Billie Eilish review, Hit Me Hard and Soft: Softly whispers its way to big emotional wallops

Sign up to Roisin O’Connor’s free weekly newsletter Now Hear This for the inside track on all things music Get our Now Hear This email for free Get our Now Hear This email for free SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. She croons: “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… and I still cryyy.” There’s a careful precision to Eilish’s pronunciation despite the hushed quiet of her vocals, and a lovely evolution to the song, which shifts towards strings at the end, the melody swooping up with the instruments’ bows before coiling to the end of its rope. Although Eilish didn’t put out any advance singles for the album – she and Finneas wanted fans to enjoy it as a complete piece of work; Finneas suggests listening while you cook dinner – “Lunch” is the obvious choice, and you can expect to hear it vibrating from car speakers all summer. There’s nothing else quite so danceable on the album, but the electronic beats do shift back into gear in several places including on “The Diner”: a cheekily murky number featuring distorted vocals over a shaker-pulse. Though this being Eilish, any declarations of love come with their share of gloom: “I want you to stay/ Til I’m in the grave/ Til I rot away… in the casket you carried.” Other highlights include “The Greatest” – a track that swells from acoustic plucked lo-fi confessional into a belter complete with a squalling big electric guitar solo – and album closer “Blue”, with its moody jazz chanteuse vibe.