Billie Eilish shows what she’s made of

It seems too early to draw a bright pink line on the recording career Billie EilishBut do we really have a choice? His poem is from the soundtrack Barbie The album “What Are You Made For?” Last Year was so inventive and so existential that it automatically divided her songbook into before and after. So we’re diving into beyond pink with He hit me hard and soft, a new album on which Eilish sings in dramatically more exquisite detail, making her melodic whispers act like steamrollers, roller coasters, jackhammers, and bombs exploding in the air. Really hard and soft.

At first glance, this is a breakup album about breaking up with the people you love, and even who you used to be. Eilish sets the framework right away with “Skinny,” reveling in the soul-crushing tone of “Barbie,” explaining how “21 took up a whole life.” If your reaction is to roll your eyes when you think of a 22-year-old feeling old, try to remember how difficult those early chapters of adulthood are, when you begin to understand that your past is irretrievable. As if that wasn’t enough, the feeling of loneliness seems to be exacerbated Faceless cruelty in this digital world Where he was born: “The Internet is hungry for the worst kind of fun and someone has to feed it.”

By arranging those soft passages in a descending melody, it sounds like a puff of smoke falling down the stairs. In a way, it feels like the truth. His singing is so thoughtful, so precise, so emotionally moving… and yet, in a way that always demands a pushback. In a fantastically precise passage from “Chihiro,” Eilish defines more than thirty notes in four words: Did you take my love from me? – It’s as if you recognize flower petals scattered in the breeze. His brother, producer and songwriting partner, Phineasemphasizes the euphemism, allowing the bass line to disk It vibrates on its own while the battery makes a ‘clicking’ sound on the verge of complete absence.

Is “Chihiro” a disco song or a lullaby? And the word “skinny” is bossa nova or neo soul? Blending genres is key on this album, but it feels less like two brothers making smoothies and more like letting their dream states overlap. The other songs on “Hit Me Hard and Soft” go through their stylistic mutations in a more linear manner. “The Greatest” begins in a coffee shop and then transitions to the Britpop Festival at Walt Disney World. “L’Amour de Ma Vie” begins in the club and then transitions into emo-Nintendo. It’s tempting to look for themes of transformation and evolution in the twists and turns, but it’s Eilish’s voice that takes center stage. As an anarchic world makes its violent changes, they sink deeper, an implicit refutation of the warlike narratives of popular progress that it founded. the Beatles, David Bowie, prince, Madonna. In any case.

However, Eilish is not uniformly sad. There’s almost shocking joy in “Lunch,” in which she recites a filthy, turbulent inner monologue before finally confessing: “She is the lighthouse, and I am the deer.”. amazing. Then there’s “dinner.” with Phineas Making her compositions bend like mirrors, it’s hard to tell if she’s kidding about the stalker fantasy she’s describing. The song ends with a literal whisper as he mocks remembering the victim’s phone number. However, (310)-807-3956 now joins 867-5309 and (281)-330-8004 as the most popular numbers in yellow pages From pop music.

And although these two pieces seem somewhat unusual, they still point to the fundamental question of this album: Why don’t you love me? Eilish dives headlong into this during “The Greatest,” where she takes away the focus on the “you” of that question and places it entirely on the “me.” The end of the huge chorus An oasis in Orlando It’s this: “Hey, I’m the oldest. God I hate him. All my love and patience is priceless.” She doesn’t seem like she’s a selfish freak, an egomaniac, or a brat. As always, just listen to this audio. It will take you back to the song title.

Source: Washington Post

[Fotos: Petros Studio; William Drumm; AP Foto/Chris Pizzello]