Billie Eilish Says She Was Surprised When People Initially Called Her Music 'Depressing' and 'Sad'

Kevin Mazur/Getty Billie Eilish

Billie Eilish may be a self-declared "Bad Guy," but she doesn't understand why listeners think she's a sad guy.

In an upcoming appearance on Audible's new Origins series, the 20-year-old singer-songwriter opens up about the early stages of her career, how it felt for much of the public to think of her music as somber and distressing and why she doesn't agree with those claims.

"It was so weird to me when I was first coming up and, and the thing everybody said was, like, 'Billie Eilish's music is so depressing and it's so sad and it's too dark,'" said the performer, whose first project Don't Smile at Me was released in 2017 and spawned the hit single "Ocean Eyes," according to quotes from the forthcoming episode featured in a press release.

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Further detailing her feelings at the time, Eilish continued, "I was like, 'What are you talking about? Have you listened to The Beatles and 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps,' and 'Yesterday' and Lana Del Rey? Like, what the hell?'"

"It was so surprising to me that people thought anything I was creating was dark. I mean, it's real," said the "Happier Than Ever" musician.

The first eight episodes of Origins are set for a simultaneous Nov. 17 release via Audible and will include stories from Eilish as well as Doja Cat, King Princess, Mickey Guyton, Colombian singer Camilo, reggae singer Koffee and rapper Tobe Nwigwe.

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Andreas Rentz/Getty Billie Eilish

In June, Eilish spoke to NME about revealing a drastically new image on the cover of British Vogue last year with a new blonde 'do and a form-fitting glam outfit and how it marked a departure from the general public's perception of her.

Around the time the Vogue cover was released in May 2021, Eilish told the outlet, she "had no idea who I was" and was struggling to accept the fact that the world only knew her as someone who wore baggy clothes and dark hair, and recorded dark, synth-heavy songs.

"Before that, I was one kind of person and wore a certain type of clothes and made a certain type of music… and that haunted me, as people only thought of me in one dimension and I didn't like that," she said. "I felt pretty trapped in the persona that people had of me, and then I changed it completely to f— with everyone."

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Eilish noted that her goal was to establish "range and to feel desirable, and to feel feminine and masculine." While she's since ditched the new look for her recent Happier Than Ever, The World Tour, the Grammy and Oscar winner said she's happy in her own skin.

"I wanted to prove that to myself, too," she said. "Now I finally feel comfortable in the person I actually am and being all of those things at once."