Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft Review

The shift in tone and the freefall to follow, as featured on the front of Hit Me Hard and Soft, marks an extreme and necessary style diversion for Billie Eilish. Her first truly great record is out. A sense of designated maturity and a necessary evolution to combat the expectations fans have of her is found throughout this third album. Hit Me Hard and Soft has a powerful core to it, a sensationally raw momentum which gives Eilish a proper vocal focus. A lyrical turning point was hit with the impressive No Time to Die glories and the Bad Guy sound is far removed from what Eilish hopes to gather with this, her alt-pop triumph where risks are taken at every opportunity. This is a satisfying triumph which leans into a massively different production style and a wide-open emotional run. Few could have predicted how intense this change of pace could be.  

From Skinny to Lunch should be one of the many positive production signs. Faith is placed once more in Finneas whose solid production is a steady foundation. Eilish builds from there with a personal flair which has been trying and trying to break through the tracks on her previous two releases. Hopeful romances paired with a steady club beat and slick bass additions make up the best of these tracks. Lunch has the last gasps and staggered speech which comes from being won over by someone and the binary opposite is present on Chihiro. Love and loss are compartmentalised in two tracks, spanning seven minutes. Quality work from Eilish whose newfound love for alternative electronics comes good with massive moments, an engulfing positivity occasionally comes through before it is punctured by those fears of falling through the cracks. Birds of a Feather finds that though its lyrical interpretations feel slack and simple for the surprise loving longevity is meant to bring.  

Eilish has provided a forty-three-minute mourning session, and its pangs of grief are as strong as they should be. Thorough and stripped back compared to previous releases, the articulate nature of acoustic beauty found on Wildflower is a real sign of change for Eilish. L’amour De Ma Vie at least keeps this tone fresh and interesting, which Eilish does struggle with occasionally on Hit Me Hard and Soft. A series of hitting out against the love lost elsewhere in life is all well and good but comes on harsh and frequent. There is a lack of topical change and though the instrumental structure comes good in those moments of heartbreak it is the flaw of similarity which keeps the likes of The Greatest from blossoming on their own. Hit Me Hard and Soft is a very complete experience reliant more than ever on the skilful electronic pangs and tone-changing beats found on The Diner.  

Ultimately similar in topic with little change, the same repeated heartbreak across ten tracks bolstered by a wonderful array of risk-taking production motions, Hit Me Hard and Soft certainly stands tall against the other albums. It should be no surprise though given the shaky structure of the previous two pieces. An intensely interesting instrumental array is well worth tuning into and where Eilish may once more struggle with the opportunity to provide a difference she marks the similar structure as a potential strength – a dissection of her preceding styles and the influence of her personal life come to the forefront. Failure to fill the void is heard on Bittersuite, one of the few drifts from denouncing the grief of a doomed relationship and instead, a focus on healing from it is featured. These are the moments worth holding to in a sonic force to be reckoned with, an array of indietronica and alt-pop stylings which remain fresh and focused on providing Eilish with a new sound.