[BestEverAlbums]

Today's album of the day

Hit Me Hard And Soft by Billie Eilish (View album | Buy this album)

Year: 2024.
Country:
Billie Eilish discography rank: 3 (out of 5 listed on BEA)
2024 rank: 11
2020s rank: 71
Overall rank: 1,835
Average rating: 76/100 (from 205 votes).



Tracks:
1. Skinny
2. Lunch
3. Chihiro
4. Birds Of A Feather
5. Wildflower
6. The Greatest
7. L’amour De Ma Vie
8. The Diner
9. Bittersuite
10. Blue


Top voted comments:

"Billie Balearic Beat

Yeah 've had varying responses to the Billie phenomenon, her first album was one of the first times listening to it I just felt old- what seemed to be heralded as this brilliant bit of noir pop I just saw a lot of teenage I-cracked-the-code posturing and the fact that the sound just felt far too much like nearly everybody who'd blasted out of the post Odd Future hype, though there were a couple of moments (especially "Bury a Friend" and "I Love You") that I could see some real talent and promise for the future. Then came the messy Pandemic release of "Happier than Ever", which I found far more interesting, not only in it's Kid-in-a-candy-store endless genre hopping but in that she was exploring some geniunely conflicted and difficult emotions that made the album feel more directly confessional, even if admittedely the throw-it-on-the-wall approach meant a good number of the songs didn't work (surprisingly the limpest ones were the more directly venomous kiss-offs) and didn't really cohere as an album despite the consistient overarching theme of the emotional torment of sudden fame.

Now I can see why this album has gotten the positive acclaim it has, it's an incredibly lean release full of the kind of shimmering, attractive compositions that Billie and her longtime bro producer Finneas have mastered over the course of her career, and on the surface there is a feeling of more direct and less put-upon angsty singer-songwriter appeal to the overall songs & LP. But... uh... well I guess to go bit by bit: "Skinny" is a solid and incredibly succinct summination of her previous album, both the cost of fame and the invasive personal scrunity (particularly the crassest kind, especially on her own body or love life), if maybe a bit slight overall it still effectively lets the ink dry on the chapter to move forward. Now "Lunch" was oddly ballyhooed as something shocking and daring because of it's dip into direct Sapphic attraction, but uh, which current left-of-center girl singer DOESN't have a lesbian-crush song out there? It's as on-trend as it gets, which doesn't mean it isn't earnest and perhaps an FU to those Twitter weirdos who endlessly hounded her with Queerbaiting accusations, but I mean "Bad Guy" honestly was more risque than this. And mentioning that song of course highlights a major reason why I think a number will have a number of major "... that's it?" reactions to this song, since it has all the elements to be a major banger in theory, but it doesn't bang at all in practice. I think in many ways Billie's usual detached cool hampers this here as her voice should really morph into a more hormonal throttle, but I donno maybe it's some annoying & dated tricks (f*king hell those perfunctory hand-claps, giving late Aughties flashbacks). It's maybe disappointing that this is what's going to get the most attention when the following tracks are much stronger, a far better mix of the more spacious and fluid compositions anchored strongly in the nucleus by Billie's much more confident though still appealingly delicate husk of a voice. The only somewhat peculiar thing here is why the album went from talking about newfound infatuation to immediately pivoting towards breakup song after breakup song (or more so, Near-Breakup or Missed Ships in the Night songs), there seems to be a track or two that's lying somewhere on an editing room floor.

Only by "The Greatest" am I starting to see some problem with the overall production, as the late additions of percussion and chopped-up distortion feel pounded flat into the composition when they should feel a lot more dynamic and intrusive. Then there's "L'amour de ma vie" which, no, the French title doesn't mean a damn thing, which ultimately is another Ironic not-in-love ballad with a decent but for Billie predictable punchline.... but then that's where the album gets really weird. And I Don't mean that in a good way. Cause just after the song seems to end it suddenly swerves instantly into this 2000s Ibiza-ready deafining Euro Club song though if it were thrown threw a Hyperpop cheese grater, which I admit for the first time I was actually taken aback and surprised when listening, but thematically and musically it has no connection to what came before or after and feels like the equivalent of mustard suddenly and needlessly squeezed onto a sundress. Though I'll take that over the next track, next to that one Micheal Scarn moment from When We All Fall Asleep as one of the only truly terrible tracks she's produced, a ridiciously cheesy electro beat with no humor or progression to make it feel Ironic or Campy or whatever the fuck. At first it was confounding, but when the next track rips-off her own Wish You Were Gay beat but without pithy lyrics or a discernible point at all, it came clearer but also... why? are you going back scrounging for Z-sides from your late 2010 days?

After that bizzare extended interlude, the album does admirably close with a song that could've been a 120-minutes underground smash in the mid 90s, a dense, subtly swirling and smartly layered Electro-accented bit of 90s alt-rock that both lyrically and sonically actually closes the album pretty effectively, even if it's making me question why we needed that needless and jarring bit of leftovers thrown in as the penultimate track(s).

So yeah that's kind of why I find this a mixed bag, less than being hit Hard and Soft on both sides it feels like an album that starts off on a steady Gallop but then kind of Waddles on the edges before gracefully crossing the finish Line. it's certaintly lovely to listen to despite some really questionable choices late in the run but it also has already felt less than meets-the-ear after giving it a couple of repeat listens, maybe her and Finneas's musical choices are starting to feel a bit too lameneted and "Safe Edgy", but also Billie seems to pick and choose when she wants to be more detailed and upfront with her lyrics to skewing a more dead-eyed Coyness and simply straining the emotional crux of the songs to feel more generalized and universal rather than directly personal. It's solid and I can see why some view it as her best, but I find it a slight step down from the previous release and it's following singles which just felt much more from-the-gut even if it led to messier results. Maybe this is just the start as many have already worked the theory this is just the beginning of several colour-coded releases, but for now I'll rate this as a (mostly) musically pleasing release that just feels a bit too tentative at key moments to take that next leap forward."
- cestuneblague (Rating: 65/100)
________________________________________________________

"Billie Eilish's best album. What it lacks in the punch of its predecessors, it makes up for in opening up. Finneas's production is fuller and wider than ever before. The trademark humor and powers of observation that make Eilish so singular are still as sharp as ever, cutting deeper than before, while finding affection and joy that previous albums are renascent to touch. By no means is it seismic, but it's a massive leap in maturity and reinvention."
- HoldenM (Rating: 95/100)
________________________________________________________

About album of the day: The BestEverAlbums.com album of the day is the album appearing most prominently in member charts in the previous 24 hours. If an album, or artist, has previously been selected within a x day period, the next highest album is picked instead (and so on) to ensure a bit of variety. A full history of album of the day can be viewed here.
_________________
Bluesky · Facebook · Spotify · X

[HoldenM]

Still rocks!

Track picks
2. Lunch
3. Chihiro
4. Birds Of A Feather
5. Wildflower
_________________
Inversion Verses
https://thesplitinfinitives1.bandcamp.com/album/inversion-verses

[DommeDamian]

My most played album from 2024. Contains her greatest set of songs. Love this woman, however 2-3 tracks prevent it from 4 stars
_________________
My Top 100 :
www.besteveralbums.com/thechart.php?c=4...amp;page=1

My music:
- www.hyperfollow.com/dommedamian

[DommeDamian]

75/100

I almost didn't check this one, both because I'd rather focus on music coming out of preferred genres as well as unknown musicians I haven't heard of, but mainly cause I really dislike Billie Eilish's music, for the most part. When she has a great song, it's bullseye (like Everything I Wanted, Ilomilo, When The Party's Over, Happier Than Ever just to name some of them are all incredible), but most of it is drenched in pretentious studio wizardry, phoned in singing style, and uninteresting lyricism.

But it's great I ended up checking this new out, Hit Me Hard And Soft, the first out of three albums of hers that I not only like but really like. Ms Eilish has not taken steps up, but a mountain in terms of singing ability; now she uses the quiet sphere to ethereal and comforting advantages; she now even sounds like a friend to the listener. Finneas' production style is also more consistent in sound landscape, and knows what it does good so it sticks with it. A few of the tracks, principally on the back end, have a switch up, and with the big exception of atrocious L'Amour De La Vie, they all work (Blue above all else, going from euphonious rhythm to quasi-metaphysical vocal jazz and organic singer-songwriter, with a sprinkle trip hot beat sandwiched between). All of the pretense of "ha spooky" and faux-avant garde mess of the previous tracks are all gone and sweetly replaced with more sterling lyricism alongside dancing intimacy.

For what I wonder, she is opening up to her queerness on this album. And surprisingly, the emotional maturity as well as the ambiguity Billie leaves with thematic, tensive prowess, really took me for a loop. Despite being the biggest artist at the moment, she chooses to look for the lesser "headline-grabbing" features of her sexuality as opposed to something that would get the press in sicko mode. And for that, the experience becomes even more unraveling in quality and personality. Good to hear her in the flirtatious/subtle humor-bag on Lunch (kind of the same musical vibe as Therefore I Am, wanna the only good songs on the predecessor), and that funky chorus with surf rock guitarisms elevate it higher. Even better hearing how healthy she is coping with guilt on the steady Wildflower. The Greatest is the most reminiscent of her past, lyrically, but much more aware and also in acceptance ("All the times I waited for you to want me naked" is a lyric I relate to more than I initially realized). She also pens wanna the best psychedelic trip hop songs I have heard in years, on The Diner (even if the main riff can remind me of Kahoot for some reason), and Bittersuite is a genuine indietronica artsy winner.

It's crazy how exceedingly popular Birds of A Feather has become, considering it's a rather weak track in the tracklisting. Todd In The Shadows says it sounds timeless because it could've been released anytime in the last 40 years. Kinda true, but it's ignoring the fact that there are countless tunes throughout that long period of time you could apply it to, that are catchier and more well-written than this, and yet a lot of them is still not considered "greatest of all time". It's too reminiscent of Wham!-styled unoriginality (quite the opposite of ALT-pop), and that makes it more safe than anything. More than that, this song is mostly impressive because Billie showcases a rarity of her belting notes, but in the grand scheme of music, it isn't too outstanding. And the way it's nestled into the mix, it's not reaching for a gear worthy of mastery. The main melody is rather tame, especially with its repetition, and the lyrics couldn't be more generic. The overdone faux-chillwave drumkit, combined with faux-hypnagogic pop soundscape isn't exactly Beethoven either. With all that aside, I do still really enjoy the song; the semi-cutlery percussion, Billie's voice is very pretty even when it doesn't resemble her established sonic identity, I don't doubt what she's singing to her love, and all her four refrains melodically do stick together at the end of the day. Not falling for overcooked hype on this composition, but still good.

Her voice is of course quiet on Chihiro, but its controlled, it's breathy, like a wind with its destination into your heart (the song's build-up in the synth and bouncy bass is also worthy of notice! Especially in the "Did you take, my love away, from meeeeeeeee" damn, it's so harmonious.) However, the album peaks with its opener Skinny, an ambient pop swimming pool fragmented with soulful bliss, it's almost breathtaking. But generally, the pacing and songwriting are both great and enthralling, growing on me for every spin I give this. Good job Billie and Finneas, this is the first time Billie has gotten #1 on Spotify and me thinking it's a breath of fresh air; she really dropped the richest and most characteristic pop album of the year. Feels great to be in tune with the zeitgeist finally.

Sorry for the cringe review, but I really like the album, that should be the takeaway 😄
_________________
My Top 100 :
www.besteveralbums.com/thechart.php?c=4...amp;page=1

My music:
- www.hyperfollow.com/dommedamian

[katerpillar]

Way more consistent than Happier Than Ever, her best album to date, hard to beat to be honest.
My second favourite from 2024, after Brat of course.

[cestuneblague]

Dear gawd I forgot about this long-winded review, please disregard anything of mine that goes for more than a couple of paragraphs.

Again I feel like commenting on an Eilish feels futile as due to onset-middle age I'm well past the target range for when this very early-20s-mindset music is going to feel relevant- though I actually have grown to appereciate her much messier, more unpredictable last album. This got the praise and it's pretty but rather trite, I guess, not really bad except for the songs with the haunted-house keyboards and dear gawd when she seemingly was trying to put out her own "212", but the kind of album that gets less and less interesting with repeat listens. Track 5 and the very 90s-late-night-MTV final track have held up the best.