Billie Eilish, the somber teen who has built a reputation on writing shadowy pop, has given us another taste from her forthcoming debut album, WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?. And the taste of "wish you were gay" might be somewhat sour, but like Eilish's best songs, it's deceptively laced with honey.
Where past album tracks like "you should see me in a crown" and lead single "bury a friend" leaned into dreamlike menace, "wish you were gay" is a pitch-black tale of unrequited love. The maximal beats roil and snap like a tension release, as Eilish recounts moments where her desire for her lover's affections went unnoticed ("I ate alone at 7, you were six minutes away").
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So when she sings "I just kinda wish you were gay," best believe, it's not a low blow of any kind, but a deep sigh. In fact, as part of a new campaign for the single, Eilish announced that for the next 48 hours, a portion of proceeds from her merch store will be donated to The Trevor Project, a suicide and crisis prevention program for LGBTQ youth.
And in a new YouTube video for her series "A Snippet into Billie's Mind," Eilish and her brother Finneas O'Connell, who produced the song, discussed the inspiration behind the track. "This was a situation where I was fucking all for this kid, like oh my god," she explained. "It was the kind of love where everything was thrown out there and nothing was latched onto."
For more information on The Trevor Project, visit www.thetrevorproject.org.
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