Hi, everyone. Anthony Swimtano here, the internet's busiest music nerd. It's time for a review of this new Billie Eilish album, Hit Me Hard and Soft.

This is the newest LP from pop singer and songwriter, Ms. Billie Eilish. Her third, in fact, and of course, her brother co-songwriter and producer, Finnias, is on deck, too, which I love because I feel like these two truly are a dynamic duo with the way they crafted this specific brand of snappy alt-pop on her breakout debut, something they could have easily quickly doubled down on for another record.

It actually took a few years for us to get Billie's formal follow-up happier than ever. When it did, in my opinion, it was a minor sophomore slump. There were some great tunes and creative and versatile highlights across this record, but the tracklist was a little bloated. It was not nearly as focused as its predecessor. Hit me hard and Soft, though, is a bit of a different beast. I can already see this record being framed as Billie Eilish's most mature album yet. And this thing is probably her most focused record so far with just a very tight, very straightforward 10-track tracklist.

The lyrical themes are there too, as most of the songs here tend to focus on lust, desire, attraction, and relationships falling apart. However, I didn't find this album to be nearly as fun as Billie's two preceding projects, and that's not a commentary on the mood of the record per se. It just feels like a lot of the instrumentation and writing on this LP is a lot safer, taking less risks and leaning more into very established modes and esthetics within pop music and rock music.

While novelty isn't everything, delivering tracks and instrumentals that come across as a little played out isn't exactly flattering either. However, when the rubber hits the road, I feel like the true selling point of this LP, it's going to be the songs, which in terms of substance and memorability, really range. The opening track, for example, has some decent vocal lines to it, some dreamy washed-out production. Lyrically, we see Billy getting super meta about fame and body image, something she's no stranger to in concept as her last LP saw her dabbling in those topics, too. But I think this track is far from her most poignant attempt at diving into feelings around this, not to mention the outro is unceremonious.

However, from here we go into a pretty hard contrast on the song "Lunch," which is a munch anthem. "I could eat that girl for lunch / Yeah, she dances on my tongue / It tastes like she might be the one." We have some straightforward pop rock on this track, and I would say it works. The tune and Billie's flirty tongue and cheek vocal delivery really sell it. I just wish the production had more to offer other than these very dry drums and cords that hit on the upbeat.

Then from here we I literally go multiple rounds with break-up ballad after break-up ballad, which is where the record hits its stride, lyrically anyway. The song "Chihiro" reads some dreamy, broken-hearted dance floor surrealism, especially with that diner interaction described in the lyrics. The track also features some groove and bass lines and sparkling synthesizers that are broadly reminiscent of Daft Punk, but simultaneously, it's too sleepy and subtle to play on a dance floor. In its best moments, it's pretty, it's entrancing, but is it really beckoning for me to come back to it anytime soon? Not intensely.

Things lighten up a little bit on the track "Birds of a Feather," which is a cute infatuation bop that has a nice '80s sheen to it. Sparkling guitar arpeggios underscore most of the track. At the end, there's what sounds like a theremin in the mix. This track is like if you took Wham and crossed it with some Gwen Stefani doing dream pop, then "Wildflower" and "The Greatest" are like a one, two punch of acoustic cuts with super dramatic passionate highs, the intensity of which plays into the narratives of these songs. There's the do I, don't I, love, triangle, tension going on in the story of the former. And then the latter of the two tracks is being left on read, emotionally speaking, where Billy describes herself putting way too much into this romantic dynamic that she's actually getting out. "Just wanted passion from you / Just wanted what I gave you / I waited and waited."

But attitude-wise, Billy changes her tune big time on "La Mora e Ma Vi," which is a cute, light-hearted breakup cut set to some quaint cords. She's parting ways with this person, wishing them the best, but simultaneously admitting to having told a lie, meaning that she didn't really love this person in the first place. Once again, we're getting a chill '90s pop rock pastiche thing going on. Think The Cardigans. That's really the vibe we're going with here in the first half. Things around the midpoint of the song suddenly launch into this driving set of rhythms and trancey synths thrown on top of that. And then Billie vocally starts ripping with this Charli XCX level of autotune on her voice. The lyrics stay consistent with the overall themes of the record so far, but they get really bitter in tone, literally referring to this person that she's singing about as mediocre. While these two respective sounds, especially the switch up in the second half, it's not exactly novel, but it's all pulled off very well, and it's interesting and odd to see them clashing together on one track.

Around the midpoint is really where this record picks up and maintains a lot of its momentum, but sadly, things start to trail off in the final leg. "The Diner," in my opinion, has the worst instrumental of the bunch. Kind of like this cookey, spooky kids cartoon show thing. It feels like watered-down Gorillaz or like the theme song to a Scooby Doo reboot. Instrumentally and texturally, it just feels bland.

I don't know. I mean, it's confusing because I feel like this is the exact vibe that Finneas and Billie on the debut record were totally nailing and killing. And now this newest iteration of it, because again, it does feel like it calls back to that first record a little bit, just feels toothless and neutered. It's not as palpably eerie as that older stuff was, even though it's existing in a a similar realm.

The song, mix-wise, is also washed out to hell. You can barely make out a lot of what Billie is singing and saying much of the time. I think "The Bittersweet" has similar shortcomings, too. The vocals are laid out with so many effects they lose impact. I think the multiple phases of the song structure on this one don't exactly work together all that well, too. You have this epic synth intro that feels like it could have landed on a Graduation-era Kanye cut. From there, we're shifting into some vaguely, exotic, moonlit tropical pop that really feels like it's missing something, and the track doesn't seem to fully know how it should end, which is why, once again, we just shift into a random epic synth outro. The solo on top of which is very, very stiff, lax finesse.

Then the closing track, "Blue," I think is the best of the bunch when it comes to this final leg. The melodies and core progression aren't exactly inspired to my ears, but I like that lyrically a lot of themes and ideas and tropes that have been given nods throughout the record get rounded up a little bit here. They come back into a track that reads like a character portrait of at least one of the individuals central to a lot of the heartbreak on the record. Billie even goes the extra mile to describe a lot of the personal characteristics of this individual being famous, very young in their life, having mommy and daddy issues. It's a pretty unflattering portrait. However, I feel like rather than just personal details, I would have just preferred across the record a bit more poeticism because truth be told, while Billie is definitely diving into some very personal experiences across this LP, many of the descriptions and words chosen to reflect on the feelings during these moments are pretty on the nose.

Overall, though, in terms of songwriting and production, I think this record is pretty good. I think for me, all things considered, it's about on the same level as her last album, but for different reasons. The songs and lyrical ideas and themes throughout the record, the tracklist, too, it's a lot more focused. The record knows exactly what it wants to be, but simultaneously, there aren't nearly as many fun, interesting, creative or unique sonic or narrative risks being taken across this record when compared to her last two albums. That creative flair, that spark that set Billie creatively apart from all of her competitors in the pop sphere in the modern age is a big part of why I was drawn to her music in the first place.

Sadly, I feel like that element of her music on this record has waned a little bit, even if Billie's and Finneas' songwriting abilities over the past several years have really matured and strengthened in some ways. Which is why I'm feeling a light to decent 7 on this album.

Anthony Fantano, Billie Eilish. Forever.