Maps of Music

Hit Me Hard and Soft (2024)

Where the lyrics of Hit Me Hard and Soft take you, and where it was really made.

Eilish said she would not release singles before the album, yet the lead single Lunch came out together with it.

Key places

Finneas's home studio in Los Angeles (2024)

Recording site Motown Recording Studios — The recording place is listed as Finneas O'Connell's home studio in Los Angeles. The point is at city-center level, not at the exact studio building. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Third studio album by American singer-songwriter Billie Eilish
• Released May 17, 2024 through Darkroom and Interscope Records
• Co-written with brother Finneas O'Connell, who also produced it
• Labeled alternative pop and bedroom pop
• Four singles: Lunch, Birds of a Feather, Chihiro, Wildflower
• Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour ran from September 2024 to November 2025

Background

• Eilish began formulating ideas for the album with O'Connell in December 2021
• In December 2023 she said on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon that it was almost done
• Three months later she confirmed the album had been mastered
• Previous album Happier Than Ever was released on July 30, 2021
• In 2023 she released What Was I Made For? for the soundtrack to the film Barbie
• Eilish said she does not like singles before album releases, and Lunch arrived as the lead single with the album

Recording

• The recording place is listed as O'Connell's home studio in Los Angeles
• The earlier album Happier Than Ever was also recorded at his home studio in the basement of his Los Angeles residence

Cover

• Photographed by underwater photographer William Drumm
• Shows Eilish falling through a door frame into dark blue water
• The shoot took six hours, with Eilish repeatedly submerged for two minutes at a time, a weight on her shoulders, and no goggles or nose plugs

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Early life

• Born December 18, 2001, in Los Angeles, California, to musician parents Maggie Baird and Patrick O'Connell.
• Homeschooled by her mother; began playing ukulele at age six and joined the Los Angeles Children's Chorus at age eight.
• Wrote her first "real" song at age 11 for her mother's songwriting class.

Career

• Released "Ocean Eyes" in 2015, written and produced by her brother Finneas O'Connell; the song drew attention on SoundCloud and led to a deal with Darkroom and Interscope Records in 2016.
• Debut EP Don't Smile at Me (2017) reached number 14 on the US Billboard 200.
• Debut album When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (2019) debuted atop the US Billboard 200 and UK Albums Chart; "Bad Guy" became the first song by an artist born in the 21st century to top the US Billboard Hot 100.
• Second album Happier Than Ever (2021) also debuted at number one on the Billboard 200.
• Third album Hit Me Hard and Soft (2024) featured the number-one Billboard Global 200 single "Birds of a Feather".
• Won Academy Awards for "No Time to Die" (2022) and "What Was I Made For?" (2024).

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Metacritic weighted average of 89 out of 100 from 22 critic scores, rated universal acclaim
• Helen Brown of The Independent gave a five-star review and praised how the album moves through a maze of music to deliver big emotional wallops
• Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph gave five stars, called it a heartbreak masterpiece, and compared it with Joni Mitchell's Blue (1971)
• Alexis Petridis of The Guardian praised its beautiful melodies and distinctive lyrical touches but wondered if some elements were a little too opaque
• Thomas Smith of NME felt that Eilish wrote it for herself yet created a record that will resonate harder than anything she has done before

Reappraisal

• Mesfin Fekadu of The Hollywood Reporter placed it second on his best albums of 2024 list
• Dan DeLuca of The Philadelphia Inquirer ranked it seventh on his individual list
• Chris Willman of Variety ranked it fourth on his individual list
• Featured in the top five of year-end lists by BBC, Billboard, Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone, The Guardian, and others

Records

• US Billboard 200 peak at number two with 339,000 album-equivalent units in its opening week
• UK Albums Chart number one with 67,100 units
• Topped the charts in over 20 countries, including Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Spain, and the United Kingdom
• Spotify: 72.7 million streams on release day
• Birds of a Feather was Spotify's most-streamed song of 2024
• Certified double Platinum by the RIAA on March 14, 2025
• Certified triple Platinum in France, Platinum in Germany and Spain, and Diamond in Brazil
• Seven nominations at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year and Record of the Year
• Wildflower won Song of the Year at the following ceremony

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Eilish directed the music videos for Lunch and Chihiro herself
• The Birds of a Feather video was directed by Aidan Zamiri and released on September 27, 2024
• Listening parties were held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on May 15 and Kia Forum in Inglewood on May 16, both premiering the album in full
• A snippet of Birds of a Feather appeared in a promotional clip for the third season of the Netflix series Heartstopper
• The cover shoot took six hours to complete, which Eilish later described as one of the most painful experiences of her life

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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