Billie EIlish opens up about "toxic" and "vicious" responses to her music

Los Angeles, California - Billie Eilish has opened up about the "vicious" way in which some particularly passionate fans have responded to her music in a candid interview excerpt.

Billie Eilish has opened up about the "vicious" way in which some particularly passionate fans have responded to her music in a candid interview excerpt.
Billie Eilish has opened up about the "vicious" way in which some particularly passionate fans have responded to her music in a candid interview excerpt.  © MICHAEL TRAN / AFP

In a new outtake from her Rolling Stone cover story, the 22-year-old revealed that her fans can sometimes take things too far in their reactions to her music.

"You can write a song about an experience that made you feel a type of way, and the internet is defending you or whatever, but suddenly it becomes this vicious [thing]," Billie said.

"People are cruel. 'Oh, my God, this person is horrible. They deserve to die. We need to ruin this person's life because they made Billie feel this way.' And I wish that it wasn't like that. I really do."

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The LUNCH artist hasn't specifically called out any exes in her music, but many fans – especially in the age of social media – believe they've cracked the code of her inspirations, which sets the stage for such vitriolic reactions.

Billie continued on to acknowledge that a songwriter's role "is to write songs about whatever we feel that we want to write songs about," but she admitted things could get "really toxic" online afterward.

Billie Eilish asks fans not to attack supposed song inspirations

Taylor Swift (l.) and Ariana Grande have also dissuaded fans from attacking supposed inspirations for their music.
Taylor Swift (l.) and Ariana Grande have also dissuaded fans from attacking supposed inspirations for their music.  © Collage: IMAGO / ABACAPRESS & Dimitrios Kambouris / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP

"I want to be clear: Please don't take it and run," she added. "Take it and feel it and sit there and understand and hear me. For the love of God, hear me and listen to me. They won’t really listen, but I can say it."

Many other of today's most popular songwriters have also called on their fanbases not to attack people in their personal lives whom listeners believe to be the inspiration.

Taylor Swift gave her fans a warning ahead of the release of Speak Now (Taylor's Version), which featured new recordings of some of her most scathing breakup tracks.

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"I'm not putting this album out so that you should feel the need to defend me on the internet against someone you think I might have written a song about," she told the crowd at an Eras Tour show last June.

Most recently, Ariana Grande took similar measures after the release of eternal sunshine, which many fans assumed was inspired by her divorce from Dalton Gomez.

"anyone that is sending hateful messages to the people in my life based on your interpretation of this album is not supporting me and is absolutely doing the polar opposite of what i would ever encourage (and is also entirely misinterpreting the intention behind the music)," she wrote.

Cover photo: MICHAEL TRAN / AFP

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