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'Wish You Were Gay:' Billie Eilish, What Were You Thinking?

Singer Accused of Queer Baiting in the Wake of the Song's Release

By Christina St-JeanPublished 5 years ago 4 min read
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It seems the world has effectively fallen in love with Billie Eilish since her first song released on SoundCloud, "Ocean Eyes"—went viral in 2016. With the release of her current title, "Wish You Were Gay," people are a little less excited and a little unhappy.

"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," she sings, and now, her fans are wondering exactly what the singer's intent was in calling the song #WishYouWereGay.

For her part, Eilish is insistent that the song is meant as something of a joke. According to PopBuzz, the 17-year-old said on her Instagram back in July 2018, "I wrote this song about a guy that really was not interested in me and it made me feel horrible so the song is called, "Wish You Were Gay." That's so not meant to be offensive in any way. It literally means I wish he was gay so that he didn't like me for an actual reason."

There appears to have been some debate on #BillieEilish's social media feed is about whether or not she was actually homophobic in creating the song, but one user pointed out that she never once admitted a hatred of the LGBTQ+ community. She simply stated that she wished this particular individual was gay so that she could better accept his lack of interest in her.

As one might expect, Eilish has come under fire for the song title and for the lyrics. According to LGBTLife, one social media user said, "Billie Eilish’s new song is gross, queer-baiting, straight, cisgender nonsense and i’m (sic) over it."

Eilish has also explained that she believes the premise of the song could be altered to reflect a situation where one person likes another of the same gender, but the person doesn't return that affection so the person wishes that the object of their affection was straight.

Regardless of Eilish's insistence that the song is being misinterpreted, we have to remember one thing. She's 17. While she is unquestionably talented and has a beautiful voice, why else has she garnered the attention she has? She's still a teenager. To an extent, she lacks the maturity at this age to understand that a song titled "Wish You Were Gay" might be deemed inappropriate. It seems like a logical response to the question, "Why don't you like me?" Believing or even wishing that the object of your affection was gay seems like an easy way to deal with the pain of rejection when you're younger.

While she may be a teenager, she has enough adults in her life in this moment that there should have perhaps been some discussion about the potential risks in putting this song out to the public. On its surface, it seems like a relatively innocuous release; a popular 17-year-old puts a song out to the world and people are wowed by her talent, as they should be. However, this is a world in which we should know better than to even suggest things like ,"Wish You Were Gay" as though that were a valid reason why someone might not be romantically interested in you.

Eilish does say that the person about whom the song was written did end up coming out to her later, a fact she acknowledges with some humor. She also admitted that she was 14 when she wrote the song. However, three years of growth can and should change a person, and while I am the last person to suggest that an artist deliberately censor themselves, there should have been some consideration given to a rewrite prior to the release of "Wish You Were Gay."

Taylor Henderson, a writer at Pride.com, said it felt like Eilish was queerbaiting with the title because, “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."

While everyone can relate to liking someone that doesn't like you back, Eilish should have given some consideration to the wide-ranging impact that a song title like "Wish You Were Gay" could result in.

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About the Creator

Christina St-Jean

I'm a high school English and French teacher who trains in the martial arts and works towards continuous self-improvement.

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