On May 17, Billie Eilish released her third studio album titled HIT ME HARD AND SOFT. At ten songs, it is significantly shorter than her other studio albums. The track count is more comparable to her EP don’t smile at me, which featured eight tracks. Song by song, HIT ME HARD AND SOFT is a ride that is shorter but still memorable.
- SKINNY
“SKINNY” is all about Eilish’s insecurities, and how they relate to how other people perceive changes to her body and personality. First, she describes how people assume that she is happier because she became skinny, then rebuts it by saying, “But the old me is still me and maybe the real me and I think she’s pretty”. After the chorus, she delves into how she has aged. The lyrics starting this section of the song are “Am I acting my age now? Am I already on the way out?” These lyrics can be construed as a response to criticisms that she has received about her body and her maturity.
- LUNCH
Without exaggeration, “LUNCH” is a complete vibe-switch from “SKINNY”. It is an upbeat song to dance to, but the lyrics can only be described as raunchy. Eilish talks about a nameless romantic interest and how she showers her with material goods. She sings the lyrics “Call me when you’re there” and, “I bought you somethin’ rare and I left it under ‘Claire’”. Eilish also delves into other acts with this romantic interest. She tells the audience the person is made for her, asking for her “recipe”, and calling her sweet. This song follows Eilish allegedly being outed on the red carpet as bisexual by Variety, a magazine based out of Los Angeles. “LUNCH” is the most direct track about Eilish’s attraction to other women.
- CHIHIRO
“CHIHIRO” begins with a simple bass line and Eilish’s voice but develops instrumentally, notably with the introduction of synths around the 1:45 mark. This track is named after the character Chihiro of the Studio Ghibli movie Spirited Away. Many of the lines are references to events in the movie, but carry double meanings in the context of Eilish’s love life. Shealso touches on situationships, and how her partners struggle to get serious saying, “When you told me it was serious were you serious?”
- BIRDS OF A FEATHER
“BIRDS OF A FEATHER” feels like a development of themes established in “CHIHIRO”. Eilish reestablishes how she looks for commitment in “’Til I’m in the casket you carry if you go, I’m goin’ too”. She wants to take love to the grave, and emphasizes being together in the refrain, saying “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.” Eilish seeks seriousness, but finds herself out of luck when situationships don’t develop further.
- WILDFLOWER
“WILDFLOWER” is about Eilish being stuck in the middle of another couple’s breakup. She comforts another girl while simultaneously getting into a relationship with the ex of the person she is comforting. She weighs her morals with “But I see her in the back of my mind all the time. Like a fever, like I’m burning alive, like a sign. Did I cross the line?” She can’t forget the image of her romantic interest’s ex, saying “But every time you touch me, I just wonder how she felt, Valentine’s Day, cryin’ in the hotel”. Eilish confronts an internal conflict that weighs on her. She does not know whether to let it go or to blame herself.
- THE GREATEST
“THE GREATEST” is very reminiscent of the themes present in Eilish’s previous music. This track follows her putting love and dedication into a person who is not reciprocating her feelings at all. “All my love and patience, all my admiration, all the times I waited … Man, I am the greatest” is a good example of situations we’ve seen Eilish in before, where she is not taken as seriously in a relationship.
- L’AMOUR DE MA VIE
“L’AMOUR DE MA VIE,” or “Love of My Life” when translated from French, are Eilish’s thoughts on a relationship that left both parties unfulfilled. “But I need to confess, I told you a lie, when I said you, you were the love of my life” and “My stomach upset almost all of the time But after I left, it was obvious why” are great examples of Eilish’s general displeasure from this relationship. She also hints at the fact that this partner may have used her for fame, “You wanted to keep it, like somethin’ you found”. This track almost feels like it completes an arc that starts on “WILDFLOWER”, goes through “THE GREATEST” and ends on this track, marking the beginning, middle, and end respectively.
- THE DINER
“THE DINER” is all about Eilish’s experience with stalkers and crazy fans. It feels like her experience is similar to Eminem’s “Stan” because both have stalkers who degenerate into feeling like they deserve to be with their favorite star romantically. In Eminem’s “Stan”, this manifests as a fan writing letters to Eminem, and eventually professing his love to Eminem, while in Eilish’s case, her stalkers pose themselves as the missing piece she needs, with “Don’t be afraid of Me, I’m what you need” suggesting that her stalkers genuinely believe that they could be the one to break her cycle of heartbreak. Also, don’t be afraid to call the number she repeats in the outro, Eilish might even answer it.
- BITTERSUITE
“BITTERSUITE” is separated into three parts. Part one lays on the synths the same way “CHIHIRO” does, but from the jump instead of nearly two minutes in. Part one is short, lasting about 1:30, winding down like “goodbye” off of Eilish’s debut album WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? but seamlessly transitions into part two. Part two’s melody is calm, and also makes references to other tracks in the album, the same way “goodbye” did on her debut album, but the difference is that “BITTERSUITE” is not the final song on the tracklist like “goodbye” is. It can be inferred that “Bittersuite” is simply a transitional song, and that Eilish is experimenting with winding down albums earlier. In part three, she is nearly unintelligible, but the highlight of the third part is Eilish teasing the melody of her final track, “BLUE.”
- BLUE
This is the final track and is a rework of two songs Eilish worked on when she was 14 years old, around the time she released “Six Feet Under”. The two songs are “True Blue” and “Born Blue.” She originally intended for “Born Blue” to be included in her sophomore album Happier than Ever, but struggled to find a place for it. Eilish added a new verse into this song referencing many of the previous songs in the album, such as “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” and “BITTERSUITE” with “Birds of a feather, now I’m ashamed” and “In the back of my mind, I’m still overseas” respectively. At the very end, Eilish, using a speaking voice, asks, “But when can I hear the next one?” possibly as a jab to fans who will impatiently wait for the next album.
Eilish’s newest album has been received well, with Masuk listener Brandon Meas singing praises: “I know all her albums and songs, and I can safely say that her latest album HIT ME HARD AND SOFT is hands down one of her most experimental albums yet. It has a touch of all her previous albums in it. It’s so Billie, but also the BEST of Billie.”
Matt Mitchell of Paste Magazine based out of Atlanta called the album, “exactly the kind of album that pop music needed right now”
Truthfully, HIT ME HARD AND SOFT cannot be done justice by listening to the songs one by one and out of order. This is an album with a distinct story and arcs that build upon each other and demonstrate Eilish’s personal growth, along with her growth and maturity as an artist.
This album is experimental or “new” for her, and almost feels like when in 2000 and 2001, Radiohead released Kid A and Amnesic respectively. These albums marked an exploratory era for Radiohead, and Eilish might be having her moment in this sense. This album felt the freshest for her, as she explored new writing techniques and production styles, and it leaves the listener excited to see whether or not Eilish will continue exploring her style.
Masuk Free Press 
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