Billie Eilish says it’s “unfair” when popularity increases after death

Billie Eilish has shared her feelings about things getting popular after someone dies and cited controversial rapper XXXTentacion as an example.

The 17-year-old artist has previously paid tribute to the rapper that was shot and killed at age 20. 

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XXXTentacion, real name Jahseh Dwayne Onfroy, had a history of domestic abuse charges, including the aggravated battery of a pregnant woman and false imprisonment.

Eilish, who has talked about her love of the rapper, has dedicated a song to him live. She’s also posted multiple tributes to him online and has defended her right to mourn him. She has received criticism for doing so. 

 “I want to be able to mourn, I don’t want to be shamed for it,” she told the New York Times earlier this year. She added that she doesn’t think she deserves “getting hate for loving someone that passed.”

Now in a new interview with XXL, she opened up about him again and talked a bit about why he’s remained so popular. 

“It’s kind of unfair when something gets more popular after someone passes,” she said. “In the midst of it, at the beginning, when I found him on SoundCloud, I had no idea who he was or anything about his backstory at all. I barely knew what he looked like (and) I just messed with what he was creating because it wasn’t something I had heard before.

“It was a mix between, you know, all types of shit. And that was without me having any knowledge of anything in his life: who he was, who he knew, anything at all.”

She added that she believes his popularity has remained because he was a “tortured genius”. 

More Billie Eilish news 

Billie Eilish recently dropped a live video for her track “i love you” and it is completely haunting. 

Eilish and her brother/collaborator Finneas are seen at the gig sitting on a bed, which rises as the song gets more intense. 

The video was filmed at a gig at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles. The video is soft and chilling. It also showcases Eilish’s die-hard fans who can be heard screaming along to every lyric. 

The song comes from Eilish’s chart-topping debut album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go. You can see the “i love you” video below. 

You can listen to Eilish’s debut album in-full below.

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