Billie Eilish Doesn’t Want Fans to Compare Her to Justin Bieber: ‘This S*** Hurts’
Billie Eilish has long been a fan of Justin Bieber, and the two stars even collaborated on a remix of Eilish’s 2019 song “Bad Guy.” Despite her love for Bieber, Eilish says she doesn’t want to be compared to the “Peaches” singer. Here’s why Eilish doesn’t like when fans equate her to her former idol.
Billie Eilish has been a long-time fan of Justin Bieber, and the two musicians collaborated on a ‘Bad Guy’ remix
Singer Billie Eilish’s love of Justin Bieber is no secret. For years, a photo has circulated the internet of a young Eilish in her bedroom, the walls conspicuously covered with posters of the “Baby” singer.
The two musicians met for the first time when Eilish performed at Coachella in April 2019. In her 2021 documentary, Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry, she shared the emotional message Bieber sent her after their first encounter.
“It’s moments like tonight where I’m reminded what I mean to people. Your love for me touched my heart,” Eilish read to her family (per Capital FM). “You are so special, not for what you can do, but for who you are. Remember that. I am so impressed by your aura and presence.”
Bieber’s message continued, “You carry a heavy calling. You are an idol to so many. I’m excited to watch you flourish. You are beyond special. Thank you for tonight, it meant just as much to me as it meant to you.”
The “Sorry” singer also offered Eilish some advice. “I also want to let you know that it feels like yesterday [that] I was 15 singing ‘One Time’ and now I’m 25 and that was 10 years ago and it flew by like a flash,” he wrote. “Enjoy every minute of what you are experiencing. Embrace it all, believe you are great, but not greater than anyone.”
In July 2019, two months after their first meeting, Bieber and Eilish released a remix of her song “Bad Guy.”
Billie Eilish says she doesn’t want her fans to compare her to her idol, Justin Bieber
Although Billie Eilish used to idolize Justin Bieber, she admitted she doesn’t want fans to compare her to her former crush.
“People at my meet-and-greets have said: ‘Billie, I feel the way you feel about Justin Bieber about you,’ and that blows my mind,” Eilish told The Guardian in March 2019. “I just feel bad because if that’s actually true?” The “Your Power” singer reportedly shook her head. “I’m sorry, bro. I do not mean to be putting anybody in the position I was in. That s*** hurts.”
The ‘Bad Guy’ singer says she tries to be a good role model for her fans
Billie Eilish doesn’t want fans putting her on a pedestal because it’s important to her to be relatable. “I consciously have been the artist I would have wanted to have been a fan of growing up,” she said. “I don’t want to be out of someone’s grasp. All I have tried to do is be available to fans because I never got that.”
She echoed this sentiment in a 2021 interview with Vice when she described what she thinks a role model should be. “I think that’s what a role model needs to be. It should be realistic,” Eilish explained. “The problem is when people have unattainable role models, or dream of an unattainable life, or an unattainable face and an unattainable body, and that’s not healthy, for kids especially. We’re all real people.”
She continued, “I think when people see celebrities on the internet, or social media, they don’t see them as real people or human beings – and I catch myself doing this too – they see them as characters. When really we’re all just random people in our cars trying to keep it together.”
