Hit Me Hard and Soft
Album by Billie Eilish
Released 17 May 2024
Alt-Pop
Produced by Finneas
Rating – 7/10
A witty, lurking sad-pop album that breaks hearts as well as ground.
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Trauma, heartbreak and disorder network within the borders of a ‘70s-approved “album’s album” on Hit Me Hard and Soft. Billie Eilish’s meta themes clink wineglasses from one track to another, fusing references and callbacks into her deathly sly pop; themes like sexuality and eating disorders, handled with gravity and some unbalanced humour.
Ain’t that the Billie Eilish way? Her up-close-and-personal methods of crafting and performing impelled her into the mainstream’s watchful eye – or listenful ear… man, she’s even forcing new words out of music reviewers – on debut album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? Her feats resurfaced as balladic enormity on Happier Than Ever, my personal favourite of hers, even if any aforementioned humour was downplayed.
She’s playing cards; her words are critical, their uses are critical, but she will play to the ear-to-ear grins of her nudging, femme fatale character, particularly the one she plays on Lunch. She compares the harbourer of her attention to…well…lunch, and she’s ready to start chomping on ‘em. She asks them “do you know how to bend?” with a quirky girl quietude as she contorts her heartbreak and disorder like a super creative game of Chinese Whispers. This particular film noir’s antagonist spikes drinks; Billie sings a later reworking of the song’s crystalised hook in a state of pure delirium – maybe she was poisoned by one of her constituents. She blinks and her songs transform into vivid images with caution signs nearby – “now she’s smiling ear to ear / she’s the headlights, I’m the deer” – and to do so whilst remaining lusty and hungry is as much a victory as the clinical idea-melding she frequents with brother/producer Finneas O’Connell.
She zooms in on her themes, then uses subsequent songs to zoom in on the previous songs on which those themes were zoomed in on – did you get that? Finale Blue creates somewhat of a cycle, Billie’s “isn’t this where we came in?” from The Wall. Hit Me Hard and Soft’s swan song summarises a number of its predecessors as if acknowledging heartbreak’s incumbency and vicious cycle. Eilish elbows us in the nose whilst elbowing herself in the nose, serious in her quest for closure but she hasn’t finished locating the landmines just yet. She instead lists traumas as if juggling them like a collection of anchors, waiting for one to smack-land on her head, all in a clever collage of voices and quiet instruments.
The finale interpolates prior song titles comparable to Bittersuite glancing back at the sticky situation documented on The Diner with quiet updates on its lyrics. Trippily, freakily, Billie infuses some exotica into The Diner, resembling the quirkier, murkier number in a musical, whereas the mega balladry of The Greatest is the Let It Go – or you know, something a little less overstated. The bizarreness of The Diner is another means for Billie to have a little fun, much like the “bum bum bum”-mimic transitions of L’Amour De Ma Vie having her appear like a perennial joke-maker who just has to get one in even in the midst of a crying fit. Most would cave to embarrassment and shun such an action, especially on such a lovesick song, so lovesick it’s making Valentine’s cards out of vomit, shuddering with croons like the modern sad girl equivalent of an old traditional pop singer. Her Valentine’s card then transitions into a livelier part-two, like a pair of light-up shoes.
The finale also interpolates the blunt sadness that dips into Skinny, on which Eilish prophesises the continuation of incidental taunts like “people say I look happy just because I got skinny”. Strings deepen like the ocean opening its mouth, contrasting the album’s irregular instrumental palette that’d rather tuck itself away than dance to an expected tune.
Subtleties relay with consistency; Chihiro traverses far past poppy expectations to buckle a light dance groove that later confides in a surf of not-so-subtle synthesisers. There are slow-burns (Wildflower), and arrangements that glisten when they want to, but will happily stop once bored (Birds of a Feather).
In Billie Eilish’s musical psyche, there is seldom one way of doing things. By no means is Hit Me Hard and Soft even that detailed a melting pot, nor is its linearity or storytelling comparable to The Dark Side of the Moon or something more operatic like Quadrophenia, but the album forms bonds – track-to-track, theme-to-theme, line-to-line – which contain wisdom. Eilish’s third album is sympathetic, indispensable and inimitable; as cerebral as anything she’s made before.
Best tracks – Lunch – L’Amour De Ma Vie – The Diner.
Rating – 7 out of 10
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