The album's satirical noir-pop track, “The Diner,” finds Billie Eilish in the shoes of a stalker. “I saw you on the screen/I know we were meant to be,” she sings over a twisted teen horror movie score, “I'll be waiting on your block/But don't call the police.” It's unclear whether the song is based on fact or fiction — there are, unfortunately, multiple instances the singer-songwriter references — but by the seventh track off her third record, “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT,” nearly a decade has passed. Since the beginning of her career, the 22-year-old has made the parasocial nature of her career crystal clear. It starts with the ballad opener, “SKINNY,” where she alludes to harmful public opinion about her body. “People say I look happy/Just because I'm skinny/But the old me is still me, maybe the real me,” she refuses. HIT ME HARD AND SOFT sees Billie storming through her early twenties, confessing the daily horrors of being in the public eye, being stalked, being physically self-scrutinized, and having a love life covered in tabloids and stans in equal measure, all while consuming female celebrity through vivid lyrical confrontations.
Produced again mercurially and meticulously by his brother Finneas, the record's edge is not only in its poetic emanations, but also in its bite-sized, brave resistance to modernity, as is typical of the brother duo. Sonically, Billy's evocative pop rebels in new ways, doubling the length of tracks, splitting others, and daring the intricacies of the collaboration tenfold. From the leathery arena rock of “THE GREATEST” to the sunlit, rib-rattling bass strumming of “CHIHIRO” and finally the ear-splitting electronica of “BLUE”, cut with rustier, more mature blades, and finally the alternative trap bridge of “BLUE” with strings. It veers between ideas that are disjointed yet coherent. See the cinematic, continental “L'AMOUR DE MA VIE” and the fidgety hyperpop second half, or the romantic blue sky, followed by the queer, vampiric smash “LUNCH”. The Clairo-like “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” song, for example, precedes the heavy, thrusting, earthy guitar of “WILDFLOWER”. At a cinematic pace, it features a rich diversity and a vibrant sound never seen before in Billie. And then, with “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT”, she somehow hits even higher highs by making her monolithic artistry louder and more trendy. It's her best work to date and an influential sign of the times.