Hit Me Hard and Soft


Hit Me Hard and Soft is the third studio album by American singer and songwriter Billie Eilish, released on May 17, 2024, through Darkroom and Interscope Records. She co-wrote the album with her brother and frequent collaborator Finneas O'Connell, who also produced the record. Stylistically, it has been labeled as an alternative pop and bedroom pop record.
Upon release, Hit Me Hard and Soft received universal acclaim from critics, praising the production, songwriting, and vocal performances. It topped the charts in over 20 countries, including Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. In the United States, Hit Me Hard and Soft debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, and charted all 10 of its songs in the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100. The track "Lunch" was released as the lead single concurrently. "Birds of a Feather" was released as the second single from the album to great commercial success, peaking at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and in the top ten of several charts. To support the album, Eilish embarked on her seventh concert tour, Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour, from September 2024 to November 2025. A concert film, Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour , was filmed at the show's performances in Manchester and is set to be theatrically released in March 2026.
At the 67th Annual Grammy Awards, the album and its songs received a total of seven nominations, including Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album, Song of the Year and Record of the Year. The following ceremony, the single "Wildflower" won Song of the Year and was nominated for Record of the Year.

Background and recording

Eilish co-wrote and recorded her second studio album, Happier Than Ever, at her brother Finneas' home recording studio, located in the basement of his Los Angeles residence. Recording took place weekly between April 2020 and February 2021, with the track listing finalized by the duo during the album's creation. Released on July 30, 2021, Happier Than Ever was met with critical acclaim and commercial success, topping the Billboard 200 and nominated twice at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards. Eilish surprise-released her second extended play Guitar Songs in July 2022. The following year, she released "What Was I Made For?" for the soundtrack to the fantasy-comedy film Barbie ; she was inspired to write the song after seeing unfinished scenes of the film during its production. The song won an Academy Award for Best Original Song and Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Best Song Written for Visual Media.
In December 2021, Eilish began formulating ideas for her third studio album with O'Connell. In an interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music, she mentioned that she hoped to start writing the album in 2023. In December 2023, Eilish said on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that the album was "almost done". Three months later, she confirmed that the album had been mastered.
The album art, which was shot by underwater photographer William Drumm, depicts Eilish falling through a door frame into dark blue water. Eilish described the photoshoot, which took six hours to complete and involved her being repeatedly submerged for two minutes at a time with a weight attached to her shoulders and without goggles or nose plugs, as being one of the most painful experiences of her life.

Promotion and release

Various news articles reported billboards teasing snippets of lyrics for the album that appeared in multiple cities in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States in April 2024; although it does not mention the artist's name, her signature "blohsh" was recognized. The promotional billboards display cryptic lyrics, such as "She's the headlights I'm the deer" or "Did I cross the line?". Eilish later changed her profile picture to a "blue circle" and shared another image with the caption saying "Do you know how to bend?". Eilish added her followers to an Instagram feature that lets limited accounts see exclusive stories, called "Close Friends". The post features a "lo-fi" image showcasing the artist's hand, and an image of her new midriff tattoo.
On April 29, 2024, Eilish announced Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour, her seventh concert tour, in support of the album. The North American leg of the tour started on September 29, 2024, at the Videotron Centre in Quebec City, Canada. The 2025 leg of the tour, covering Europe and Oceania, started on February 18, at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre.
Eilish previewed the songs "Lunch", "L'Amour De Ma Vie", and "Chihiro" during a surprise DJ set at Coachella on April 13, 2024. In an interview published on April 24, she told Rolling Stone that she would not release singles prior to the album's release. She explained that she does not like singles before album releases because she "really like when things are out of context" and compared Hit Me Hard and Soft to "a family", adding that she " want one little kid in the middle of the room alone". In May, a preview of "Chihiro" was featured in a Fortnite trailer revealing Eilish's second in-game outfit. The song was also made available as a "Jam Track" to use in the Fortnite Festival mode alongside "Lunch" and "The Diner". Furthermore, a snippet of "Birds of a Feather" was featured in a promotional clip for the third season of the Netflix series Heartstopper. Eilish held listening party events for fans at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn on May 15 and Kia Forum in Inglewood on May 16, in both cases premiering the album in its entirety.
Hit Me Hard and Soft was released on May 17, 2024. The album was available for cassette, CD, digital download, streaming and vinyl LP. On May 19 and May 22, Eilish released for digital download the isolated vocals, slowed & reverb and sped up editions of the album, respectively.

Singles and music videos

"Lunch" was released as the lead single in tandem with the album's release, along with a music video directed by Eilish herself. The song debuted and peaked at number five on the US Billboard Hot 100. It also found international success, peaking within the top five in the UK, Germany, Australia and New Zealand, and various European countries.
An extended version of "L'Amour De Ma Vie", including "Over Now", was released as a promotional single on May 22, 2024.
The music video for "Chihiro", also directed by Eilish herself, was released on June 6, 2024. The song debuted at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and charted for 20 weeks due to its streaming success, despite not receiving an official single release in the United States. It was sent to Italian radio on January 16, 2025.
"Birds of a Feather" impacted US contemporary hit radio as the album's second official single on July 2, 2024. The music video for the song, directed by Aidan Zamiri, was released on September 27, 2024. The song was initially a fan favorite, debuting at number 13 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and organically rising into the top ten in subsequent weeks. It eventually grew into a worldwide success, peaking at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Global 200. The song also became the most-streamed song in a calendar year on Spotify in 2024, surpassing Sabrina Carpenter's "Espresso". It was nominated for Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Pop Solo Performance at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards in 2025.
"Wildflower" impacted US contemporary hit radio as the album's third single on February 28, 2025.

Critical reception

Hit Me Hard and Soft received widespread critical acclaim. On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized score out of 100 to ratings from professional publications, Hit Me Hard and Soft received a weighted mean score of 89, based on 22 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". In a five-star review, Helen Brown of The Independent praised how the album "whispers its way through a marvelous maze of music to deliver some big emotional wallops." Neil McCormick from The Daily Telegraph agreed in his own five-star assessment, opining that the "heartbreak masterpiece" is "rich, strange, smart, sad and wise enough" to stand in comparison with Joni Mitchell's Blue.
Writing for The Guardian, Alexis Petridis complimented Hit Me Hard and Softs "beautiful" melodies and "distinctive" lyrical touches, but wondered if some of its elements could be "a little too opaque" for its own good. NMEs Thomas Smith felt that although Eilish wrote the album for herself, she created a record that will "resonate harder" than anything she has done before.

Year-end rankings

Hit Me Hard and Soft appeared on several publications' rankings of the best albums of 2024. It was placed second by Mesfin Fekadu of The Hollywood Reporter and Page Six. Top five by BBC, Billboard, Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, Complex, DIY, ''FLOOD, Hot Press, The Boston Globe, The Guardian, Slant, and The Forty Five, and within the top ten by The New Yorker, NME,
Los Angeles Times, Mondo Sonoro, The Sunday Times, KCRW, People Esquire Les Inrocks, and Dork. Publications that featured Hit Me Hard and Soft in the top fifteenth of their lists include Dazed, and The Independent The record was also mentioned in unranked lists by AllMusic,The Associated Press, Cosmopolitan, HuffPost, Uproxx, Hypebeast, Vogue, Evening Standard, and Toronto Star.
On individual critics' lists, while The Philadelphia Inquirer's Dan DeLuca numbered Hit Me Hard and Soft at the seventh position, The album was ranked fourth by Variety's Willman, and respectively fourth and twelve by The New York Times' Jon Pareles and Jon Caramanica.
Publication/criticListRank
BBCBest Albums of 20244
BillboardThe 50 Best Albums of 20245
Business InsiderThe Best Albums of 20243
ComplexThe 50 Best Albums of 20245
Entertainment WeeklyThe 10 Best Albums of 20244
Hot Press50 Best Albums of 20244
PeopleTop 10 Albums of 20246
Rolling StoneThe 100 Best Albums Of 20245
Slant MagazineThe 50 Best Albums of 20243
The Boston GlobeThe 50 Best Albums of 20243
The GuardianThe 50 Best Albums of 20243
The Hollywood ReporterThe 10 Best Albums of 20242
The InquirerThe 15 Best Albums of 20247
The New York TimesJon Pareles' Best Albums of 20244
Variety''Chris Willman's Best Albums of 20244