Hit Me Hard and Soft | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | May 17, 2024 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 43:45 | |||
Label |
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Producer | Finneas | |||
Billie Eilish chronology | ||||
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Singles from Hit Me Hard and Soft | ||||
Hit Me Hard and Soft is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Billie Eilish, released on May 17, 2024, through Darkroom and Interscope Records. The second song, "Lunch", became the lead single.
Eilish announced the album on April 8, after teasing the project on billboards in various locations. She later went on to announce a world tour. The album was uniformly praised.
Eilish co-wrote and recorded her second studio album, Happier Than Ever, at her brother Finneas O'Connell's home recording studio, located in the basement of his Los Angeles residence.[2] In weekly schedules, recording took place between April 2020 and February 2021, with the final track listing being worked by the duo during the album's creation.[3][4] Happier Than Ever was released on July 30, 2021;[5] it was met with critical acclaim and commercial success, topping the Billboard 200[6] and was nominated twice at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards.[7] Eilish surprise-released her second extended play (EP) Guitar Songs in July 2022. The following year, she released "What Was I Made For?" for the soundtrack to the fantasy-comedy film Barbie (2023); she was inspired to write the song after seeing unfinished scenes of the film during its production.[8] For "What Was I Made For?", she won an Academy Award for Best Original Song and two Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Best Song Written for Visual Media.[9]
In December 2022, Eilish started formulating ideas for her third studio album with O'Connell.[10] In an interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music, she mentioned that she hoped to start writing the album in 2023.[11] In December 2023, Eilish said on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that the album was "almost done".[12] Three months later, she confirmed that the album had been mastered.[13]
Various news articles reported billboards teasing snippets of lyrics for the album that appeared in multiple cities in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States in April 2024;[14] although it does not mention the artist's name, her signature "blohsh" was recognized.[15][a] The promotional billboards display cryptic lyrics, such as "She's the headlights I'm the deer" or "Did I cross the line?".[17] Eilish later changed her profile picture to a "blue circle" and shared another image with the caption saying "Do you know how to bend?".[18] Eilish added her followers to an Instagram feature that lets limited accounts see exclusive stories, called "Close Friends". The post features a "lo-fi" image showcasing the artist's hand,[19] and an image of her new midriff tattoo.[20] On April 29, 2024, Eilish announced the Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour in support of the album. The tour is set to start on September 29, 2024, at the Videotron Centre in Quebec City, Canada.[21]
Eilish previewed the songs "Lunch", "L'Amour de ma vie", and "Chihiro" during a surprise DJ set at Coachella on April 13, 2024.[22] In an interview published on April 24, she told Rolling Stone that she would not release singles prior to the album's release. She explained that she does not like singles from albums because she "really [doesn't] like when things are out of context" and compared Hit Me Hard and Soft to "a family", adding that she "[doesn't] want one little kid in the middle of the room alone".[23] In May, a preview of "Chihiro" was featured in a Fortnite trailer revealing Eilish's second in-game outfit. The song will also be available as a "Jam Track" to use in the Fortnite Festival mode.[24] Furthermore, a snippet of "Birds of a Feather" was featured in a promotional clip for the third season of the Netflix series Heartstopper.[25] On May 15, Eilish held a listening party event for fans at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn premiering the album in its entirety.[26] "Lunch" was released as the lead single in tandem with the album's release.[27] It was sent to Italian radio stations on May 17, 2024.[1]
Aggregate scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AnyDecentMusic? | 8.2/10[28] |
Metacritic | 91/100[29] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Clash | 9/10[30] |
The Guardian | [31] |
The Independent | [32] |
The Line of Best Fit | 9/10[33] |
NME | [34] |
Rolling Stone | [35] |
The Telegraph | [36] |
On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized score out of 100 to ratings from professional publications, Hit Me Hard and Soft received a weighted mean score of 91, based on nine reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[29] In a five-star review, Helen Brown of The Independent praised how the album "whispers its way through a marvelous maze of music to deliver some big emotional wallops."[32] Neil McCormick from The Telegraph agreed in his own five-star assessment, opining that the "heartbreak masterpiece" is "rich, strange, smart, sad and wise enough" to stand in comparison with Joni Mitchell's Blue (1971).[36]
Writing for The Guardian, Alexis Petridis loved Hit Me Hard and Soft's "beautiful" melodies and "distinctive" lyrical touches, but wondered if some of its elements could be "a little too opaque" for its own good.[31] NME's Thomas Smith felt that although Eilish wrote the album for herself, she created a record that will "resonate harder" than anything she has done before.[34]
All tracks are written by Billie Eilish O'Connell and Finneas O'Connell.
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "Skinny" | 3:39 |
2. | "Lunch" | 2:59 |
3. | "Chihiro" | 5:03 |
4. | "Birds of a Feather" | 3:30 |
5. | "Wildflower" | 4:21 |
6. | "The Greatest" | 4:53 |
7. | "L'Amour de ma vie" | 5:33 |
8. | "The Diner" | 3:06 |
9. | "Bittersuite" | 4:58 |
10. | "Blue" | 5:43 |
Total length: | 43:45 |
Region | Date | Format | Label | Ref. |
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Various | May 17, 2024 |
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