Culture Crash: Why Billie Eilish Just Keeps Peaking

She’s won nine Grammy’s and two Academy Awards by age 22, so it’s not exactly earth-shattering news that Billie Eilish is a mega-talented superstar. But I think her new album, Hit Me Hard and Soft, marks a new peak for Eilish, which is really saying something.

The album, with just 10 tracks but a 43-minute runtime, defies the expectations of what a pop album looks like in 2024. The industry trends would say that it’s more profitable to release a streaming-friendly 22-song album with 2 minute songs and choruses perfect for TikTok. But it seems Eilish and her producer-slash-brother Finneas aren’t concerned with following the pop trend. Instead, we got a moody, dynamic cohesive album that really takes its shape when you step back and view it as one piece.

The lyrics are some of the most intimate of Eilish’s career, exploring her sexuality, her relationship with fame, a disappointing breakup, and much more. Finneas’ production is once again immaculate.

My favorite moment on the album, or maybe the entire year in music, is the final 30 seconds of “Bittersuite” into the album’s closer “Blue.” During Bittersuite, Finneas teases the melody of a beloved early song Eilish used to perform live called “True Blue,” which never got an official studio release. Then the song changes, and Eilish’s ethereal vocals take over, delivering the familiar sounds of “True Blue” to fans who have waited years to hear it in studio quality. And it’s astonishing. Her constant control and maturing vocals combine to break the listener’s heart, before the song veers left then right, defying your expectations the whole way.

**Through just two albums, Billie Eilish’s career was already a fairy tale, but her third album might just be her best work to date. “Hit Me Hard and Soft” by Billie Eilish is now available.