Billie Eilish's 'Hit Me Hard and Soft' is a thrilling return to form for pop's leading weirdo

Much like Eilish's Oscar-winning "Barbie" theme, "Skinny" is a feminine ballad that grapples with existential questions.

The lyrics are closely tied to the performative and isolating demands of womanhood, especially as a woman in the spotlight: "Am I acting my age now? / Am I already on the way out? / When I step off the stage, I'm a bird in a cage / I'm a dog in a dog pound."

But unlike "What Was I Made For?" (which I previously ranked as the eighth-best song of 2023), the lasting taste from "Skinny" isn't drawn from Eilish's bitter lyrics, but from her full-bodied vocals.

Eilish's biggest critics have always accused her of whispering in every song. Of course, this is a stylistic choice, not a lack of skill. To suggest Eilish can't sing is to admit you're not paying attention.

That being said, I've been itching for Eilish to push beyond her typical range — to better use her voice as an instrument of expression. She's done this with some of her best songs, including the title track of "Happier Than Ever" and her brilliant Labrinth collab "Never Felt So Alone." In both, Eilish's belts and wails offer a tantalizing glimpse of her true vocal prowess.

The second half of "Skinny" delivers on this promise — and bodes extremely well for the rest of the tracklist.

Sonically speaking, "Lunch" has almost nothing in common with "Skinny," which creates a curious and thrilling juxtaposition.

In fact, according to O'Connell, "Lunch" is purposely placed as the second track to upend the listener's expectations.

"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," he told Rolling Stone. "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!'"

The sequence also serves to intensify the second track's impact. "Lunch" is a song with an unruly appetite; the lyrics depict a girl so irresistible, so seductive, that Eilish wants to devour her. Because it arrives right after the anguished restraint of track one ("People say I look happy just because I got skinny… And I still cry"), "Lunch" feels like a rebellion. The song gives Eilish permission to eat, to swell with passion and lust, to take up space; to enjoy her own life.

There's still a patriarchal expectation for women to be small and submissive (and straight). The Eilish we hear in "Lunch" is having none of that.

"Chihiro" is named after the protagonist from Hayao Miyazaki's 2001 film "Spirited Away," a fantastical coming-of-age journey that's been widely celebrated for its multi-layered storytelling and animation style.

Eilish's "Chihiro" is similarly rich. It refuses to follow a traditional song structure, more closely following the ebbs and flows of a DJ's club remix — shimmering, pulsing, and blooming into bursts of heady synths and house beats.

You can tell O'Connell had a blast with this production, and it translates superbly well. During the album listening event at Barclays Center on Wednesday, "Chihiro" earned some of the most delighted shrieks and loudest cheers of the evening.

"Birds of a Feather" is a bright, melodic love song fit for a blockbuster film.

The chorus boasts some of Eilish's finest vocal work to date. She audibly swoons as she declares her devotion ("I'll love you 'til the day that I die! 'Til the day that I die-ee-eeeee! 'Til the light leaves my eyes!"), as if she's prepared to run through an airport or perform a musical number in front of the whole school.

This is her big romantic gesture, and she's giving an award-worthy performance. But because she's Billie Eilish, her love is still tinged with her obsession with morbidity: "I want you to stay 'til I'm in the grave / 'Til I rot away, dead and buried." Even as new layers of Eilish are revealed on this album, she's true to her core.

This song is very pretty, but it doesn't stick out to me. Its best quality is the clarity in Eilish's voice; she often struggles with enunciation, but on "Wildflower," Eilish takes great care to articulate her wistful tale. ("I should put it all behind me, shouldn't I? / But I see her in the back of my mind all the time / Like a fever, like I'm burning alive.")

"The Greatest" is expertly molded, recalling the structure of "Happier Than Ever."

Both songs start humbly with delicate acoustics, belying the resentment and agony in Eilish's lyrics ("All the times I waited / For you to want me naked / Made it all look painless / Man, am I the greatest").

Both songs weaponize this tension, building toward an intense, gratifying, electric guitar-fueled catharsis.

And, accordingly, both songs can be counted among the crown jewels in Eilish's catalog.

Here is what I wrote about "L'Amour de Ma Vie" during my first listen: "After the euphoric high of 'The Greatest,' this really doesn't pack the same punch. I do like the jazzy, swingy tone of Eilish's delivery (it reminds me of 'Billie Bossa Nova'), but if the album has any filler so far, this is it."

Then, I crossed the song's three-and-a-half-minute mark, when "L'Amour de Ma Vie" abruptly morphs from a soft-rock ballad into a thumping rush of '80s synths and warped vocals. Please disregard my previous notes — I stand corrected.

It should be obvious by now that I love a mid-song transition, mostly because I love to be surprised. Although "L'Amour de Ma Vie" doesn't sound anything like Eilish's debut album, the experimental risk is still Eilish-esque and uniquely memorable. Once considered to be pop's weird outsider, Eilish is a full-on pop star now — but with this album, she proves that she's still in touch with those weirdo instincts.

Now this sounds like Eilish circa "When We All Fall Asleep." The circus-freak vibe, the squeaky sound effects, the brief silence at the end of the chorus that precedes the word "me," the eerie whispers and sirens in the outro — "The Diner" is gothic and theatrical, what O'Connell once described as "the Billie sound," but fuller, somehow. More amped. It sounds like "Bury a Friend" on ecstasy.

"Bittersuite" has some interesting choices and it's definitely not a skip. But it also isn't particularly remarkable. The plinky mid-song synths remind me of the fan-favorite deep cut "Ilomilo," though overall, "Bittersuite" lacks the same charm.

I doubt I'll reach for this one in the future — except, of course, during full-album spins. The seamless transition into "Blue" is essential.

Much like "The Diner," "Blue" recalls the outré flourishes of Eilish's debut album but avoids sounding overly familiar or stale.

Throughout "Blue," Eilish and O'Connell build a strange and otherworldly soundscape that mirrors the malaise in her lyrics ("You were born reaching for your mother's hands / Victim of your father's plans to rule the world… But they could say the same about me").

It's an effective, hypnotic closer that leaves me with a dueling sense of wonder and unease — exactly what I want from a trip to Eilish's world.

In their Rolling Stone interview, Eilish and O'Connell referred to "Hit Me Hard and Soft" as an "album-ass album." After just one listen, it's easy to see why.

This is a compact, tenacious, deeply intentional tracklist. With just 10 songs, every second counts. Several songs are two-for-one deals that take risks and detours by transforming into new beasts. Like the album cover, some lead to dreamlike worlds and murky depths.

I particularly relish the album's reference to "Spirited Away," a movie about stumbling through a portal to an alternate dimension where there's familiarity and fear in equal measure. Chihiro is thrust into a great adventure at an extremely young age — much like Eilish when she shot to fame as a teenager. The only options are escape or immersion. Eilish chose the latter.

Eilish is still only 22, but she has established a clear vision as an artist. These songs recall her best works — the surreal shapes and sinister themes that course through "When We All Fall Asleep," the raw emotion in songs like "Happier Than Ever," "Halley's Comet," and "What Was I Made For?" — without sounding like she's retreating back into her comfort zone. The textures are plusher, the colors are brighter, and Eilish's lyrics reveal her burgeoning maturity.

It's rare to hear an artist's identity come through so strongly in her work. "Hit Me Hard and Soft" isn't just an album-ass album. It's a Billie Eilish-ass album.

Worth listening to:

"Skinny"

"Lunch"

"Chihiro"

"Birds of a Feather"

"The Greatest"

"L'Amour de Ma Vie"

"The Diner"

"Blue"

Background music:

"Wildflower"

"Bittersuite"

Press skip:

N/A

*Final album score based on songs per category (1 point for "Worth listening to," .5 for "Background music," 0 for "Press skip").