Billie Eilish is trying to set the record straight after her latest single “Wish You Were Gay” was criticized by the LGBTQ community for “queerbaiting.”
The song received almost immediate backlash when it was released on Monday, with many finding the narrative of the track insulting. While fans expected an empowerment anthem, the lyrics instead describe a woman who wishes the reason for her crush not having romantic feelings for her is that he’s gay.
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“First off, I want to be so clear that it’s so not supposed to be an insult,” the 17-year-old singer told PopBuzz when asked about the song’s meaning. “I feel like it’s been a little bit misinterpreted. I tried so hard to not make it in any way offensive.”
Eilish said her intentions were “miscommunicated” and denied that she was “queerbaiting” — attempting to engage the LGBTQ fanbase with what Pride called a “provocative” title that suggested the singer was coming out of the closet.
“Luring in LGBTQ fans with a title like ‘Wish you were gay’ then singing about a boy who doesn’t love you back is more than just unsatisfying, it feels a slap in the face to a marginalized community starving from the sparse array of queer pop music,” wrote Taylor Henderson at Pride.com.
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The “Bury a Friend” hitmaker further explained the song. “It’s kind of a joke. It’s kind of like, ‘I’m an a** 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.'”
“It could be a girl interested in a girl and maybe that girl likes girls also but she doesn’t like her back,” she continued. “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.”
