Billie Eilish wanted to scrap ‘Birds Of A Feather’ from ‘Hit Me Hard and Soft’ because it was “kind of stupid”

Billie Eilish has revealed that she wasn’t a fan of her now-hit song ‘Birds Of A Feather’ – see what she had to say about wanting to scrap the track below.

In a new feature with the Wall Street Journal published yesterday (October 29), the ‘Bad Guy’ singer revealed that she actively pushed back against including ‘Birds Of A Feather’ on her celebrated 2024 album ‘Hit Me Hard and Soft’.

Speaking to WSJ, Billie Eilish revealed that she struggled with the track for a full year while working on the album with her brother and producer Finneas, as the track was far more uplifting than her usual sound, even arguing: “Multiple times I was like, ‘We should cut this.’”

She also told the publication that she took her disapproval of the track to another level and told label executives that she thought it was “stupid”: “Even when I played the whole album for the label, I was like, ‘Guys, this one is kind of stupid.’”

Despite her hesitation, ‘Birds Of A Feather’ has gone on to become on of Eilish’s biggest hits – it was crowned as Spotify’s most-streamed song of 2024, with over 1.77billion streams. The song has since shot up to boast over 3billion plays on Spotify alone, with its official music video roping in over 600million plays and counting on YouTube.

NME reviewed ‘Hit Me Hard And Soft’ when it landed in May 2024, rewarding it four stars. “Billie came into this process with aspirations to find herself, creatively and personally: ‘Hit Me Hard and Soft’ remains distinctly unique, a portrait of a singular talent entering young adulthood, exploring her queerness and experiencing the emotional thrill and (sometimes) catastrophe of chasing passion or falling in love.

“In trying to write an album for herself, she’s made one that will resonate harder than anything she’s done before.”

Eilish is now on the final leg of her ‘Hit Me Hard and Soft’ tour, which is due to come to a close this November. Most recently, the singer made headlines when she was violently grabbed by a fan at a Miami concert. The fan, who had attempted to drag Billie into the crowd, was swiftly evicted and banned from the venue.

A fan also made headlines for jumping in to protect Billie – the fan has since been sent merchandise from Billie herself and free tickets to another show.