Eddie Vedder compares Billie Eilish's music to Pearl Jam's first album

Publish Date: Tuesday, 25 August 2020, 1:25PM

Eddie Vedder was the most recent guest on Lily Cornell Silver's new IGTV series Mind Wide Open, and while the Pearl Jam frontman took time to reminisce about his good friend, Lily's dad Chris Cornell, he also took some time to talk about a contemporary artist and make a somewhat surprising comparison.

“Billie Eilish has a lot of people listening to her," he said. "I remember our first record, there’s some sad s**t on there, and I’m thinking, ‘Well, this is kind of depressing that tens of millions of people are relating to this.’ But again, it was probably a healthy thing for everybody.”

Interestingly enough, this isn't the first time Eilish has been compared to '90s grunge heavyweights. Last year, Dave Grohl likened the singer's connection to fans to his band Nirvana.

Watch Lily's interview with Vedder below.

View this post on Instagram

I am honored to be joined by a guiding light in my life, Eddie Vedder of @pearljam. We discuss societal and political impacts on mental health, Eddie's own experiences, and the importance of activism and empathy. Reminder to register to vote if you haven't already! To learn more about the importance of voting, especially in the upcoming November election, check out organizations such as @whenweallvote, @headcountorg, and @rockthevote For more information on guests, future episodes, and resources go to the website link in my bio 💙

A post shared by Lily Silver (@lilycornellsilver) on Aug 24, 2020 at 9:03am PDT

Lily recently divulged that the name of her new interview series, which aims to “help destigmatize the conversation around mental health,” was inspired by a lyric he dad wrote in the '90s but never released as a song.

"I was in a poetry class in high school, which is such a Seattle thing to do," she said with a laugh when asked where the name came from. "But I had to write an archive piece, and my dad gave me some lyrics that he’d written in the ’90s for a song that I don’t think ever came out. One of the lyrics was 'Death is the mind wide open.' And that really, really stuck with me from the time he gave that to me in 2016."

"That’s really stuck with me over time," she added. "And it made me think there are so many other ways to have your mind wide open. For me, music is a way to have your mind wide open, or openly discussing mental health is a way to have your mind wide open. So especially since losing my dad, that’s been something for me to think about a lot. What are other ways to feel fulfilled and other ways to be present in this moment? I think the series is definitely one of those for me."

This article was first published on iheart.com and is republished here with permission

Take your Radio, Podcasts and Music with you