Billie Eilish has revealed that one song off of her last album, Happier Than Ever, is about by her fellow singer-songwriter, Olivia Rodrigo.
Talking with The Los Angeles Times, Eilish, 21, shared that not only does she find Rodrigo's sophomore album, Guts, to be "adorable," but that the "Ballad of a Homeschooled Girl" singer, 20, partially inspired the song "Goldwing."
The "Bad Guy" singer told the outlet that while just 14 months separates them in age, she feels a sense of "protectiveness" over Rodrigo due to their similar pathways to fame. Both singers came up in their teens and quickly became cultural icons among members of Gen Z.
"I think everybody’s experiences are so individual," she says. "Nobody has had anybody else’s life, you know? But I do feel a protectiveness over Olivia. I have a song called ‘Goldwing’ from my last album that’s kind of about her. I’ve never said that to anyone."
The song, she says, is not "only about her," but that she did in fact have Rodrigo in mind while she was writing it.
"She was coming up, and she was younger than me, and nobody had ever been younger than me," Eilish says.
The song, it seems, serves as a warning to Rodrigo and anyone else entering the same stratosphere of fame and fortune Eilish was met with early on and the exploitation that comes with it.
"They’re gonna tell you what you want to hear, then they’re gonna disappear. Gonna claim you like a souvenir, just to sell you in a year," Eilish sings in the song.
"Olivia was getting big, and she was just, like, this little dainty child," Eilish says of Rodrigo. "I felt so nervous. I was worried about her. She came up in that acting world, and people are so weird. I don’t know — I just felt very protective over her. And I feel that way to everyone."
The "Happier Than Ever" singer went on to add that she feels that way about many of the young girls she comes across in the entertainment industry, specifically mentioning Ariana Greenblatt who starred in the blockbuster hit Barbie.
Eilish recently just scored a Grammy nomination for her song, "What Was I Made For" from the film. The song -- which is used in the end credits of Barbie -- wrestles with feelings of doubt, uncertainty and deficiency as a woman.
It was those feelings and her own experience that caused her to put pen to paper for "Goldwing" and to look out for her fellow young women.
"I just see myself in all these young girls. And it’s the girls, man. Boys can handle themselves. They’re dudes — they don’t have to deal with it like we do," she says. "I just want to hold everybody in a little glass box and never let anything touch them."
RELATED CONTENT:
