Youngest music history maker returns with intimate third hit me hard and soft.
BILLIE’S BOASTS: HER JOURNEY
Whether or not you have blocked Billie or not because she hasn’t spoken out about Palestine or didn’t respond to your request for a follow, it’s hard to deny the fact that her music is cultivated for success. It’s almost a winning formula of wispy vocals and damp instrumentals that gets the pop world stirred everytime: and 2024 – six years since she stepped onto the stage – is no different.
Eilish – along with her mad brother-scientist-turned-producer Finneas – remains one of the biggest stars to emerge in the 21st Century. Her debut album at just 17 and sophomore follow-up a mere two years later, were worldwide capitulations of triumph resulting in the GRAMMYs conceding defeat and pretty much giving her every category available to her. Figured as very much a pop household name, she has even smashed her blockbuster quota – with both No Time To Die and What Was I Made For? superseding any expectations for them to just be forgetful filler film soundtracks.
Now, after getting tired of all the NBA games LA has to offer – she returned to her dwelling and laid down 10 tracks that turned out to be the material for her third album, indecisively titled HIT ME HARD AND SOFT. Much like its record title, is it a shilly-shally of half-baked ideas or does it pack a similar punch to WHEN WE FALL ASLEEP[…] in 2019? Is it a BITTERSUITE return or is it a lo-fi low of the lowest?
hit me hard in the face: the verdict
Despite the rather viscous album title and Billie literally drowning her sorrows on the artwork, the album is one of a subdued one.
The Spanish elevator guitars in SKINNY provide a nice backdrop to Billie doing her usual wishy-washy swoons in the studio as she takes digs at the Internet’s funny business – “And the Internet is hungry for the meanest kind of funny / And somebody’s gotta feed it.” It’s beautifully Billie-approved with pondering strings fading out an otherwise strong opener by Billie’s standards of staying elusive and melancholic.
It dives into LUNCH, a devouring of Billie’s lesbian lust that is equally catchy with its funky bass and off-beat guitar quips. Albeit repetitive, it ups the ante with a playful synth off-loading. It’s bold and fervently keeps the listener on their toes.
CHIHIRO is another quippy offering marked with that distinct warm tone of the bass, drilled into a swirling synth line as Billie seethes into the wind, “I don’t, I don’t why I called / I don;’t know you at all / At all.” It’s strong in grandeur but is certainly not ahead of the pop pack that all the major press spreads are harping on about.
BIRDS OF A FEATHER doesn’t leave much to the imagination with Eilish’s rather lacklustre lyrical show. Funnily enough, using reverb doesn’t necessarily make it deep in emotion.
WILDFLOWER and THE GREATEST however, are fleeting moments of wonderment that both build and swell like a proper Eilish song back in the hayday. The latter using a fully-fledged drum kit on its track. Irrespective if its real or stems in the studio, it has the hallmarkings of an alt-pop exploration that maybe Wolf Alice may look to write. L’AMOUR DE MA VIE is a cool break-up charmer split over two personalities. The first half is a retro-pop jazz lounge edition that has the foundations of Laufey’s style – while the latter section is a hyperpop / ’80s synth-pop outburst that brings in a rather experimental contrast to Billie’s new works.
THE DINER takes us back to Eilish’s signature sounds of alt-pop synth school classroom noises but doesn’t offer much else within this returning narrative. The ending in BLUE is a echoic breath of those Eilish whispering falsettos and seemless sounds that transition and bob on the waters.
Although not punching for the rafters as the most commercially adept sounding, Eilish’s third is a more subdued tackle into the haunts of life and lost love quarrels, as she struggles for breath in a claustrophobic environment tugging for any sensibility – life or work. The album is far from a pop commercial headhunter but instead heaves into a new space – or rather, lack of – of style. It largely attempts to be experimentally bold – but often comes up as a sonically boring album. Some of the ideas are applaudable for such an astute artists but alas, it’s certainly not crazy enough to lose our heads over this time around.
manvmusic.com 
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