There’s yet another update in the saga

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few weeks, you’ll know all about this alleged ‘feud’ between arguably two of the biggest names in the pop music genre right now.

Now, while I’m sure many of us – myself included – are beyond over the whole pitting women against each other discourse, it’s clear the rumour mill has gone into overdrive today as fans slam Taylor Swift after she fuelled ‘feud’ rumours with Billie Eilish.

Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish pictured together back in 2019 (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Billboard)

For some context, Billie did an interview recently with Billboard where she opened up about her thoughts on sustainability and Swifties seemed to interpret the ‘Ocean Eyes’ hitmaker’s comments as a dig towards Taylor as she criticised the release of albums with multiple versions.

In the interview, the 22-year-old said: “Some of the biggest artists in the world making f**king 40 different vinyl packages that have a different unique thing just to get you to keep buying more.”

(Kevin Mazur/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management)

The 34-year-old ‘Cruel Summer’ star has become well-known for not only releasing rerecorded versions of her earlier albums, but she’s also put out several different slightly tweaked physical and digital versions of her new albums too following her falling out with Scooter Braun.

Billie later clarified that she wasn’t pointing to any particular artists – including Taylor and took to Instagram a few months back (31 March) where she posted a statement to her story about the speculation along with the link to the Billboard article, writing: “Okay so it would be so awesome if people would stop putting words into my mouth and actually read what i said in that billboard article.

“I wasn’t singling anyone out, these are industry-wide systemic issues.”

The ‘Bad Guy’ singer continued: “When it comes to variants, so many artists release them – including ME!

“Which I clearly state in the article. The climate crisis is now and it’s about all of us being part of the problem and trying to do better.”

Billie previously confirmed she wasn’t shading any particular artists in her Billboard interview. (Sarah Morris / WireImage / Getty Images)

She finished up the statement adding a short and sweet ‘sheesh’ to round things off.

Now, today’s the day (17 May) that Billie released her latest album titled ‘Hit Me Hard and Soft’.

But, it’s also the same day Taylor took to X, formerly Twitter, to share her latest album news.

She wrote: “The new ‘The Tortured Poets Department’ variants are only available in digital copies to reflect their impact on the charts and not on the environment.

“Make sure to secure a eco-friendly copy!”

And fans were quick to rush to conclusions about the coincidence with one X user writing: “Billie Eilish remains untouchable and universally acclaimed while Taylor Swift looks insecure releasing 10 variants of her new album in an attempt to beef with a 22-year-old.”

There’s yet another update in the alleged ‘feud’ between Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish. (Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)

A second penned: “Billie Eilish shading Taylor Swift for releasing ’40 different variants’ of the same album is kinda funny considering Taylor released 4 variants of #ttpd while Billie released 13 different variants of a 10 SONG ALBUM.”

“You honestly could not make me give a f*ck about Billie Eilish’s supposed shade towards Taylor bc in the least condescending way that girl is 22 & still has so much to learn about life & that Taylor swifts presence in the music industry is not and should not be her biggest issue.”

A fourth hit out: “I love you Taylor, but this is just greedy.

“Couldn’t have released this last week or next week? But now that you know there’s competition for #1 this week, you gotta go and play these stunts. it’s honestly tiring because you did this with SZA too. Just stop and let other people win pls.”

The new “The Tortured Poets Department” variants are only available in digital copies to reflect their impact on the charts and not on the environment. Make sure to secure a eco-friendly copy! store.taylorswift.com

“Would be happy about this if it wasn’t during a week where a major pop girl is releasing… seems like a way to block Billie from getting a number 1…” echoed a fifth.

Another added: “I used to support how creative Taylor would get with her releases, but she’s been milking it like crazy for too long and this is just ridiculous.

And a final Twitter user slammed: “So this “feud” with #BillieEilish & #TaylorSwift is so freaking stupid.

“HOW MANY TIMES ARE WE GOING TO PIT GIRL AGAINST GIRL! I’m sorry but, I love Taylor & Billie but this feels so wrong what Taylor did.

“She was giving her daY to release and NO 1 MESSED WITH IT. & now this..”