2024 Music So Far: Featuring Billie Eilish

Brat by Charli XCX

Unprecedented Sh!t by Ani DiFranco

Hit Me Hard and Soft by Billie Eilish

The biggest problem I had with Eilish's second album was that it dealt too much with her angst about being a star.  A song here or there on that topic is fine, but it felt like that whole album revolved around her stardom and I found that a bit tiring.  

On this, her third album, she is off of that topic and focusing more on her personal life and in particular love and relationships.  The opening track "Skinny" had me a bit worried as it was dealing with her views of herself in relation to how she is viewed in social media, but even in this song I think she did a good job of connecting it back to herself in a way that works.  She then jumps into a song called "Lunch" which is the first thing I've heard from her that deals with desire in a way that really works.  Musically, lyrically it's a fun song and I felt like from there we were off in a new and different direction which I enjoyed.  

We even get a nice romantic song on this album with "Birds of a Feather."  A nice dance pop number.  And then we end with a sad song, "Blue" that has the line "I thought we were the same, birds of a feather, now I'm ashamed."

The thing about Eilish is that she is a very good writer when it comes to feelings, relationship, etc.  With that being the focus of this album, I found it to work very well.  She is a bit of an abstract writer, but she's also been embracing being more direct at times and the mix I feel like works well on this album.  

At 22 she still isn't at the usual peak.  I'll be interested to see where she goes on her next album.  The album definitely has a mood and there are a few oddball tracks that don't really fit the vibe to me but all in all it's a solid album and we are reminded what a great vocalist Eilish is a what a smart songwriter she can be.