Wish You Were Gay
"Wish You Were Gay" (stylised in all lowercase) is a song by American singer-songwriter Billie Eilish and the fourth single from her debut studio album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
A classic pop song, it incorporates an acoustic guitar, a sound of cracking knuckles as percussion, canned laughter, and applause from an audience.
About the production, some critics appreciated what they deemed an unconventional yet catchy composition, while some thought that "Wish You Were Gay" took an unsuccessful risk sonically.
Eilish announced in a press release that for the next 48 hours, a portion of proceeds from her online merchandise store would go to the Trevor Project, a crisis and suicide prevention program for queer children.
[6][7] A supplementary YouTube video accompanied the release, in which Eilish and the song's producer, her brother Finneas O'Connell, broke down the inspiration behind "Wish You Were Gay".
For "Wish You Were Gay", she said that she was inspired by "Body Count" by Jessie Reyez, "Eres Tú" by Carla Morrison, and "Boy" by Anne-Marie.
[16][17] "Wish You Were Gay" closes with a sample of a round of applause; Jon Pareles from The New York Times considered the song's inclusion of an audience an attempt at highlighting its theatrical elements.
[6][8] She takes a facetious, self-centered tone in the lyrics;[19][20][21] to her, any other reason for her unrequited feelings wounds her ego, so she resorts to an explanation that is easier to accept.
[5] Some music critics praised "Wish You Were Gay" for what they deemed an unconventional yet catchy production,[17][27] such as Chloe Gilke of Uproxx, who compared it positively to Eilish's previous works.
[28][29] Pitchfork's Stacey Anderson favored Eilish's vocals,[30] and journalist Robert Christgau shared similar opinions, calling her voice "tunefully cooed".
Once they found out what "Wish You Were Gay" was about, they criticized it for what they perceived as queerbaiting, which is an act of hinting at the possibility of a same-gender romance but never depicting it explicitly to draw attention.
[34] She reiterated that she sought to portray herself as a "selfish ass" and write as inoffensively as possible,[36] but she expressed understanding that to use the word "gay" in such a manner was insensitive.
[note 3] Sean Ward for The Line of Best Fit wrote that the song "may be problematic in its desire to change someone's sexual orientation, yet the burning teenage frustrations of unrequited lust are captured exceptionally here".
He wrote in a review of When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go: "Eilish isn't shading a guy’s effeminacy; she's just treating sexuality as no big deal by wishing that he had an ulterior motive for rejecting her.
[58][59] In the Irish Singles Chart, where the three songs reached the top 10, "Wish You Were Gay" climbed to a new, all-time peak of number 6.
[63] The song reached the top 20 in Austria,[64] Canada,[65] the Czech Republic,[66] Finland,[67] France,[68] Latvia,[69] Lithuania,[70] Malaysia,[71] New Zealand,[72] Norway,[71] Portugal,[73] Singapore,[74] and Sweden.
[75] Less than 24 hours after its release, Eilish performed "Wish You Were Gay" alongside other songs from her debut extended play, Don't Smile at Me (2017).
[79][80] During 2019, Eilish performed "Wish You Were Gay" at three music festivals: Coachella in April,[81] Glastonbury in June,[82] and Pukkelpop in August.
[85] "Wish You Were Gay" was one of many songs that Eilish played after receiving Artist of the Year during the first annual Apple Music Awards in December 2019.
