Billie Eilish kicks off her new album, Hit Me Hard and Soft, with heartbreaking song ‘Skinny’ – with lyrics discussing a break-up, as well as cruel body-shamers.
The pop star, 22, officially released her third studio album on Friday morning, and the opening track addresses her rise to fame, and everything that comes with it.
She discusses people commenting on her weight – something she has been open about in the past – and ‘falling in love’.
In the first verse she sings: ‘People say I look happy / Just because I got skinny / But the old me is still me and maybe the real me / And I think she’s pretty.’
In a later verse, she adds: ‘And the internet is hungry for the meanest kind of funny / And somebody’s gotta feed it,’
Billie Eilish kicks off her new album, Hit Me Hard and Soft, with heartbreaking song ‘Skinny’ – with lyrics discussing a break-up, as well as cruel body-shamers
The pop star, 22, discusses people commenting on her weight – something she has been open about in the past – and ‘falling in love’
This is not the first time Billie has discussed body-shaming, as in 2023 she told British Vogue that she’s had a ‘rough time’ navigating hurtful comments.
‘Dude, I don’t even know. It’s tough, man,’ she said. ‘Honestly, nobody can say anything about my body that I don’t have a stronger opinion about.’
She added, ‘I also think that if I was younger, like if the internet talked about me the way they do now when I was like 11, I don’t think I would be able to exist, to be honest.’
The hitmaker went on to admit, ‘I like myself more than I used to, and I’m more interested in how I feel than how they feel. But then also that might be a load of bulls**t because it still hurts my feelings like a son of a b***h.’
A step she’s taken to gain control is removing social media apps from her phone.
‘I don’t look at it anymore,’ Eilish noted on an episode of the Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend podcast.
‘I deleted it all off my phone, which is such a huge deal for me. Cause dude, you didn’t have the internet to grow up with,’ she explained.
‘For me, it was such a big part of – not my childhood, I wasn’t an iPad baby, thank god – but honestly, I feel like I grew up in the perfect time of the internet that it wasn’t so internet-y, I had such a childhood, and I was doing stuff all the time,’ she remembered.
Billie Eilish officially released her third studio album Hit Me Hard and Soft on Friday morning at 12:01am ET in digital, CD, vinyl, and cassette formats with no preceding singles
In the first verse she sings: ‘People say I look happy / Just because I got skinny / But the old me is still me and maybe the real me / And I think she’s pretty.’
This is not the first time Billie has discussed body-shaming, as in 2023 she told British Vogue that she’s had a ‘rough time’ navigating hurtful comments
In a 2019 conversation with Vanity Fair, the singer-songwriter revealed why she often turns to loose-fitting clothes.
‘To be quite honest with you, I only started wearing baggy clothes because of my body,’ she said at the time.
Also in 2019, when starring in a Calvin Klein campaign, the Los Angeles native spoke about her clothing choices.
‘I never want the world to know everything about me. I mean, that’s why I wear big baggy clothes. Nobody can have an opinion because they haven’t seen what’s underneath, you know?’ she mused.
‘Nobody can be like, ‘Oh she’s slim-thick, she’s not slim-thick, she got a flat ass, she got a fat ass.’ Nobody can say any of that because they don’t know,’ she continued.
Billie also details a certain heartbreak on the vulnerable track, singing: ‘I never did you wrong…I loved you for so long.’
Fans will likely connect this to her most recent ex boyfriend, Jesse Rutherford, who she split from in May last year.
The couple hit the headlines when they first went public with their romance last year due to their 11-year age gap, with Billie, 20, at the time and Jesse, 31.
Billie announced her new album had been released on Friday, exclaiming: ‘Dude ‘Hit Me Hard and Soft’ my third album is f***ing out now I don’t even know what to say!’
‘[My brother] @finneas and I put so much into this album and have never ever, ever loved something more. We hope you enjoy it so much and I’ll see you on the other side. Eeeek HMHAS out now everywhere love you all to death!’
Billie also details a certain heartbreak on the vulnerable track, singing: ‘I never did you wrong…I loved you for so long.’ Fans will likely connect this to her most recent ex boyfriend, Jesse Rutherford, who she split from in May last year
Eilish (born O’Connell) even got ‘Hard & Soft’ tattooed on her hip as far back as December in honor of the record, which features 10 tracks with titles like Skinny, Lunch, and The Greatest
Billie – who boasts 254.8M social media followers – also posted an extreme close-up TikTok of herself lip-synching to her new track Blue.
Eilish (born O’Connell) even got ‘Hard & Soft’ tattooed on her hip as far back as December in honor of the record, which features 10 tracks with titles like Skinny, Lunch, and The Greatest.
Finneas posted a behind-the-scenes outtake of his famous sister singing Birds of a Feather with a pit bull in her lap during a recording session.
‘This album is my favorite thing I’ve ever been a part of making and there were so many times during the making of it that I thought we’d never finish it or had no idea what we were doing.
‘I lost count – just goes to show – when you’re in it, you might just have to try to keep swimming. You can only really see the ocean once you’re on the shore,’ the 26-year-old musician wrote .
‘I’m going offline now because what you all think of this album is your business, not mine. But I really do hope you like it. We make everything with you in mind and we owe it all to you. Thanks for the sick job/life. We’re so lucky.’
Fans went wild for the new album as they took to Twitter to share their positive reviews with many insisting it should be nominated for Album Of The Year.
They penned: ‘this album is literally life changing’; ‘THE GREATEST Tho’; ‘LIKE SHE ATEEEE EVERY SINGLE SONG AOTY’.
‘HIT ME HARD AND SOFT by billie eilish is a certified hit after hit album. the production, the vocal production….. this is straight heat. the versatility sonically while still keeping it uniquely billie, yeah her and finneas got it. not a single skip’
‘Another solid work of art I luhhh me some Billie Eilish’; ‘i am SO GLAD AND THANKFUL to be alive at the same time as billie eilish’
‘OhmyGahddddd!!!!!! HIT ME HARD AND SOFT IS OUT NOW’; ‘The album is a masterpiece!
‘she literally said i’m gonna f*****g spill everything’; ‘THE ALBUM WAS FIREE’; ‘Billie Eilish is such an amazing artist’
‘The Billie Eilish album is definitely a contender for Album of the Year!’; ‘Nobody uses their voice as an instrument better than Billie Eilish. She sounds amazing on this new album.’
Finneas posted a behind-the-scenes outtake of his famous sister singing Birds of a Feather with a pit bull in her lap during a recording session
The brother-sister act – who were born and raised in LA’s Highland Park – employ their parents Maggie Baird and Patrick O’Connell work as her personal assistant/fan-outreach coordinator and utility player (pictured Wednesday)
Another shared a video of a member of staff walking around the empty shelves in Wilko as they wrote: ‘me looking for a bad song on hit me hard and soft by billie eilish’.
Others wrote: ‘I’m so bad at checking out albums from popular artists but I’m listening to this Billie Eilish album and I have to say it’s very good. Not even halfway done but it’s incredibly cool how different it is from her other albums.’
‘@billieeilish you are fr the youngest GOAT’; ‘BILLIE EILISHTHE WOMAN YOU ARE !’; ‘Yeah this is my favourite Billie Eilish album and it’s definitely gonna be on repeat for a while’.
The nine-time Grammy winner has also released a line of new merchandise including two T-shirts, two hoodies, a tank top, a poster, shoelaces, and a necklace.
Billie – who gets 63.8M monthly listeners on Spotify – is scheduled to kick off her 81-date Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour on September 29 at Canada’s Videotron Centre in Quebec City, and it doesn’t end until July 27, 2025.
Eilish and Finneas recently won two Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and an Academy Award for their hit song What Was I Made For? off of the Barbie soundtrack.
The brother-sister act – who were born and raised in LA’s Highland Park – employ their parents Maggie Baird and Patrick O’Connell work as her personal assistant/fan-outreach coordinator and utility player.