Billie Eilish returned with her third studio album, Hit Me Hard and Soft, under Darkroom and Interscope Records on May 17, 2024. After five years in the industry, Eilish is known for her breathy — yet well developed, vocals on songs such as her hit first single “Ocean Eyes” and her second album’s title track “Happier Than Ever”. Joined by her brother and producer, Finneas O’Connell, drummer Andrew Marshall, and the Attacca Quartet on strings, Eilish explore new sonics and subtle production. Across the ten tracks, Eilish overwhelms and underwhelms as she tackles uncertainty, heartbreak, intimate relationships, queerness, and identity crises.
Opener “Skinny” sets the album’s tone as the singer reveals the haunting reality of adolescent fame. The track echoes Eilish’s questions on femininity and existence on her Oscar-winning Barbie track “What Was I Made For?” and her spoken word interlude “Not My Responsibility” in 2021. Grappling with celebrity body dysmorphia, failed relationships, and depression, she wonders: “Am I acting my age now? Am I already on the way out? When I step off stage, I’m a bird in a cage.”
Following her coming out last year, Eilish embraces queerness and sexuality on the sapphic synth-rock track “Lunch.” The simple bass lines and drums contrast the explicit lyrics, similar to “Bad Guy,”: “I could eat that girl for lunch / Yeah, she dances on my tongue / Tastes like she might be the one / … It’s a craving, not a crush.”
Eilish’s sonic growth explodes on devoted love song “Birds of a Feather.” Despite unearthing this new sound, she doesn’t stray far from herself with morbidly sweet lyrics: “I want you to stay ’til I’m in the grace / ‘Til I rot away, dead and buried.” The heavy bass line and sentimental lyrics, powered by the singer’s swooning vocal work, drive the entire record. “Birds of a feather, we should stick together, I know / I said I’d never think I wasn’t better alone / Can’t change the weather, might not be forever / But if it’s forever, it’s even better.”
On the dreamy “Wildflower,” Eilish delves into her maturity while she worries over her partner’s ex-girlfriend. At four minutes, the gentle acoustics become overtaken by lyrics that tend to linger and mellow as the track progresses. “I see her in the back of my mind all the time / Feels like a fever, like I’m burning alive, like a sign / Did I cross the line?”
Track seven, “L’Amour De Ma Vie,” begins deceptively jazzy, almost Laufey-esque, before cheekily faking out into an upbeat rave anthem. “It isn’t asking for a lot for an apology / For making me feel like it’d kill you if I tried to leave / You said you’d never fall in love again because of me / Then you moved on immediately,” she sings on the refrain before the energy shifts.
Following track, “The Diner,” recounts a fantasied nightmarish-daydream where Eilish imagines herself as a crazed fan who breaks and enters into her targets home. With the muffled backing vocals and creepy synths, the track is similar to previous hit “Bellyache” and the plot of Eilish’s acting debut Swarm. “I saw you on the screens / I know we’re meant to be / You’re starrin’ in my dreams / In magazines.”
Eilish delicately ties up the topics of heartbreak, love, and sexuality on closer “Blue”. Slightly reminiscent of Lana Del Rey’s “A&W,” the production shifts into a swelling string break to connect the opener and closer. The theme of birds and cages in “Skinny” reappear when Billie sings, “I thought we were the same / Birds of a feather, now I’m ashamed / I told you a lie, désolée, mon amour / I’m tryin’ my best, but don’t know what’s in store.” Written for herself, Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft revels in its slower moments and lack of edge transforming what listeners already know of the artist.
