Legendary rocker Kim Gordon did not shy away from sharing her thoughts on some of the biggest names in music, including familiar faces like Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish.
When asked for her “most controversial pop culture opinion,” former Sonic Youth bassist Gordon, 71, had an answer ready.
“I don’t know if it’s controversial but I’m not really a fan of Taylor Swift,” Gordon told The Guardian in an interview published on Wednesday, July 17. “I couldn’t tell you what her music sounded like, actually.”
Instead, Gordon noted she has a different favorite artist. “When it comes to pop icons, I would choose Billie Eilish,” she told the outlet.
Both precocious child prodigies turned global, Grammy-winning pop superstars, Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish have had a long overlapping history. Swift and Eilish, who released their debut albums at the ages of 16 and 17, respectively, have frequently celebrated each other’s successes within the industry. Swift even passed the baton to Eilish at Billboard’s 2019 […]
When Gordon was asked about her own lyrics in February by The Guardian, she gave a shout-out to Swift, 34.
“Sure I’m journalling, just like Taylor Swift,” she said. “But you know, I’m not writing about sad things. Well I guess a little sad. There is something about that kind of writing that’s powerful. It’s something you can do right now.”
The singer-songwriter, who released The Collective earlier this year, expressed hesitancy when asked whether she would open for the Eras Tour performer.
“I don’t know. Because I don’t think her audience would like it. It has to be a little bit of a fit,” she told the outlet. “Even when Sonic Youth toured with Neil Young, it was really hard, seeing hippies sitting there giving you the finger.”
Taylor Swift started writing songs about love and breakups in the early 2000s, but her talent was soon recognized by music executives who knew she was the real deal. From releasing her first record in 2006 to gracing stages all over the world this star has earned her place in the Hollywood A-list music scene. […]
Gordon noted that she was recently on a plane traveling to Utah with fans of Swift who were rocking her merch. “That I quite like,” she said. “I think I’d just take a sweatshirt.”
Gordon’s comments on Wednesday isn’t the first time that Swift and Eilish, 22, have been compared to each other. In fact, the duo have a long overlapping history.
At Billboard’s 2019 Women In Music, Swift presented Eilish with the Woman of the Year Award. (Swift previously earned the accolade in 2011 and 2014.)
While accepting the award in 2014, Swift referenced the younger generation of musicians — and later recalled the line while introducing Eilish, who similarly became a world-famous musician before her 18th birthday.
“My exact quote during this speech was, ‘I really just feel like we need to continue to try to offer something to a younger generation of musicians, because somewhere right now, your future woman of the year is probably sitting in a piano lesson or in a girls choir,’” Swift said in 2019. “‘And today, right now, we need to take care of her.’”
She continued, “I’ve since learned that at the exact moment, an 11-year-old girl in California really was taking piano lessons and really was in the girls choir, and this year, she has been named woman of the year at the age of 17. Her name is Billie.”
Earlier this year, however, Eilish made headlines when fans thought she was making a dig at Swift for “wasteful” packaging. Eilish set the record straight in April, noting that she “wasn’t singling anyone out.”
