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Billie Eilish Responds to Backlash Over New Song “Wish You Were Gay”
Mar
Billie Eilish Responds to Backlash Over New Song “Wish You Were Gay”
Upon releasing her latest single “Wish You Were Gay,” Billie Eilish received considerable backlash, as critics have alleged that the song’s lyrics are offensive to the LGBTQ community. While her fans initially thought that the single would be a queer empowerment song, some individuals later discovered that they found the track to be insulting.
Eilish responded to the adverse reaction during an interview with PopBuzz. The “Bury a Friend” singer reportedly cited a miscommunication regarding her intentions and the meaning of the song when the show’s host asked her to explain the story behind it. “First off, I want to be so clear that it’s so not supposed to be an insult,” she explained. “I feel like it’s been a little bit misinterpreted. I tried so hard to not make it in any way offensive.”
The main criticism lodged at the singer was that her song is queerbaiting, essentially drawing in her LGBTQ fanbase with the title, many under the assumption that she was using the song to come out of the closet, and instead, according to Pride, using homosexuality to be provocative.
Eilish further elaborated her intentions in regards to the song, explaining the sentiment that prompted her to record this track. “The whole idea of the song is, it’s kind of a joke. It’s kind of like ‘I’m an ass and you don’t love me. And you don’t love me because you don’t love me and that’s the only reason and I wish you didn’t love me because you didn’t love girls,” she explained. According to NME, the story used to illustrate Eilish’s sentiment is based off of a true interaction she had with a boy. “He just came out to me like a couple weeks ago,” she revealed. “So I wrote the song and made him fuck a dude. I’m fucking proud, bro!”
The 17-year-old continued to iterate that the song’s meaning isn’t confined to straight relationships, and that the same train of thought can be applied to gay relationships as well. “It could be a girl interested in a girl and maybe that girl likes girls also but she doesn’t like her back,” she explained. “And then it’s like ‘Well damn. I wish you were straight!’ You know what I’m saying? It could be exactly the other way. I wish you were straight because you didn’t like me because you like boys.”
