Billie Eilish is clarifying her criticism of overconsumption in the music industry after she drew the ire of several artists’ fanbases.
In a statement shared on her Instagram Stories over the weekend, Eilish said her remarks to Billboard about artists’ “wasteful” habit of issuing multiple vinyl editions of their albums weren’t directed at any specific musicians.
“It would be so awesome if people would stop putting words into my mouth and actually read what I said in that Billboard article,” the nine-time Grammy winner wrote, per Rolling Stone. “I wasn’t singling anyone out, these are industry-wide systemic issues.”
She went on to note: “When it comes to variants, so many artists release them — including ME! Which I clearly state in the article. The climate crisis is now and it’s about all of us being part of the problem and trying to do better. Sheesh.”
In an interview with Billboard published last week, Eilish said she felt irritated by the pressure some artists felt to “make all sorts of different vinyl and packaging” in an effort to generate higher sales figures for their albums and singles.
“I can’t even express to you how wasteful it is,” she explained. “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 — and then it’s some of the biggest artists in the world making fucking 40 different vinyl packages that have a different unique thing just to get you to keep buying more.”
Though Eilish didn’t mention any artists by name, many were quick to assume that her comments were lobbied at Taylor Swift, whose most recent album, “Midnights,” hit the shelves with at least four different vinyl editions.
“Oh the swifties are going to HATE this,” one person wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Added another: “She clocked taylor so bad i’m crying.”
Next month, Swift will unveil “The Tortured Poets Department,” which is already available for preorder in multiple variants.
Elsewhere in her Billboard chat, Eilish acknowledged that she issued eight different variants of her 2021 album, “Happier Than Ever” ― but, as her mother Maggie Baird pointed out, the vinyl used in the printings was recycled, as were some of the materials used in the packaging.