Billie Eilish heaped praise on Rihanna in response to Rihanna's claims that she desired to collaborate with her on new songs.
According to the Daily Mail, Rihanna referred to Billie Eilish as a "dream collaborator," and Eilish has now referred to the Barbados native as "the greatest of all time."
"I literally thought it was AI, first of all," Eilish told Complex in a new interview released on Thursday. "I've never met Rihanna. She's literally my idol. She's the greatest of all time. She's my complete dream collab."
Rihanna has not been consistently producing music lately, so it is not known whether this will ever happen. However, she expressed her wish to collaborate with Eilish in October, particularly mentioning her when Access Hollywood asked her who her "dream collaborator" was. Eilish posted a startled reply on her Instagram story at the time, and she has since elaborated further on her sentiments this week.
"I've never heard from her and I've never had any interaction with her, so why would I have ever even thought about it? Then she said, 'If only I could work with Billie,'" Eilish shared. "I was like, 'Well, bitch, I've been sitting here this whole time!' What the fuck is she even talking about? Honestly. What do you mean, 'If only?' It's, like, as if I've been saying, 'No.' Rihanna! Riri!? I'll literally do anything you want. That's insane."
Per the RollingStone, it was not just Rihanna that Eilish praised in the new interview; she also praised other artists. She mentioned that while she was traveling for her tour, she had been listening to various musicians, including Tom Odell, Sufjan Stevens, Patrick Watson, and Mitski.
"I always appreciate an artist who commits to it, because then I'm like, 'OK, you might not even like the music, but you have to admit they're committing to the bit.' That's awesome," she continued.
She was very candid about her unhealthy relationship with social media, drawing parallels between it and an addiction to cigarettes with her comments. "The issue is, I really love to interact with the fans when I'm on tour. I love seeing all the videos and all the angles. I love seeing how people are feeling and thinking about the show," Eilish said. "So I go on the internet to see the videos that I want to see, but then I get sucked in. Then I get all fu**ed up, and I'm stuck. So I've been back on it, but I am trying to get off. It's my cigarettes. It's really a problem."
Internet users have expressed their enthusiasm on social media.
A fan tweeted, "Billie and Rihanna on the same track? This needs to happen ASAP!"
Another user added, "Rihanna saying Billie is her dream collab just made my entire year!"
Meanwhile, a third wrote, "Billie Eilish fangirling over Rihanna is the purest thing I've ever seen. We need this collab."
On the other hand, a fourth fan speculated, "If Rihanna comes back to music, teaming up with Billie would be a legendary move."
Some fans remained skeptical. A netizen commented, "Rihanna's barely making music these days. Not sure if this will ever happen."
Another user quipped, "Billie and Rihanna would be iconic, but let's be real-Riri's been 'working' on an album forever."
Business Times has reached out to Billie Eilish and Rihanna for comments.
