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Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft review – could have hit even harder
An impeccable mix of haunted earworms, zinging lyrics and dancefloor delights that end too soon, the American superstar’s third album seems to pull back from tantalising new horizons
As the title suggests, Hit Me Hard and Soft is a combo platter, one that draws on signature elements of her previous works – the haunted earworms of the first album, the heady swoon of the second; it packs in epic crescendos and whispery restraint. That’s not to say the remainder of the album is sub-par: Eilish has set a high bar, twice, and tracks that meander past the first time can often reveal themselves as bops on repeated plays – like the cool, throbbing R&B of Chihiro, named for the protagonist of Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away. Anyone missing first-album Billie will thrill to The Diner, a feast of sinister fairground sounds where Eilish takes on the role of a stalker and whispers a phone number at the end, as though winking at her old penchant for barely singing audibly.
Or read this on The Guardian
