Billie Eilish, an American singer and songwriter just released her new album, “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT” on May 17, 2024. She first gained attention with her debut single, “ocean eyes” in 2015 at just 14 years old. She broke the record for being the youngest person to receive a second oscar. Owning 9 Grammys in total, she earned her first Grammy at 18 years old and broke the record for youngest person to receive album of the year. Just like all of her other singles and albums, she wrote and produced this album with her older brother, Finneas Baird O’Connell, most widely known as ‘FINNEAS”. On August 20th, she hit number one on spotify with 100,105,704 listeners. It’s personally easy to say that “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT” actually did hit me hard and soft.
“SKINNY”
As the intro song of the album, I think it does the job very well. It starts the album off in a dark, quiet vibe, creating the sad atmosphere that she’s known for. The two particular runs, “but the old me is still me and maybe the real me and I think she’s pretty,” and “and the internet is hungry for the meanest kind of funny and somebody’s gotta feed it” not only have a satisfying feel to it, but the lyrics hits many people hard in the chest. It gives us an insight on how she’s been feeling about everything that’s been circulating the internet about her.
There’s an echo to her voice in this song and she harmonizes with herself on parts of the lyrics she wants to emphasize, which adds to the atmosphere of the song and helps it have the push it needs to bring out emotion in people. She talks about falling in love for the first time with so much emotion in her voice. During the lyrics, “when I step off the stage, I’m a bird in a cage/I’m a dog in a dog pound” there’s a backtrack of screams and clapping you would hear in the audience of a music concert. I think that adds a lot of ambience to the lyrics that she’s singing during it.
For the last minute of the song, there’s no vocals and just a violin solo. I think this was a great choice, especially for such an emotional intro song. In addition to that, the last 5 seconds of the song is an upbeat drum sequence, which directly transitions into the next song.
“LUNCH”
The complete opposite to “SKINNY,” the mood of the album switches to an upbeat, sassy vibe. It takes the exact same sequence as the last 5 seconds of the previous song and continues it with an overlay of an electric bass. Her vocals go from a sad, quiet tone to an upbeat, sassy vibe.
Towards the end of the song, Eilish adds to the backtrack, using the sounding exhaling and inhaling to accommodate the other instruments. Afterwards, the instruments die down, and the drums and her staccato breaths ultimately puts this song to a close.
This is the first song she has put out where she opens up about her bisexuality. People have been speculating this for a long time though she never acknowledged it until an interview when promoting the album. She told everyone that there would be a song that opened up about it and the rest is history.
“CHIHIRO”
Chihiro is a Japanese girl’s name, meaning “thousand questions.” In the movie “Spirited Away” the main character’s name is Chihiro. Eilish admitted to loving the movie in an interview and later in an interview with Devilex, she says that she was improvising a lyric that reminded her of the movie. After that lyric, she was inspired to continue to write the song in relation to the movie.
In the movie, Chihiro opens a door to a land of spirits, which many people speculate inspired the lyrics “Open up the door, can you open up the door?”
I think this song has an interesting and unique meaning behind it. She also talks about the improvising she was doing in the studio with her brother, Finneas, in an interview with Apple Music. This obviously isn’t the first improvised based song to exist, an example being “All Too Well” by Taylor Swift. However, it never fails to amaze me on the level of talent it takes to be able to improvise and make it sound good.
“BIRDS OF A FEATHER”
Nominated for song of the summer in MTV Video music awards, this song went platinum on Spotify on August 14. It’s personally my favorite song of the album, having an upbeat and chipper vibe to it. It’s definitely one of her songs with a summer vibe to it. Unlike many of her songs, the lyrics talk about a long lasting relationship. She talks about how she’s so in love and how they should “stick together” as life goes on.
The beginning melody of the piano stays in the backtrack through most of the song, tying everything together and keeping everything unified. Although there’s not much of a deeper meaning to this song, the fun and happy atmosphere that comes with it is definitely one of the reasons why it’s her most popular song in this album.
“WILDFLOWER”
Taking yet another dramatic turn, this song switches from the upbeat, poppy vibe from the previous one to a quieter and sadder atmosphere. It starts with a sad guitar sequence that sets up the idea of how this song will play out. Her vocals almost have a “strain” to it from the emotion she sings with.
In contrast to “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” which talks about the beginning of a long lasting healthy relationship, this song talks about the end of one. For example, the first few lyrics say “things fall about and time breaks your heart.” In addition, the lyrics convey the idea of overthinking about the partner’s ex. “I see her in the back of my mind all the time” and “but every time you touch me I just wonder how she felt” shows us just this.
Towards the bridge of the song, the song seems to get louder because she starts to add harmonizing vocals in the backtrack. It builds up all the way until the bridge, where she vocalizes as the lyrics continue to run through the background.
“THE GREATEST”
This song quickly turns into the saddest song yet with the first line of “I’m trying my best to keep you satisfied.” The quiet guitar in the background and the way her voice sounds so raw adds more emotion and a more sorrowful tone.
Eilish talks about love that isn’t returned back to her and sacrificing everything just for it to be thrown away and the feeling of loneliness that comes from that. Her brother who produced the song says in an interview, “…when you realize that you’d, you know, sacrifice and wear yourself out and compromise all these things and you realize that the person you’re in love with is not making those sacrifices…to me that’s what that song is about.” I also would like to point out the lyrics “my congratulations” because the meaning hidden behind just 2 words is so powerful. Here, she talks about the congratulations you tell people when they jump to a new step in their life, like graduations and weddings, etc. She says these words with an insolent tone, which adds a depth to those words. I think being able to take such a complex idea that humans have created and putting it into a song that’s 4-5 minutes long is something that shows a lot of talent.
In the first verse of the song, it maintains the quiet, dejected tone. She sings everything in a soft manner and the backtrack also stays soft. When the lyrics start to play “Man am I the greatest/My congratulations/All my love and patience…” you can feel the vibe of the song building up. And at the peak of the build up with the repeated words “Man am I the greatest,” Eilish stays loyal to the soft and quiet vibe, using her head voice and the guitar coming back into play.
However, in the second verse of the song and the same build up comes along, this time she belts out the same words and as she does, the beat drops and many instruments start to play in the backtrack. The song is loud, but filled with so much emotion and frustration that I can imagine someone feeling in a relationship similar to the one she describes. That peak of the build up transitions into the bridge of the song, where she continues to belt out the lyrics. Her voice continues to feel raw with the frustration and anger, and adding this to simple lyrics adds so much character and complexity to the entire song.
“L’AMOUR DE MA VIE”
“L’amour de ma vie” directly translates to “the love of my life” from French to English. This is evidently so, because Eilish uses the lyrics “the love of my life” throughout the song. She talks about how she was lying to her ex when she told him he was the love of her life. The lyrics “You said you’d never fall in love again because of me/Then you moved on immediately” shows how her partner treated her and how he moved on quickly after they broke up. Finally, the lyrics “Because for you/I was the love of your life/But you were not mine” shows the understanding of how she was the love of his life but he wasn’t for her.
Similarly to her previous song, “Happier Than Ever,” this song changes directions during the bridge. It starts off as a sassy tone and changes direction into an upbeat banger. This sudden change of style keeps listeners on their toes and it’s easy to embrace such a change. In this upbeat section of the song, she talks about how glad she is that the relationship is over and almost seems to be celebrating the fact. The last lyric, “It’s such a pity/we’re both so pretty” is a great closing to her thought process and an iconic line to sing.
“THE DINER”
This song is a unique song in how the lyrics depict a story. In November 2023, Eilish obtained a restraining order against a 53 year old man who sent her hundreds of messages on social media, revealing how he was stalking her and how he would threaten her and her friends and family. This song calls him out, being written from the point of view of her stalker. The lyrics “I’m waitin’ on your block/But please don’t call the cops/They’ll make me stop/And I just wanna talk” depict this idea.
The vibe of this song has a creepy tone to it. The way she sings the lyrics depicts the idea of a stalker well because it almost has a stalkerish atmosphere. In the end of the song, she whispers a phone number twice quietly. This serves as an easter egg in the song. Calling this number sends you to a voicemail. She says into the phone, “Hello…hello? Wait, I can’t hear you…hello? Lemme call you back.” After that, you receive a text that says “Hi, it’s Billie. Call me back.”
“BITTERSUITE”
The title of this song sounds like the word bittersweet, which she refers to as how she feels about love. She also says throughout the song, “I’ll see you in the suite,” which refers to the word in the meaning of a set of rooms. I think the way she combined them both to create the title is a cool way to go about it.
This song almost has a feeling of floating. The way her vocals are muffled until the chorus adds to that ambience. The lyrics “outside of my body/watchin’ from above” has the meaning of being distant from her feelings and emotions. Eilish talks about how she can’t fall in love with the person she’s speaking to in the song, in reference to the lyrics, “‘cause I can’t fall in love with you/no matter how bad I want to.” The continuous electronic tone to the backtrack ties everything together, even if the song doesn’t feel repetitive with the lyrics. Towards the end of the song, she also takes reference to the previous songs in her lyrics, like “L’AMOUR DE MA VIE” and “CHIHIRO.”
After the last vocal in the last, there’s still an entire minute left, which leaves the electronic sounds that’ve been in the backtrack since the beginning of the song. The sound slows down and drags out, switching direction. It turns into almost like an introduction to the upcoming song, taking the form of the vocal melody that takes place in “BLUE.”
“BLUE”
When listening to this song, it’s easy to quickly recognize that this song is the outro to the album. All the references it makes to previous songs in the lyrics just ties a pretty pink bow on top. Each previous song is mentioned except for ‘The Diner,’ which is self explanatory since the song was written from the point of view of her stalker.
“A bird in a cage” – ‘Skinny’
“Thought you were made for me” – ‘Lunch’
“Don’t know what’s in store, open up the door” – ‘Chihiro’
“Birds of a feather” – ‘Birds of a feather
“In the back of my mind” – ‘Wildflower’
“I’m trying my best” – ‘The Greatest’
“Désole, mon amour.” – ‘L’Amour De Ma Vie’
“I’m still overseas” – ‘Bittersuite’
The beginning of the backing track of this song ties into the end of the previous song. The melody is the same, but instead of being instrumental, it’s a vocal part which makes it more impactful to the feel of the song. This creates a great transition from one song to the next.
After the first verse, the vibe of the song takes a completely different turn. At first it’s upbeat and energetic and it turns into a ‘bluer’ tone. The backtrack calms down, and her vocals are quieter, dragging out each note. And in the third and last verse of the song, it takes another turn. This time, instead of the upbeat tone, it becomes darker. The bass starts beating harder, and Billie’s vocals go an octave lower, adding to the dark vibe of the song.
Overall, I believe this song is a great example of a well thought out and well executed outro song. At the very end, you can hear her saying “So when can I hear the next one?” which finally ties a perfect bow on top of not only this song individually, but the whole album as one.
