Pop star whispers her way to huge emotional wallops.

We could finally be seeing the artist behind Billie Eilish's baggy-goth avatar with her third LP 'Hit Me Hard and Soft', which interrogates her public persona

- Helen Brown

Billie Eilish has a cool knack for singing as though she's inside your head. An intrusive thought of a vocalist, prodding at the darker side of life. On Oscar-winning songs for the Bond and Barbie movies, she slipped beneath the plastic skin of iconic characters to whisper existential doubt. Her delicate, haunting third album, Hit Me Hard and Soft, sees the sad-sweet hushed croon that she honed on “What was I Made For?” dreamily submerged into a shifting mix of sleepy guitars, sighing cellos, and trancey beats concocted with her brother Finneas in his Astronave studio.

Interviewed for the cover of Rolling Stone last month, 22-yearold Eilish spoke of feeling confined in a panic room of her own celebrity. She’s been a star since the age of 17, after all. And a lot has happened since then: nine Grammys, two Academy Awards, a record-breaking Coachella performance, and millions of new fans. She admits to creating an alter ego to handle the fame, only now to find herself unsure of who she is beyond her baggy-goth avatar. Looking around at her birthday party recently, Eilish realised all the guests were on her staff, so she resolved to get out more and do normal things like visiting Target and taking her pitbull, Shark, on hikes. (Listen out on the record for the jangle of his collar.)