Billie Eilish on Artists Lying in Their Songs: 'There’s a Lot of That in Rap Right Now'

Rap cap is a sad but real reality. Yet, this isn't stopping Billie Eilish from denouncing people that choose to lie in their lyrics.  

During a conversation with Vogue, Eilish admits the storytelling in her music is mostly fiction, explaining she and her brother Finneas enjoy developing characters and writing from the perspective of those characters. But, to her, there's a big difference between telling an entertaining story and lying about your life. 

"Just because the story isn’t real doesn’t mean it can’t be important," Eilish said. "There’s a difference between lying in a song and writing a story. There are tons of songs where people are just lying. There’s a lot of that in rap right now, from people that I know who rap. It’s like, ‘I got my AK-47, and I’m fuckin’,’ and I’m like, what? You don’t have a gun. ‘And all my bitches…’ I’m like, which bitches? That’s posturing, and that’s not what I’m doing."

Although she makes pop music, Billie Eilish is heavily influenced by hip-hop and embraces the culture. She's gone on record stating that her massive hit, "Bad Guy," was inspired by J.I.D and Isaiah Rashad tracks. Eilish has collaborated with Denzel Curry, Vince Staples, and other rappers. These connections have drawn her close to the genre.

As far as her own lyrics, Eilish's mother, Maggie Baird, told Vogue some of her daughter's morbid songs used to scare her. 

"I needed to understand that this was essentially creative writing," she said. "There were things Billie did that totally worried me in terms of her behavior. The stuff she used to write on her bedroom walls scared me: ‘Why am I alive?’… But not the lyrics. The really dark stuff is fiction."

Eilish's songwriting ability has earned her critical and commercial success. She walked away from this year's Grammys with five awards. Also, superstar artists like Drake have admitted to being fans of her work.

"The internet is such a stupid-ass mess right now," Eilish told Vogue when discussing the backlash Drake received for sending her praise through text messages. "Everybody's so sensitive. A grown man can't be a fan of an artist? There are so many people that the internet should be more worried about. Like, you're really going to say that Drake is creepy because he's a fan of mine, and then you're going to go vote for Trump? What the fuck is that shit?"

- Complex