A Step Into The Sad Girl World: ‘HIT ME HARD AND SOFT’ Review.

Words: Gracie Erskine

The latest addition to the Eilish discography titled ‘HIT ME HARD AND SOFT’ encapsulates the pessimistic elegance of being a woman. Her previous record ‘Happier Than Ever’ felt a production heavy emotional rollercoaster, the older sister to her critically acclaimed debut’ When We All Fall Asleep Where Do We Go’, and her most recent body of work feels a mature return to her younger self, a cracked mirror bridging 2019 Eilish to present day.

‘SKINNY’ dips the toes of the listener into the sea of Eilish’s despair. The LA native ponders over her youth, ageing and gaining weight all in the limelight, her vocals echoing through the track reverberating back and forth like anxiety.

‘LUNCH’ dives into the deep end, a breathy, lustre heavy track, swimming in the same throbbing beats as ‘Bad Guy’ or ‘Oxytocin’. A more explicit portrayal of her queer identity since vocalising on the matter, yet one filled with passion and lust, topped with an envious heated outro, reminiscent at times of early ‘Hot Chip’, intermittently cut between with Eilish and her moans.

‘BIRDS OF A FEATHER’ paddles through feeling like the perfect accompany to a montage in a 2000’s rom-com. An acoustic love letter, an ambient, yet busy void of emotions the empty/full, hard/soft oxymoronic feeling of being in love ‘And if I’m turnin’ blue, please don’t save me//Nothin’ left to lose without my baby’.

‘WILDFLOWER’ is where the album falls shallow and lacklustre. Whilst still being engulfed in the melancholy mirage, it’s hard to stay afloat. ‘THE GREATEST’ follows a similar pattern in ironically feeling a weak imitator of the protruding guitar eccentric exit of title track ‘Happier Than Ever’.

‘L’AMOUR DE MA VIE’, takes a jazz inspired vocal effort as the singer regrets over the mistakes of her past relationship before expositing her anger in a productional experimental trumpet blowing display like the following track ‘THE DINER’. Both tracks act as auteur mark for Eilish and her producer brother Finneas, more avant-garde experimentation feeling quite harsh against some of the love-roomed ballads,
as they sister in style to previous tracks ‘NDA’. ‘BITTERSUITE’ and its complementary transition into ‘BLUE’ is the ideal hybrid of the collaborative sibling duo’s efforts to push the boat out production wise yet sustain the soft vocals alongside more jolty production. A nightingale melody whirls through the track, harking back to the kind of hook that made her fame with ‘Ocean Eyes’, and how far she has grown since.
Despite its moments of bathing in the middle, ‘HIT ME HARD AND SOFT’ encapsulates both worlds of Eilish, the hard pulsating beats and her ‘soft’ anxiety ridden ballads in her most cold, confident and undoubtedly cool piece of work to date.