Hit Me Hard and Soft Songwriting Credits by Billie Eilish

Hit Me Hard and Soft is the third studio album by Billie Eilish, released in May 2024 on Darkroom/Interscope Records and produced entirely by Finneas O'Connell. It was released with no lead singles and no commercial radio play preceding the release, a strategy that prioritized album-as-complete-experience over single-by-single discovery and was the most commercially unconventional approach taken by a mainstream artist of her commercial scale since the mid-2010s streaming transition. Eilish co-wrote all ten tracks with Finneas; the album addresses queer identity, romantic obsession, the experience of fame in one's early twenties, and grief, with 'Lunch,' a frank, jubilant track about same-sex attraction that represents Eilish's first explicit public statement about her sexuality, and generating both critical praise for its directness and commercial success through streaming. The production is sonically the duo's most varied, spanning orchestral balladry on 'The Greatest,' atmospheric bedroom pop on 'The Diner,' and post-punk influenced arrangements on 'Chihiro,' unified by the consistent acoustic intimacy that has characterized all three albums. Hit Me Hard and Soft debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and received widespread critical acclaim as the most fully realized album of Eilish's catalog, with reviewers noting that the decision to release it without singles demonstrated a confidence in the album format rare in contemporary pop. The album confirmed Eilish and Finneas as the most creatively cohesive songwriting and production partnership in mainstream pop at the time of its release.