In the long lead-up to Bring Me the Horizon's new album, Post Human: NeX GEn, you may have forgotten that, at one point, fans were convinced the band was collaborating with Billie Eilish.
In January, Horizon frontman Oli Sykes left a seemingly random comment on an Eilish Instagram post featuring just one word: "limousine." And while a song called "liMOusIne" appears on NeX GEn, it features the Norwegian singer AURORA, not Eilish.
In an interview on the BBC Radio 1 Rock Show, Sykes reveals that the comment did refer to a proposed collaboration with Eilish that never came through.
"[Eilish's] photographer's a massive fan, and they kinda mentioned the idea of her doing a song," Sykes shares. "So I her sent 'liMOusIne.' And this was quite a while before it was in its full, finished state."
Sykes adds that he couldn't tell you if Eilish actually listened to the track, but he knows that it "got to her." So, he decided to leave the "limousine" Instagram comment, thinking it wouldn't "mean anything to anyone but me and maybe her." However, Sykes had forgotten that Bring Me Horizon was teasing NeX GEn track titles in the production of their live show, which led to everyone speculating about a collaboration.
"It seemed like such a proper cheap way to try and get some press, but it really wasn't," Sykes says. "I was actually quite embarrassed when I found out, like, 'Oh God, no!' Because I knew the chance of Billie doing a song with us was slim to none."
Nex GEn is out now. It's the follow-up to 2020's Post Human: Survival Horror.