Do you like scary movies? If so, Billie Eilish’s upcoming studio album, Hit Me Hard And Soft, might be for you! Ahead of the highly-anticipated followup to the singer’s viral Barbie song, Eilish’s brother and close collaborator on the record, Finneas O’Connell spoke to the album’s sound and in doing so, he compared it to Drew Barrymore's role in one of the best horror movies of all time, Scream.
While Billie Eilish has previously led her album releases with bops of singles like megahit “bad guy” or “Therefore I Am,” this time around the Oscar-winner is dropping the whole thing on May 17. Ahead of it, here’s what Finneas had to say to Rolling Stone about Hit Me Hard And Soft:
What’s funny about starting the album with [the opener] is that it is a total false promise. If you’re remembering ‘What Was I Made For?’ and then you hear [it], you go, ‘Oh, OK. I understand this world.’ Then the drums come in [on “Lunch”], and it really is the kill-the-main-character-type beat. It’s like Drew Barrymore being in the first five minutes of Scream and then they kill her. You’re like, ‘They can’t kill Drew. Oh, my God, they killed Drew!’
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It sounds like fans are in for a jump scare with the new album! When casting was underway for Scream, Drew Barrymore apparently requested that she play the character in the opening scene because her “biggest pet peeve” in the genre was always knowing who was going to live and who was going to die. Back in 1996, when Barrymore was the biggest star among the cast, the opening scene served as an unsettling way for a movie to begin, because it left audiences unnerved about who would be the next victim.
So, how does this apply to Billie Eilish’s new album? As Finneas shares, sonically the first track on the project is perhaps what fans might expect from the artist until the second track comes in and “kills the main character” so to speak. When you listen to Hit Me Hard And Soft, expect the unexpected!
Billie Eilish revealed the tracklist of her new album last month, which will consist of ten new songs. It sounds like “Skinny” might fall into the “soft” category, whereas “Lunch” will go hard, as the magazine described it as a “sexy” and “bass-heavy banger.” Here’s the full tracklist:
During the first weekend of Coachella last month, Billie Eilish had a couple of surprises in store for fans, between joining Lana Del Rey on stage for a couple of songs and hosting a party where she debuted a few of the tracks from the new album. Clips of “Lunch” have already gone viral following the event, especially considering the song explicitly speaks to Eilish’s queer sexuality. As the song lyrics go: “I could eat that girl for lunch / And she dances on my tongue.”
Finneas’ comments on Hit Me Hard And Soft is a great comparison for the album, and has us even more excited to expect the unexpected, and give it a first listen on May 17!
