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Billie Eilish has addressed online criticism of her singing voice in a new interview.
The singer kicked off her ‘Where Do We Go?’ world tour in Miami this week, sharing a powerful message of body-positivity as the tour began.
Speaking in a new interview with the New York Times, Eilish discussed her preparations for her recent Oscars performance, where she and her brother Finneas performed a cover of The Beatles‘ ‘Yesterday’.
The author of the interview attended a rehearsal for the performance as part of the piece, and wrote: “She gave the cover [of ‘Yesterday’] a go, closing her eyes and throwing some R&B-indebted flourishes into her interpretation, from little humming vocal runs to melismatic bending on certain vowels. Facing her on a couch some 50 feet away were [Billie and Finneas’] parents, O’Connell and Baird.
“As the song ended, Eilish delivered a one-word verdict: ‘Yikes.’ She looked at Finneas, who hadn’t given her much of a preamble before the first verse. ‘Do they not want me to do the little run at the start?’ she asked. ‘I feel like it gets me into it better.'”
Billie Eilish doing the world proud. #oscars pic.twitter.com/fuICRsksAb
— Connor Malbeuf (@ConnorMMalbeuf) February 10, 2020
Discussing the criticism she’s faced online, Eilish recounted one of the most popular theories around her singing style: “She can’t sing, she just whispers.”
“Everyone thinks I can’t sing on the internet,” she said, “so I want to move the runs [in ‘Yesterday’] up to when I’m on camera.”
Her mother, Maggie Baird, then reassured her: “Your voice is so beautiful. The internet are idiots.”
Yesterday (March 11), Billie Eilish’s ‘Bad Guy’ was named the biggest global track of 2019.
Her ‘Where Do We Go?’ tour continues this month, heading across the United States. It’ll hit the UK this summer, visiting Manchester, Birmingham and London in July.
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