Three years post “Happier Than Ever” and five years post “WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?,” singer-songwriter Billie Eilish announced that her third album, “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT,” would be released on Friday, May 17.
In her announcement, Eilish shared that the album would have no lead singles; instead, the album would be enjoyed all at once in its proper order upon release. This is notable in that Eilish was criticized for the rollout of her last album because the lead single, “my future,” was released on July 30, 2020, a full year before the release of HTE. The rollout was messy and detracted from the commercial success of the album.
Upon listening to HMHAS, Eilish made the correct choice. Eilish’s track order was perfect in telling her story, and every track flows perfectly from one to the other. In the best way possible, the album feels like one 45 minute song rather than an album. The album was clearly meant to be enjoyed in one sitting.
In both lyrics and sound, HMHAS is cleaner, more mature and more refined than any of her previous work.
A lead single also would have detracted from the anticipation of the album. Eilish was clearly not aiming for chart success or hits when creating HMHAS, and any lead single released prior to the album would have disappointed fans.
Despite seemingly not aiming for a commercially successful album, Eilish ended up creating an album that seems to be one of the top contenders for Album of the Year against Beyoncé’s “COWBOY CARTER” at the 2025 Grammys.
This is perhaps attributed to the fact that HMHAS is exactly that: a challenge. Most attention towards the album has been focused on Eilish challenging heteronormativity within the music industry, where she explicitly sings about her attraction to women (“I could eat that girl for lunch / Yeah, she dances on my tongue” in “LUNCH”). Still, Eilish challenges more than that on HMHAS.
Similar to HTE, Eilish shares the uncomfortable reality of fame, with endless comments about her and her life on the opening track, “SKINNY.” In it she states, “People say I look happy / Just because I got skinny / But the old me is still me and maybe the real me / And I think she’s pretty.” The song teases a similar theme to HTE, one that Eilish ultimately strays from in the coming tracks.
Eilish has long been accused of not singing and merely “whispering” due to the soft-spoken nature of her previous songs. Eilish lays those accusations to rest on HMHAS with arguably her best vocals yet on track six, “THE GREATEST.” She reflects on unreciprocated affection and attraction on this track, belting out the bridge, “I loved you / And I still do / Just wanted passion from you / Just wanted what I gave you / I waited / And waited.”
In a press release upon announcing the album, HMHAS was referred to as “bending genres and defying trends along the way,” and this is accurate. Eilish and her brother and producer, FINNEAS, masterfully challenge the norms of pop and alternative music genres on HMHAS. FINNEAS particularly shines on “CHIHIRO” and “L’AMOUR DE MA VIE.”
In both a testament to its name and possibly an ode to the beloved nature of the title track “Happier Than Ever” off her previous album, HMHAS does hit the listener hard and soft; the majority of the tracks have an instrumental transition in the middle of the song that completely changes their direction. “L’AMOUR DE MA VIE” stands out in its success, transitioning via the repetition of “Then you moved out” to an explosion of synth-pop.
“THE DINER” and “BITTERSUITE” have amused listeners who have noticed the sonic similarities of the two songs to music played in Kahoot!, a classic school quiz game. Whether or not it was intentional, the similarities are clearly present.
“HIT ME HARD AND SOFT” ultimately begs comparisons to Lorde’s “Melodrama,” which is arguably one of the best alternative pop albums of all time. Both are unique in their strangeness, which is one of their greatest strengths. They are experimental and push the boundaries of pop until there is a result that is weird but generation-defining. With HMHAS, Eilish has left her mark as a Generation Z pop star, more mature and refined than ever.
As Eilish says in the last line of the album on “BLUE,” listeners are left wondering, “But when can I hear the next one?”
