Billie Eilish Backlash for 'Wish You Were Gay'

If you title a song that, it could be risky unless you're singing about a member of the same-sex. And indeed it was, with many fans of Eilish criticising her and accusing her of exploitation of the LGBT community for her latest single.

The song 'Wish You Were Gay', which is a part of her latest album 'WHEN WE FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?', features a heartbroken Eilish singing about a boy who she wished didn't like her for any real reason but because he didn't like girls in general. Personally, I feel like this is actually quite a relatable statement. We've all hit on girls in straight clubs and thought "eh, they're straight." It's another thing to get rejected at a gay club. It eases the pain more to tell ourselves something along the lines of it not being me, it's just all girls they don't like.

"To spare my pride/To give your lack of interest an explanation/Don't say I'm not your type/Just say that I'm not your preferred sexual orientation."

Fans came out and said they felt the song was offensive. However, Eilish defended the song in an interview with Popbuzz, saying that "first off I want to be so clear that it's not supposed to be an insult. I feel like it's been a little bit misinterpreted. I tried so hard to not make it in any way offensive. 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 went on further to state that "it could be the opposite way. It could be a girl interested in a girl and that girl likes girls but she doesn't like her back. And then it's like "Well, damn. I wish you were straight!"


What do you think?
Read more about the song:
https://www.pride.com/music/2019/3/04/billie-eilishs-new-song-wish-you-were-gay-queer-baiting
https://www.dailyedge.ie/in-defence-of-i-wish-you-were-gay-by-billie-eilish-amid-the-controversy-its-causing-4529812-Mar2019/
https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/pride/8501522/billie-eilish-responds-wish-you-were-gay-backlash-video-interview
https://www.popbuzz.com/music/news/billie-eilish-wish-you-were-gay-backlash/