Hit Me Hard and Soft-Billie Eilish

Okay, I have done it! Small picture and all. It’s been a long while. Hit Me Hard and Soft! The best Billie Eilish record yet. So, let’s get into it!

Skinny

I liked this track a lot. It might be my favorite one on the record. It’s so melodic and vibey and it’s hard to explain, but like very nostalgic also. It reminds me a little bit of a song the Velvet Underground would’ve written if Lou Reed was a woman. The hook is beautiful and Billie’s singing on this track is both warm and sad.

The instrumental isn’t anything too crazy, some nice guitars here. I thought it really complemented Billie’s vocals and did a good job of unifying a lot of contemporary sounds with Billie’s own sound. The lyrics are great and feel very personal. For first time listeners, Billie’s personality would come through right away in these bars. The arrangement is very good and I enjoyed the orchestral segment at the end of this song. It was a fantastic opener and one of my favorite Billie Eilish songs.

Lunch

This song is awesome. It’s a bop, anchored by an awesome Southern Cal pop-rock beat with an infectious flow from Billie Eilish. This song is also like, very lesbian. Like, very girl on girl vibes in this track. It’s catchy as hell. You can probably imagine what’s for “lunch” is in this context.

The production on this song is crazy. It feels like a hit, but it might be too complex in some ways. The way the beat keeps progressing and adding and then stripping back layers is great. The random pianos, guitars and bass lines that pop in and out of the background give the track a distinct feeling, a raw, bubbling emotion. It’s another one of my favorite tracks.

Chihiro

This is a hit and everyone knows it. It’s also a strange candidate for a hit in some ways. It’s a little long and has a strange song structure. But it’s a great song. I love the instrumentation. The drums are tight and the bass is bouncy but subtle. The melody and vocal effects are similarly subtle, but just as effective. And the synth loop that underlies the beat is brilliant.

This is another beat with great evolution. It never really builds into anything crazy, but just like “Lunch” the background is constantly evolving, in ways big and small. Little techno stabs, new synth layers, new vocal effects. This thing is a joy to listen to.

Birds of A Feather

This is a poppier track from Billie, but more importantly, a very sweet one. This is gonna dominate baby pic montages and Valentines day pics for a few years. It’s an absolutely beautiful track. I love Billie’s vocal performance on this song. I don’t know if I’ve heard Billie this happy ever. It’s really refreshing.

It’s funny. At first I thought this track as a little sappy. But now my eyes have opened and I see that it is not only a great song, but a necessary song for this record, which really does explore romance from every angle. Perhaps too many…(I kid.)

Wildflower

This feels like a sad companion piece to “Birds of Feather”, a track that finds Billie emotional. It’s got country vibes for some reason, but it’s not a country song at all. Maybe it’s the soft guitar, or the thumping drum and the general soft arrangement. That being said, the harmonies from Billie here are brilliant. It’s an anxious, moody track, a strong piece of “lay in your bedroom staring at your ceiling” pop.

The Greatest

Similar to “Wildflower”, this is a softer, sadder song. Billie’s vocal performance here is amazing, even if it feels very…trauma riddled and depressing. I love stuff like that though. I think this was a very well written and produced song. It won’t stand out much on the record compared to the hookier, poppier tracks but, once again, it’s a strong track.

At this point I was pretty sure this record would go down as one of Billie’s best because there was no way Billie could crash this momentum. Thankfully, I was 100% right.

L’Amour De Ma Vie

Part of why “The Greatest” gets lost a little on this record is because the song that follows is a banger. It’s also a bit of a change of pace. It's thematically related but it feels very different. As opposed to being down on herself, there’s a little bit of a step back and analysis of a failed relationship. Don’t get me wrong, Billie is still in shreds. But she’s coming to terms with the heartbreak.

I like this instrumental. It reminds me of some Amy Winehouse. The swirling keys and thumping drums. The harmonies from Billie make this production though. Then, there’s this second part that has a crazy filter that reverbs and repeats and pitch shifts. It’s awesome. Then we get a rocking synth beat, some classic vaporwave vibes.

Yep. This song is awesome.

The Diner

I’m always open to anything. But I want that these are the kind of vibes I go in expecting from a Billie Eilish song. The drums, 808s, the weird sample, the spacey effects. I like this song and it’s atmosphere a lot. A line like “Don’t be afraid of me”, said in the mosts ominous tone possible is just peak. I threw my headphones on the ground. I was shook.

I think out of every song on this record, this is the most “classic Billie” song, alongside “Lunch”. It’s got the sound and production that really brings out her playful demon side. Slaps.

Bittersuite

We’re in the closing stretch, and it feels like it. This record feels like being impaled by a saw blade while on opium. This song especially. It’s a two parter, with one half being a mournful, desperate ballad and the second half being a biting, taunting, bitter vibe. Billie is once again in her bag here, addressing paranoid lovers who hate that she is staring at the boys.

The production here is superb. This thing changes up several times, Finneas’ production swimming beneath Billie’s haunting vocals. It’s a mood that can’t quite be explained except that only Billie can produce it.

Blue

This was an excellent closer. Pace wise, it’s a bit of a pick me up, but Billie is still Billie. And she’s blue. She’s referencing “Birds of a Feather” (I love meta shit like this.) It kind of sounds like “Born To Die” in terms of the production and vocal performance. This is another two parter. (Yes. Another one.) The second half of this song is also very interesting. It sounds like some 97’ Radiohead. It’s a similar sonic palette, but the melody and vibe is different. Then there’s these beautiful orchestral arrangements that close us out. It’s a pefect ending to what I would say is actually a perfect album,

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So there we have it. The new (now old when this comes out) Billie Eilish record. Peace and blessings. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.