“We’re getting sued by Taylor Swift tomorrow"

The duo performed Eilish's 'Getting Older' and a cover of Blur's 'Feel Good Inc.'

The duo performed Eilish's 'Getting Older' and a cover of Blur's 'Feel Good Inc.'

“This man changed my life in a lot of ways, and changed my complete view of what music could be, and what art could be, and what creation could be," said Billie Eilish, when introducing Blur’s Damon Albarn on stage during her Coachella headlining slot on Saturday night. 

Together they performed ‘Getting Older’, and a cover of Gorillaz’ ‘Feel Good Inc.’ It was special, but the magnitude of the collaboration was lost on the crowd.

Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for ABA

Likely because for Billie Eilish fans, their only rendezvous with Damon Albarn was with a Twitter row he had with Taylor Swift about songwriting integrity. 

To backtrack, in January Albarn caught heat over an interview where he claimed that Swift “doesn’t write her own songs.” The quote sparked a tit-for-tat with Taylor online, she dropped a rare f-bomb, and he apologised “unreservedly and unconditionally”, whilst claiming that his words had been “reduced to clickbait.”

I totally agree with you. i had a conversation about songwriting and sadly it was reduced to clickbait. I apologise unreservedly and unconditionally. The last thing I would want to do is discredit your songwriting. I hope you understand. - Damon

— Damon Albarn (@Damonalbarn) January 24, 2022

It was a brief spar that ended civilly. But we know better than to ever cross a Swiftie. Wrong them once and you’ll face their wrath for life. 

So, expectedly, Albarn’s arrival did not sit well with certain Swifties. 

To add fuel to the fire, TikTokers are speculating that during the performance, Billie’s brother and collaborator FINNEAS said, “we’re getting sued by Taylor Swift tomorrow.” 

@nomoney.allvinyl

Did anyone else catch this? #billieeilish #coachella #billiechella #finneas #damonalbarn #gorillaz #taylorswift #swifttok #swiftie

♬ original sound - nomoney.allvinyl

It’s a pop culture climate where fans demand their pop stars keep up the appearance of being nice, agreeable, and in-line with the dominant opinion of Twitter. If we’re zooming in on the minutiae, Eilish kicking the Swiftie’s nest is a ballsy move. 

But if we’re being real, it’s not that deep. Eilish is an artist who is passionate and vocal about her influences. She’s 19, performing a headlining slot at one of the biggest festivals in the world, alongside one of her idols. For her, it’s probably nothing more than a Very Cool Thing. 

And a very cool thing it was. If this collaboration had happened at Reading Festival, the pandemonium would’ve rivalled Peterloo. Unfortunately for Albarn, on the good vibes plains of California’s Coachella his appearance incited… crickets.

Let’s chalk the lifeless response up to the audience having literally no idea who Damon Albarn is. 

“It’s so funny the way none of us know who that old man is,” wrote a fan on Twitter. Some mistook him for Elton John, others thought he was Billie’s dad. 

We would never reach for low hanging fruit and mock Gen Z for not being clued in on Damon Albarn. But really, why should the youth of America care about a 54-year-old former Britpop titan? Are we really expected to be enlightened to the barmy romance of ‘Parklife’? 

Albarn’s last big hit was in 2010, with ‘On Melancholy Hill’ — when a fair chunk of Eilish’s fans were merely a twinkle in their mother’s eye. Yeah, he’s since collaborated with zoomer favourites Kali Ulchis and Vince Staples, but maybe he’s just not relevant with the kids, and that’s just fine.