Billie Doesn't Have to Do It All

The singer's gleefully disorienting third album doesn't hit every note it reaches for.

- Craig Jenkins

HIT ME HARD AND SOFT BILLIE EILISH.

AM I ACTING my age now?/Am I already on the way out?" Billie Eilish croons, beguilingly sweetly, in "Skinny," the opener from her new album, Hit Me Hard and Soft. In a tune that otherwise catches us up on romantic wrinkles since her last release, 2021's Happier Than Ever, and wonders why we tend to conflate a petite frame with a satisfied mind, it's a jarring turn. The track peels back the artist's layers of stress-self-love, relationship turmoil, and ever-shifting public perceptions-and outlines the sky-high expectations for the 22-year-old nine-time Grammy winner to use her platform responsibly while releasing work worthy of having joined Elton John and Randy Newman in earning two Academy Awards for Best Original Song. Soft picks up where Happier left off, offering a peek at a life in the shadow of mass adulation, obsession, and aggression. The album is a people pleaser's contract renegotiation: You'll get the hits after hearing what a trip it is to answer to opinions about her every move.