Fans Think Billie Eilish Shades Taylor Swift Over ‘Wasteful’ Vinyls
Billie Eilish is slamming the popularity of musicians releasing multiple vinyl versions of the same record. The “What Was I Made For?” singer thinks it is a cheap, “wasteful” ploy to make even more money. In a new interview with Billboard, the 22-year-old award-winner likens this industry norm to The Hunger Games: “We’re all going to do it because [it’s] the only way to play the game.”
Despite vinyl growing in popularity, Eilish is aware of the environmental impact of doing this on the Earth. She tells the publication how she has been pushing the music industry and people in power to be more sustainable after growing up in an environmentally conscious household. She is furious about the “40 different vinyl packages that have a different unique thing just to get you to keep buying more.” You can practically hear the artist seething as she adds, “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–.”
(Photo by Peter Nicholls/Getty Images)
Eilish’s 2021 album, Happier Than Ever, had eight different vinyls available for sale. However, they were made from 100% recycled black vinyl, with colored scraps for the different versions, and shrink-wrap made from sugar cane. Most vinyl releases use “virgin” vinyl containing plastic resin and come wrapped in single-use plastic. Eilish is known for her attempts to run her career sustainably, including powering her festival sets from temporary solar farms installed nearby and releasing fewer merch that are of durable quality.
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Meanwhile, artists like Taylor Swift, who has four different versions of her upcoming The Tortured Poets Department album, frustrate Eilish, who is conscious about her carbon footprint tries to get others to do the same. Swift’s vinyls are different-colored, which gives Swifties incentives to buy all four, as everything is a collectible for a Swiftie.
Fans React To How Billie Eilish Shades Taylor Swift
Noting Eilish’s comment, folks on X (formerly Twitter) have strong assumptions that this is directly calling out Swift, who has been criticized over her private jets. Just last month, Swift sold one of her jets after years of scrutiny over her carbon emissions. In 2022, Swift topped the list of the worst celebrity private jet CO2 emission offenders, according to Yard, a sustainability marketing agency. According to the report, Swift’s shortest flight in 2022 was a 36-minute trip from Missouri to Nashville.
The same treatment came with Swift’s 2022 Midnights album, which came in four different versions — each with the same track list, but the backs of each edition featured one-quarter of a clock face. When all four pieces were combined with a separate wooden “clock kit” sold through her online shop, it created a usable clock.
Reacting to the Billboard interview on X (formerly Twitter), fans believe Billie Eilish shades Taylor Swift. One person wrote alongside a photo of Wendy Williams covering her mouth: “we know exactly who she’s talking about.” Another person commented: “she spilled and if you mad that’s cause you feel your fave is attacked.”
Being way more brutal and calling out Swift specifically, one fan stated: “oh the swifties are going to HATE this.” Another said, “Oh billie don’t end taylor like that, we know Taylor doesn’t recycle vinyls and ruins the environment so her garbage albums can sell!” A third wrote: “Clocked Taylor swift bad [crying emojis].” One person savagely said: “the swiftards crying in the replies shows how insecure and horrible of a person their fav is [crying emojis].”
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