In 2021, after “Happier Than Ever” was released, Billie Eilish seemingly disappeared from the face of the music industry. However in 2024, the artists album “Hit Me Hard and Soft” did exactly that to the music scene, filling earbuds with her vocal layering and jazzy beats that softly cradle lyrics tackling hard topics. Her opening track on the album, titled “Skinny” illustrates Eilish’s own struggles with the body image standards, and how she’s learned to embrace both versions of herself and body. Not all songs on Eilish’s new album face hard topics such as her first though, “Birds of a Feather” is a perfect example of Eilish’s new slow-dance worthy style, with its simple but loving and warm lyrics that sing about a soulmate she wishes to keep. But with all the hits on her latest albums from love songs to societal pressures, Eilish is her truest and rarest self in the song “The Greatest.” The heartbreaking lines of the songs detailing a dynamic in which Eilish has given her all and scarified for a person who is not willing to do the same, are laid out over a plucking guitar that spikes in intensity as Eilish’s painfully loneliness and sadness peaks in the chorus. “Hit Me Hard and Soft” is not only Eilish’s return to the music scene, it’s also a revisiting and exploration of herself as a person and artist. The album is a nod to Eilish’s past personas and an embrace of Eilish’s true self.