Billie Eilish explains why she found first meetings with labels “alarming”
Billie Eilish, who is one of the most vocal advocates for the environment and sustainability in the music industry, has explained why she found discussing this topic with labels at the start of her career to be “alarming”.
Eilish was signed in 2016 to The Darkroom, an imprint of Interscope Records, and at the time, she was only 15. While most artists that age would do anything to get signed, Eilish had every major label interested in her signature, and wanted to make sure her new home had plans to tackle the ongoing climate crisis.
The singer-songwriter’s last tour, in support of her second album Happier Than Ever, she partnered with Reverb, a non-profit organisation helping make the live music industry greener.
The one-time Glastonbury headliner’s passion from the environment comes from her parents. In 2012, they transitioned to make their family home in Los Angeles become solar powered, and even removed the grass from their garden to save water.
Now, in a new interview with Billboard, Eilish and her mother, Maggie Baird, spoke about sustainability and why the music industry’s lack of care for the environment is worrying.
Eilish told the publication: “There’s always somebody that paved the way for you, but I got to be real: It was bleak out here. We would be in meetings for things and my mom would [ask], ‘What are you guys doing to be more resourceful and conscious?’ And they’d be like, ‘Oh, uh, well, you know…’.”
The ‘Ocean Eyes’ hitmaker continued: “They’d be tripping and stumbling over their words because they’re not doing anything. And it was kind of alarming to find that no one’s really doing anything to better the world.”
She also explained why there’s only so much good mere mortals can do if international corporations continue to treat the environment with a reckless approach. Eilish noted: “And then these giant companies are not even doing anything when they have so much more power. We’ve had a lot of conversations and people are trying, but even when they’re trying, they’re like, ‘Oh, yeah. We’re going to have that in 2026.’ And you’re like, ‘Well, that’s not fast enough.'”
While Eilish has found it a struggle at times to enact genuine change, she has been successful on multiple occasions.
Notably, in 2021, Eilish revealed she had convinced fashion designer Oscar de la Renta to stop using real fur on their products. She said of the achievement at the time: “That was a really really big thing for me, and I hope that more brands follow along with being environmentally conscious and try to help the world instead of making it worse”.
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