Billie Eilish - Hit Me Hard and Soft

https://media.pitchfork.com/photos/6614092742a7de97785c7a48/master/w_1600,c_limit/Billie-Eilish-Hit-Me-Hard-and-Soft.jpg

Hit Me Hard and Soft is out May 17, 2024 via Darkroom and Interscope.

No track listing yet.

apparently no singles before release either

which i guess is fine because the last album was not at all a singles album

we do actually have a tracklist though:

1. Skinny
2. Lunch
3. Chihiro
4. Birds of a Feather
5. Wildflower
6. The Greatest
7. L’Amour De Ma Vie
8. The Diner
9. Bittersuite
10. Blue

"blue" is an old unreleased song that's been floating around for a while apparently

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kgKFbaoAHE

i am not sure if this is a leaked studio version from a while ago or what?

It’s interesting there’s a song called “The Greatest” – her last album had a song (“Halley’s Comet”) that sounded to me like it could have been influenced by the Lana Del Rey song of that title.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QT9qM99l9Yk

Thanks ufo, everywhere I looked, which was only two places, didn't have the track listed.

she's a big jim hall fan then

she premiered a bunch of tracks at a coachella dj set and they sound very very promising

WE GOT THE EXTENDED PART OF “CHIHIRO” pic.twitter.com/nnFFAYaurC

— Billie Eilish Music Videos (@eilishmvs) April 14, 2024

L’AMOUR DE MA VIE WAS PLAYED AT COACHELLA !!!pic.twitter.com/IThNewGOBZ

— Billie Eilish Music Videos (@eilishmvs) April 14, 2024

LUNCH IS BEING PLAYED AT COACHELLA pic.twitter.com/CGmXbjswnV

— Billie Eilish Music Videos (@eilishmvs) April 14, 2024

Billie teases ‘CHIHIRO’ in a new interview with @zanelowe! 🫧 pic.twitter.com/0ZbwS8YcZD

— Billie Eilish Tours (@billieeilishtrs) April 12, 2024

a few tracks leaked and they sound fantastic

that's a cellphone album cover layout if i've ever seen one

We get this tomorrow night, nice.

Oh, I forgot this was coming!

album's pretty good, though it falls off a bit towards the end - the first half of "l'amour de ma vie", "the diner" and "bittersuite" are a bit of a step down from the rest. lots to love here though

"chihiro", "birds of a feather", "the greatest" are all fantastic

Not able to listen to this, so instead just heard the first song "Skinny." Stunning beautiful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB3VkzPdgLA

haven't listened to the album but "lunch" reminds me of sheryl crow

oh man i love it when there's a hidden track inside of a track and it's a huge banger ("l'amour de ma vie")

Lunch reminds me of the Cardigans.

I got more of a Cardigans vibe off “lunch”.

Pretty good on first listen. The one-two punch lf “Chihiro” and “Birds of a feather” might be my favorite thing she has done. Finneas keeps improving as a producer.

I will always root for Billie, and there are def some great songs here, but overall this does not hit me at all the way the other two did.

Finally had a chance to listen to most of this. I agree with a lot that has been said, production is great and its not as immediate as her other releases. I need to finish up the last four songs but "The Greatest" and "Skinny" are some major highlights here.

I like this a lot! I didn't care for the first album, the second one impressed me, so it makes sense that she'd grab me with the third. I like stentorian, vulgar Billie Eilish.

Same boat as Alfred.

i think happier than ever is better overall but this has higher highs and lower lows

only one listen but I think this is easily my favourite album of hers, even if it doesn't have as many obvious "singles"

this is her best so far

Yep.

This album is pretty good. Surprised that we have yet to hear from morrisp.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WSIpxukIO8

she released a full length version of the cool part of "l'amour de ma vie"!

why wasn't this on the album in full lol

this is awesome. listening to the whole thing for the first time now. i loved "lunch" the first time i heard it. i even heard it in the car during an I Heart Radio premiere! that felt old-fashioned. i love the dreamy tracks on this. so pretty. and i love "the greatest". my new theme song.

this is fine idk

Billie Eilish.... welcome to the great state of New Jersey!

haha

"birds of a feather" is good damn

i like "lunch" but it does feel a bit like "bad guy" pt 2

"lunch" is just fine, it's not annoying in the same way as "bad guy" but it's not one of the best things here

does CHIHIRO sound a bit like an Avalon Emerson bite?

man you people dislike pleasure

nuh uh, i like it fine.

i'm gonna play it again tomorrow morning when i get into work. it was very soothing to me. but in an upfront present way. not background music or wallpaper. i was with her the whole way.

pleasure is great, one thing I find pleasurable is ruining everyone else's fun

but tbrr, I like this album after one listen so far

I'm an outlier in that her 2019 whispery post-Lorde shtick bored me, so every subsequent album has impressed me.

does CHIHIRO sound a bit like an Avalon Emerson bite?

― Muad'Doob (Moodles)

Oh yeah kind of, might explain why it’s one of my fave things in here.

I can’t remember a thing about this album after I’ve listened to it.

i like "lunch" but it does feel a bit like "bad guy" pt 2

― slob wizard (J0rdan S.)

or pt 3 since Therefore I Am felt like "bad guy" pt 2.

I can’t remember a thing about this album after I’ve listened to it.

― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm)

I had a similar response to her first album.

I can’t remember a thing about this album after I’ve listened to it.

― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm)

I have only heard it a couple of times but "lunch" and "birds of a feather" are some of the catchiest things she has done. There's plenty of songs on the second half that I do not remember at all though but again, I haven't heard to it a lot.

while listening though I think this is her best produced record and her best vocal performance in general even though I don't remember much about half of it.

the extended version of the second half of "l'amour" is great

part of what elevates "birds of a feather" above similar fare for me is the sound of the drums

this is just a random stray thought but "birds of a feather" reminds me a lot of "II most wanted" in terms of being mawkish, FM radio type songs that could have been gloopy, corny, forgettable in the wrong hands, and instead are, to me, kinda exemplary contemporary versions of that kinda songcraft. in particular i think in both cases you have exceptional vocalists elevating the songs to a place of real emotional resonance

I might not be that well versed in Billie Eilish but her vocal performance in “birds of a feather” seems out of her comfort zone, if I had heard it out of context for the first time I wouldn’t have guessed it’s her.

first-listen impression is that this is not an essential release from her, tho the closing track was great. "birds of a feather" is my fav w/ 'hit potential' but it sounds like that one jason mraz song lol

i'd have said the same after my first listen, but after several subsequent listens i'd say it is definitely an essential release from her.

i do not hear "i'm yours" in "birds of a feather" (thankfully!)

Her best album.

Does anyone hear a little of Kraftwerk’s “The Model” in “Lunch”, or is it just me

you're right

i do not hear "i'm yours" in "birds of a feather" (thankfully!)

i meant "you and i both" which i should have clarified given it not being super well known. those of us with refined taste in supermarket music know it's a great song in its own right ;P

that makes a whole lot more sense

This album is fucking great

I hadn’t checked this out but Lunch came up on a mix today & I was floored. I love how unapologetic it is, I love how Billie explained it too

Discussing the meaning behind 'Lunch' with Rolling Stone, Billie said: "That song was actually part of what helped me become who I am, to be real. I wrote some of it before even doing anything with a girl, and then wrote the rest after."

Billie then continued to say: "I’ve been in love with girls for my whole life, but I just didn’t understand - until, last year, I realised I wanted my face in a vagina."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDtGsVB3y3I

Same as gyac, hearing Lunch in the semi-wild prompted me to check this album out. She's so much better on tracks that have kick and a vintage sheen, she's wasting herself playing frail, to this audience at least. I guess I'm on team "hit me hard".

My first impression of this album is that everyone should find something to like, which in the end is probably the best avenue for this type of blockbuster pop album. And frankly, kudos for stopping at ten tracks, please make that the new trend.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BY_XwvKogC8

Xpost: I don’t know if I agree… I think the frail songs are what actually makes her popular in her core audience. If you check her most listened songs on idk youtube or spotify 7 out of 10 are more on the frail side. Looking at those numbers makes me think her core audience could do with less songs that sound like “therefore I am” or “bad guy” or “lunch”.

Not that I mind it. “Lunch” is very satisfying and fun for me in ways that “bad guy” never did, even if they share a template.

Chiming in to say "Lunch" > "Chihiro" > "Birds of a Feather" is probably the best three-song run I've heard this year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJipI9fIoXE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_uBbDkiAIA

Birds of a Feather is the ultimate nü yacht jam for the beach. Seeing her play it for the Olympic thingy was a revelation. Love it

hadn't listened to her much before but loved this album immediately

Love "Birds" but it feels like it's missing something - backing vocals, countermelody - frustrating becuase it's so almost there

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9PVRfjEBTI

Never paid much attention to the lyrics so only realizing now the death fixated subtext on that song

Birds of a Feather feels like a song that will be playing on adult contemporary radio for a very long time. So many (all?) of the other songs on this album have two or three distinct sections, abrupt tempo and musical shifts, and then there’s this super down the middle pop song (that she could probably write a dozen of if she wanted), and it’s got a billion Spotify streams and counting.

Love that song but yeah it’s curious how popular it is in the context of this album (and her career) when it’s the most un-billie eilish song she has ever made.

I think "Chihiro" is a better single but this will be the "Birds of a Feather" album. Not a bad thing in 2024.

Word-of-mouth phenoms are rare enough

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/music-news/billie-eilish-birds-of-a-feather-spotify-most-streamed-song-2024-1236097830/

Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather” has flown to the top of Spotify’s list of biggest songs of 2024 with 1.775b streams.

It seems like "Wildflower" is the song really blowing up at the moment. Might be the biggest of all these?

It’s got a way to go

I thought this album was kinda of a dud, creatively, but clearly my assessment wasn’t in step with the marketplace.