Hit Me hard and soft: A Girl Named billie
When the lights are turned off in an empty stadium, or the lines of people exiting festivals frantically are gone, what will the performers be remembered for?
Billie Eilish dropped her 4th project, 3rd studio album, called ‘HIT ME HARD AND SOFT’ on May 17th, 2024. As I had finished listening to the album be played uninterruptedly on Wednesday of the release week, I could only think about how unforgettable the night was; Billie hit play and sunk into her creation like a teen dancing in their room, yet the mark she left on the arena with this experience was memorable.
Being her most vulnerable project to date, Billie coming into her own and opening herself up to her art-created tracks that can be considered instant classics. Finneas, an already established producer having as notable of a track record as it gets, seemed to find a version of himself in the curation of this work that took his range elsewhere with stunning exploration.
The album begins with the track SKINNY, a soft melodic lullaby over a guitar that sets the tone for the rest of the album, with the sharing of deep insecurities in romance and self-perspective. What was once a guitar fades away into an orchestra as we seem to transition into what is the inside of Billie’s mind. Once there, we are introduced to what can be assumed to be the “hit” of the album, LUNCH. Billie opens herself up in this song about her sexual preference of women, and I think it’s safe to say we’re all here for it. The track itself is as catchy as it can get and carries a lot of weight in relevance for Billie’s self-discovery.
We are then taken on a rollercoaster of songs that are hard to top when it comes to the first half of an album. From tracks 3-6, we are given a theme of beating toxic love, that can be detrimental to oneself but looks everlasting and reparable whilst in it. CHIHIRO has a bridge to die for, with synchronized vocals and synths that corroborate Billie’s voice to perfection as she pleads to know who she loves. The next two songs, BIRDS OF A FEATHER & WILDFLOWER continue the theme of a love that is not beneficial to Billie’s development, but she can’t find it in her to give it up.
THE GREATEST can be seen as the turning point of this album. If Billie were to be asleep in her decision-making and love, this track can be seen as her waking up. With a chaos of instruments towards the end, symbolizing an awakening and a shift of perspective, she calmly and maturely tells whomever she is speaking to, that they could’ve been the greatest, as they’ve missed out on her patience and sacrifice that came with her love.
A jazz cadence very Laufey-esque welcomes us into the second half of this album in L’AMOUR DE MA VIE, showing maturity through this album's long story.
Then you moved on.
The track is abruptly interrupted by Finneas’s masterpiece of a transition that puts us back in the Y2K era as if it was in victorious fashion.
Later on, the album becomes very cryptic, and messages become interpreted in the mind of the listener. DINER comes with a promiscuous production as if someone is up to something, which bodes well with the story of a stalker being told. Is Billie stalking me?
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She must be watching me from her BITTERSUITE, a song title played off a term bittersweet. The track sounds like a happy elevator tune with saddening thoughts of someone she is giving herself up to in a suite, do with that information as you will.
BLUE.
This is how outros are done. The track highlights each of the 9 songs that preceded it and is shaped as a reflection of her thoughts through each event. However, she is still BLUE, but love can be like that sometimes. The second part of the song comes in forgiveness and understanding that the love couldn’t be changed nor can they. The song ends with Billie saying, “But when can I hear the next one?”, teasing at a possible Deluxe or Side B to the 10-track record.
Having grown up with Billie’s music and watching her music and career progress, I was overall happy with the album's output, as I think it’s her most mature project so far. It’s evident as she put her whole self into the project wanting it to reflect her and her progression as a person. Finneas at times took the show with his production but never took Billie’s spotlight. They have never shown so much chemistry in a previous project such as this one in my opinion. There are 2-3 tracks that I would possibly skip while relistening, but it doesn’t take away from their cohesiveness of the project.
Overall Rating: 8.6/10
