Billie Eilish responds to backlash against her vinyl comments: “I wasn’t singling anyone out”

nme.com:

Billie Eilish has responded to the backlash against her recent comments on artists releasing multiple vinyl variants.In an interview with Billboard discussing her climate activism, Eilish made headlines for criticising the practise of releasing multiple vinyl variants to boost album sales, calling it “wasteful”. “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,” she added.Some outlets such as TMZ and The New York Post interpreted Eilish’s comments as a dig at Taylor Swift, who is known for releasing multiple variants of her albums.

Swift’s 2020 album ‘Folklore‘, for instance, had eight vinyl variants; her recent 2022 album ‘Midnights’ sold in five different variants as well.Now, Eilish has commented on the response to her vinyl remarks, taking to Instagram stories by beginning: “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.”“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.”Eilish’s mother, Maggie Baird, did acknowledge the issues were “systemic” in the original interview, with the singer herself later adding: “We’re all going to do it because [it’s] the only way to play the game.