climate crisis is now and its about all of us being part of the problem and trying to do better,” added the nine-time Grammy winner in her post, linking off to Billboard‘s site. “Sheesh.”
Read Eilish and Baird’s interview with Billboard here.
