Billie Eilish Turns Inward on New Album "HIT ME HARD AND SOFT"
Billie Eilish has been bending genres since she came into the world of music. Her fans have watched her evolve into her own signature sound, and although each album shocks people in the best way, the reasons are different on HIT ME HARD AND SOFT. While the album overall is much gentler than what we’ve heard from her before, there is still moments that hold what we know her so well for: Build up and vocals that alone could make someone ascend out of their body. Eilish released no singles for the 10 track album, leaving most of it a mystery.
Photo via Instagram
The album opens on an unexpectedly sad note. “SKINNY”, with it’s soft strings and ethereal vocals, seems to sum up all of the themes of the album. Eilish sings of falling in love for the first time, being treated differently because of her weight, the internet always searching for a sick joke, and her being the same person she’s always been even though she looks different. The choice to use this song as the opening track creates an intimate relationship between Eilish and the listener. The last few seconds transition seamlessly into “LUNCH”, one of the songs that she leaked at Coachella, and by far the catchiest song on the album. It also introduces us to a major theme in her life right now: Her sexuality. Over the past year, she has opened up about her queer identity and built anticipation for some of the tracks on this album to be about it. “I could eat that girl for lunch / Yeah, she dances on my tongue / Tastes like she might be the one.”
“CHIHIRO” gets its title from Hayao Miyazaki’s film Spirited Away. In the movie, a little girl named Chihiro loses her family when they turn into pigs and she tries to save them. Eilish’s song says “Saw your seat at the counter when I looked away / Saw you turn around, but it wasn’t your face / Said “I need to be alone now, I’m takin’ a break” / How come when I returned, you were gone away?” The song has a more lo-fi approach, incorporating a soft bass line with her angelic layered vocals. Towards the end, the song picks up a more electronic vibe which creates an entirely new energy and environment for the song. I hope that she confirms more about what this track means to her, the switch up and lyrics are incredible but also quite hard to break down.
Eilish typically gets put into the category of “pop”, but in my opinion, she’s never really been one to make true pop music. This album is changing my mind about that. “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” holds the catchiness and melody of a song you would see on the pop charts, alongside the themes. “I’ll love you till the day that I die / Till the light leaves my eyes.” “WILDFLOWER” is a standout track, and one of my personal favorites. The serenity of the guitar does not match the turmoil of what’s being sung, though. The song seems to address being in a relationship with someone, but knowing that person’s ex, and being unable to stop thinking of that person throughout the relationship. “Do you see her / In the back of your mind / In my eyes? / You said no one knows you so well / But every time you touch me, I just wonder how she felt.” Along the same lines of gut-wrenching heartbreak comes “THE GREATEST”. I interpret, “Man, am I the greatest / My congratulations / All my love and patience / All my admiration,” to be as someone that is saying those things to her. I can relate to the feeling of being told how awesome I am for doing something for a person, but that person does nothing in return. It’s a painful sensation to realize that there is deep selfishness buried in a person you love, and waiting for them to show the love, patience, and admiration in return, but never doing so. The build up towards the end of the song reminds me a bit of the track “Happier Than Ever” from her last album, with a soulful and heartbreaking delivery in the first half and the second half allowing all of the pent up emotion to overflow.
A complete vibe switch, “L’AMOUR DE MA VIE” gives a modern-day jazz tone. The soft cymbal in combination with the smooth guitar seem to be the perfect combination to match her voice. She sings about falling out of love with a person whose life she was once the love of. Once again, she switches it up towards the end, starting with a small interlude of distorted vocals that transitions into a hyper-pop synth wonderland, completed by heavy autotune. I almost wish this song had been split into two songs and not left as one, the second half is significantly different than the first, but, both parts are incredible in their own way.
“THE DINER” opens with a melody that mixes a little bit of jazz with something haunting and theatrical. It seems to describe a fantasy of Eilish’s in a villain-arc way. She sings about wanting the subject of the song to be her wife and waiting on the corner for the sitter to leave, but then switches to saying, “I tried to save you but I failed / Two fifty thousand dollar bail / While I’m away, don’t read my mail / Just bring a veil / And come visit me in jail.” The message of the song is certainly up for interpretation, but nevertheless it’s fun and holds the playfulness I adore to hear in Billie’s music. “BITTERSUITE” opens will full synth and an agonizing delivery of the line “I can’t fall in love with you.” To me, this song is her battling against herself over who she should love. Whether it be addressing her sexuality or a risqué relationship is unknown, but it also plugs a previous song title “L’AMOUR DE MA VIE” towards the end which is interesting. This album feels to me like Eilish has a puzzle for us to solve and laid out all of the pieces, but some are missing and some don’t fit right. We’ll never know who she’s speaking about, and yet the tracks all seem so incredibly personal.
“BLUE” is an interesting song for many reasons. Years and years ago, I remember hearing a demo of this song, and it was originally called “True Blue”. Eilish chose to switch it up a bit and include it on this album which is surprising to me. It’s a mysterious and alluring song, one that had it’s hooks in me years ago and does even more so now with the newer version. She ends the song by saying, “But when can I hear the next one?” Is another album already in the works? Who knows, but this album proves Billie Eilish has stayed true to herself all these years and given her fans the most raw version of her story on HIT ME HARD AND SOFT.
Catch Billie on the “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT” tour! Photo via Instagram
