Billie Eilish calls Jesse Rutherford “one of my favourite people”

Billie Eilish has described her ex-boyfriend and The Neighbourhood frontman Jesse Rutherford as “one of my favourite people in the world”.

The two dated for around seven months in 2022 and 2023, but it appears that they remain on good terms.

Eilish, who released her third studio album ‘Hit Me Hard and Soft’ yesterday (May 17), was speaking to Rolling Stone about Rutherford. “That’s my guy, truly one of my favourite people in the world,” she said.

She went on to say that after the split, she is not about to launch into any new relationship. “I plan on never dating again,” she quipped. “That’s not true, obviously. But no, I don’t see myself being serious with anyone until I find someone that really feels right to me, and that is not interesting to me right now.”

In the same interview, Eilish revealed that she considered naming the album ‘Patheticville’, after a legendary quote from the US version of The Office.

“I just thought that was awesome, and we laughed and we wrote it down,” she told the publication. “Then there’s a couple more that we thought of and nothing was really sticking, but I knew it would come. It always comes.”

Eilish and Finneas have opened up about the album, saying they have “never ever ever loved something more”. “Finneas and i put so much into this album and have never ever ever loved something more,” Eilish wrote in an Instagram post. “we hope you enjoy it so much and i’ll see you on the other side EEEEEEEEEEEEEK HMHAS OUT NOW EVERYWHERE LOVE YOU ALL TO DEAAAAATH!!!!”

Some Eilish fans believe that there may be a second half to the album yet to be released. The final line on the record is “But when can I hear the next one?”, leading some to speculate that there could be a similar situation to Taylor Swift’s ‘The Tortured Poets Department’, which was swiftly followed by a surprise second half ‘The Anthology’ just hours later.

Reviewing ‘Hit Me Hard and Soft’, NME gave it four stars, writing: “Billie came into this process with aspirations to find herself, creatively and personally: ‘Hit Me Hard and Soft’ remains distinctly unique, a portrait of a singular talent entering young adulthood, exploring her queerness and experiencing the emotional thrill and (sometimes) catastrophe of chasing passion or falling in love.

“In trying to write an album for herself, she’s made one that will resonate harder than anything she’s done before.”

Eilish recently announced a ‘HIT ME HARD AND SOFT’ 2024-2025 world tour – set to kick off this Autumn. Visit here to purchase US tickets and here for UK tickets, and see all the dates here.