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Is Billie Eilish's New Song 'wish you were gay' Queer Baiting?
Fans who thought Eilish was coming out were swiftly disappointed.
17-year-old singer-songwriter Billie Eilish's new song "wish you were gay" is causing quite the stir among queer fans, especially those who read the track's name and thought she was coming out.
"Man I thought she was coming out of the closet," said one YouTube commenter.
\u201cYo wtf did @billieeilish just come out as gay?\u201d— ~KAY (@~KAY) 1551654380
\u201cplease lord let billie eilish be gay\u201d— \ud83e\udd40 (@\ud83e\udd40) 1551657355
But as you listen to the song, you realize that Eilish isn't talking to another girl. She's wishing a guy she's crushing on is actually gay so he has a legitimate reason to reject her advances.
"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."
"I wrote this song about a guy that really was not interested in me and it made me feel horrible," Eilish has said on social media. "It's not an insult at all. It's more when someone doesn't love you, it makes you think, 'Why? What's wrong with me?'"
Ironically enough, Eilish says her crush actually ended up being gay, "so I wrote the song and made him fuck a dude. I'm fucking proud bro except not really though because I was really into him, like so into him, he's so hot oh my god."
Many fans are enjoying the tongue-in-cheek track while others (myself included) can only elicit an eye-roll. Using homosexuality to be provocative is cringey at best, antagonistic queer-bait at its worst. 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.
Eilish might have anticipated some kind of backlash because according to Billboard, for the for the next 48 hours a portion of the proceeds from her apparel line BLOHSH "will be donated to the Trevor Project, the world’s largest suicide and crisis prevention program for at-risk LGBTQ youth."
Listen to "wish you were gay" below.
Taylor Henderson is a PRIDE.com contributor. This proud Texas Bama studied Media Production/Studies and Sociology at The University of Texas at Austin, where he developed his passions for pop culture, writing, and videography. He's absolutely obsessed with Beyoncé, mangoes, and cheesy YA novels that allow him to vicariously experience the teen years he spent in the closet. He's also writing one!
Taylor Henderson is a PRIDE.com contributor. This proud Texas Bama studied Media Production/Studies and Sociology at The University of Texas at Austin, where he developed his passions for pop culture, writing, and videography. He's absolutely obsessed with Beyoncé, mangoes, and cheesy YA novels that allow him to vicariously experience the teen years he spent in the closet. He's also writing one!
