Highlights
- Billie Eilish's fans eagerly await her third album, while also discussing her ex-boyfriend Jesse Rutherford's music career under Atlantic Records.
- Fans speculate whether Rutherford's song "POV" is inspired by his relationship with Eilish, as some of the lyrics raise questions about their dynamic.
- Eilish's fans feel protective of her and find Rutherford's lyrics in "POV" to be off-putting, given her success and achievements in the music industry.
Billie Eilish's fans are waiting for her third album, which is sure to be as fantastic and impressive as her previous two. While they are curious about what feelings and experiences she will sing about, they are also talking about her ex-boyfriend Jesse Rutherford's music. After years of being part of the band The Neighborhood, Rutherford announced his own deal with Atlantic Records in March 2023, according to Variety. Rutherford released his first album "&ONE" under the name Jesse® in August 2023.
While it remains to be seen if Billie Eilish wrote songs about her ex-boyfriend, fans wonder if Jesse Rutherford's song "POV" tells the story of his romance with the younger singer. Here's why people are curious about this specific tune and what the lyrics are like.
Is Jesse Rutherford's Song "POV" About Billie Eilish?
While Jesse Rutherford and Billie Eilish went their separate ways in May 2023, according to her, they still get along alright. People reported that Eilish said that they are "Very very good friends only" on her Instagram in August 2023.
While Eilish didn't say that she feels negatively about her ex and that they broke up for a terrible reason, fans aren't so sure that Rutherford's song "POV" paints a nice picture of their relationship. It's not the sweetest or most positive song, and some of the lyrics have made people stop and think.
Throughout the chorus of "POV," Rutherford sings "I'm at the top, you're at the bottom/It's a different point of view."
However, it's the song's second verse that really upset Eilish's fans. The lyrics in question? "She been listening to me since 2013/I know she's got daddy issues, welcome to the family/She said, "Jesse, baby, won't you write a song about me?"/I said, "I got a whole album, I could drop it next week"/What doesn't kill you makes you stronger/Shorty come with me, watch your money get longer."
Fans don't know why Eilish and Rutherford split up. Sometimes, celebrities break up when fame presents too many problems and complications, but no one knows if that is what happened here. While Eilish's fans are nervous about Rutherford being 11 years older than her, Eilish didn't seem worried about the age difference. Rutherford didn't offer up any clues or details in "POV" about why the relationship ended. However, some lyrics seem a little odd.
Several of Billie Eilish's fans discussed "POV" in the FauxMoi Reddit thread, and many focused on the "daddy issues" comment. The relationship already received a lot of criticism because of the age difference between the singers. Eilish's fanbase feels that "POV" has an off-putting vibe, and after reading through the lyrics and listening to the song, it's hard not to agree with them.
One fan wrote on Reddit that the song has "nauseating lyrics" because "billie was 11 in 2013."
Another fan took issue with Rutherford's lyrics in the chorus. If he was in fact writing about Billie Eilish, then it sounds like he considers himself more famous than she is. This fan don't think that is the case at all. They wrote, "Dude, before you started dating Billie, most of us only knew you as ‘The guy in The Neighborhood who sang Sweater Weather.’ You’re a nobody compared to her, like get real."
Since Eilish has become such a huge celebrity over the past few years, her fans are right to say that these lyrics don't make sense. She has won Grammy awards, written songs for movies like No Time To Die, and achieved a lot in a short period of time. She should be proud of herself, and it's only logical for her fans to feel protective toward her after hearing "POV."
Back when Billie Eilish and Jesse Rutherford were still together, she said that she was proud to be dating him, which makes his "POV" lyrics even more upsetting. In 2022, she told Vanity Fair, “Are you kidding me? Can we just... Round of applause for me? Thank you. Jesse Rutherford, everyone. I pulled his a**! All me. I did that sh*t. I locked that motherf*cker down.”
While of course musicians are going to write about their life experiences, it does seem like "POV" is a particularly harsh song. The lyrics are much crasser than The Neighborhood's most famous song "Sweater Weather."
It seems clear that Rutherford wrote "Sweater Weather" about someone who he loved at the time. The lyrics are a little racy, but they are ultimately romantic and not mean-spirited at all. The song has charming lyrics like "These hearts adore, everyone the other beats hardest for/Inside this place is warm/Outside it starts to pour." In contrast, "POV" has a completely different tone, and it doesn't sound like Rutherford feels warmly toward the person that he wrote the song about.
Did Jesse Rutherford Say That His Song "POV" Is About Billie Eilish?
Jesse Rutherford didn't say that "POV" is actually about Billie Eilish. In fact, it doesn't seem that he has mentioned this particular song at all. But he has talked about his solo music career and what he was aiming for when he wrote his first album.
According to Billboard, Rutherford talked about his album with Apple Music 1. While he mentioned his tunes "Rainbow" and "Joker, he didn't talk about "POV."
Rutherford said, “It’s a true solo journey, and the music is just kind of soundtracking what I’m going through in my life. And I thought it was kind of time to grow as an individual because I’ve put a lot of my time and energy into growing within relationships, which is a great thing. I mean, I love and I hold dear all my relationships, and I feel like I have a lot of strong ones. And even the ones that didn’t last, I feel like we’re lovely, and nobody’s on any sort of bad terms or anything.”
While Billie Eilish's fans don't like Jesse Rutherford's song "POV" and believe that he wrote some mean things about his ex-girlfriend, it doesn't seem like he is concerned about that. As Rutherford said in his Apple Music 1 interview, he doesn't feel that he and his exes are angry at each other. He might have been thinking about Eilish when he made that statement.
While Jesse Rutherford might never say who he wrote "POV" about, Billie Eilish's fans definitely think that it's about her, and they have made some good points.
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