Billie Eilish Credited For ‘Sad Girl’ Pop, Fiona Apple’s Fans Rage

Billie Eilish could be responsible for crystallizing what you might call “sad girl” pop these days…an argument that has fans of Fiona Appleand others, in the arms.

Here’s the deal… a fan account describing Billie’s music news tweeted Saturday that the Recording Academy — which, of course, is responsible for the Grammys — credited BE for creating the aforementioned genre… also employed by Olivia Rodrigo, Tate McRaeetc.

They refer to an article from the Recording Academy written a few days ago, *led… “The Psychology Of “Sad Girl” Pop: Why Music By Billie Eilish, Gracie Abrams, Olivia Rodrigo & More Resonates So Widely.”

While the Billie fan account isn’t entirely accurate in characterizing what the article actually says – which is that Billie has more or less popularized “sad girl” in its own subgenre, especially to a new generation – it does get the point. …which seems to give artists like Billie and all the other Gen-Zers a little more credit than they might deserve.

That’s where Fiona fans are taking a strong stand against this story… now dive into the “Fiona Apple” trend on Twitter and you’ll see what we mean. They are sour about this.

Many of them point out, perhaps rightly, that musicians like Fiona and Alanis Morissette are the real pioneers that the Recording Academy thinks are Billie, Olivia and other youngsters – and there are other names thrown into the mix as pioneers as well.

there is royal wool … who has been in this job for years. Others named as stalwarts of ‘sad girl’ pop – Michelle Tak, Taylor Swift, Avril Lavigne, Marina Diamandis, Lorde, Hope Sandoval … and even older acts like Kate Bush and Joni Mitchellhonestly.

While the article in question yells at a lot of these ladies, they also seem to downplay their impact a bit. The other argument, of course, is…maybe Billie and co. really helped make all this sad girl stuff mainstream??? The debate is undoubtedly raging.