Behold, close friends (if you know, you know!) of our emo-pop princess, Billie Eilish. She’s coming. She’s running. She’s hitting us (hard and soft) with an announcement that has changed the trajectory of our coming days. Ladies and gentlemen, the nine-GRAMMY-award winner is coming for our throats with an album that I’m certain will have a hold on us like no other. Oh, my dearest reader, Billie Eilish is releasing an album, HIT ME HARD AND SOFT, out on 17 May 2024!
I repeat, Billie Eilish is releasing an album! Oh, yes. 2024 is turning out to be a hard-hitting year with releases from the very artists who shaped our generation’s playlists—Beyonce, Ariana Grande, Zayn Malik, and now Billie Eilish. These artists are giving the new ones a run for their money, coming back and showing the world how it’s done. What a year to be alive to watch these icons return to the charts, claiming back the thrones that are rightfully theirs!
But the way Billie announced her third studio album, her first since Happier Than Ever in 2021, and had the whole world’s hair on ends with an announcement that proclaimed her return was not without theatrics. She brought back the same drama, the art, and the insane marketing that’s true to a pop queen.
In an internet-shattering move, Billie Eilish pulled off a killer move by adding all 111 million of her followers to her Instagram Close Friends List! I’m proud to say I was one of them. But the shock that came was to my very core. I had to do multiple double-takes to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. And when the shock wore off, I started squealing. My heart was thumping. Did Billie know who I was? Does she know I exist; nay, does she consider me a close friend? I was celebrating internally to no end.
Of course, my fever dream came to a heartbreaking halt when I realised what was going on. The revelation on X (formerly Twitter) that all of her followers were added crushed my soul. But that did not stop any of us from bragging about it as if we knew Billie personally! Just like that, everyone in the world was talking about it—so much so that she gained more than 7 million followers in two days following this amazing stunt.
The Close Friends List is reserved for the nasty ranting, the embarrassing moments and the innermost impulsive thoughts we’re afraid of sharing with the world. Being a part of Billie’s list (even if it was with 111 million others) crosses “Be in a celebrity’s Close Friends List” off my bucket list!
Nonetheless, this stunt was a genius move in bringing eyes and ears to Billie in the lead-up to the jaw-dropping announcement. In the stories she posted to her Close Friends List, Billie had been sharing cryptic messages and teasers about her third studio album.
But that’s not all. On 1 and 2 April 2024, a series of billboards with what appeared to be mysterious lyric snippets started popping up in major cities. Lyrics like “Did I cross the line?”, “I try to live in black and white” and “She’s the headlights I’m the deer” were displayed in blue text across massive billboards in cities like Sydney, New York City and Los Angeles.
These billboards also included her trademark Blohsh symbol, which meant that hardcore Billie Eilish fans passing these boards knew exactly who these belonged to! I can only imagine the mini freak-out session they must have had in their minds while acting utterly normal on the outside, knowing something no one else around them knew!
Billie shared on Instagram in late February that she had finished mastering this upcoming album, which is usually the last step before an album is manufactured and delivered to streaming services. Over a month later, here we are!
Billie shared in an Instagram post,
““HIT ME HARD AND SOFT” MY THIRD ALBUMMMMMMMMMMMMM COMES OUT MAY 17THHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH AHHHHHHHHHH🥹🥹🥹 so crazy to be writing this right now i’m nervyyyyy & exciteddd 🫣 not doing singles i wanna give it to you all at once :PPP finneas and i truly could not be more proud of this album and we absolutely can’t wait for you to hear it.”
Nonetheless, we’re in a new era of Billie Eilish! Blue is the colour, and water is the theme. Hear this loud and clear: Our world will never be the same again!
While we don’t know much about the album, we do know that this is said to be her most daring body of work to date, a diverse yet cohesive collection of 10 tracks that will do exactly what the title tells you it will do – hit you hard and soft both lyrically and sonically while bending genres and defying trends along the way. It will make you feel emotions you’ve never felt before.
HIT ME HARD AND SOFT is written by Billie Eilish and FINNEAS, her brother and long-time collaborator, who also produced the album. Together, this dynamic duo has written and performed gems the world cannot forget, with the most recent one being from Barbie the Album—What Was I Made For? This song won massive awards, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and two Grammys. We can expect spectacular things from this incredible brother-sister duo, and we can’t wait!
HIT ME HARD AND SOFT will be available on all digital platforms. In a continued effort to minimise waste and combat climate change, it will also be available across all physical formats in limited variants on the same day, using 100% recyclable materials. A step like this is humongous from someone with an influence and album sales as ginormous as Billie Eilish!
So, mark your calendars, dearest close friends of the ever-iconic Billie Eilish. She has so much more for the world to hear, and she’s coming to give it to us—on 17 May, on a device near you. It’s about to hit hard and soft, and we’re not ready for it.
Billie Eilish – HIT ME HARD AND SOFT
As we await this album to hit us, pre-save it right now on Spotify and Apple Music! Make sure you stay tuned to Billie Eilish’s Instagram and TikTok pages; you never know what this queen will hit us with! Also, stay tuned to Billie Eilish Home, a TikTok page managed by her team, for all the newest updates on the album.
Visuals courtesy of William Drumm.
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