Hit Me Hard And Soft by Billie Eilish | Album Review

the third studio album from the superstar

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A tale on the restrictiveness and oppressiveness of patriarchy scored through Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie Movie” produced not only one of the most important songs of the 2020s, but underscored the resentment of scorned women everywhere in “What Was I Made For?” — one of the most popular and acclaimed songs of the past year. In an conspicuous criticism of said patriarchy, misogynists shifted uncomfortably in their seats — maximizing both the film’s message and the importance of its end credits track. Persistently, Billie Eilish finds herself pushing the boundaries of intimate personhood — Hit Me Hard And Soft is no exception.

The soft, golden aura of the subtly goth Happier Than Ever is juxtaposed immediately by the dark depths of water on the cover of Hit Me Hard And Soft, a thematic that was hinted with the music video of “Happier Than Ever,” as Eilish kicked and screamed her way through sheets of rain and flooding. It seems the light, breathiness of her previous era has succumbed to the sinking, drowning emotes a twenty-something can be addicted to.