As expected, Billie Eilish has officially announced her third full-length album: “‘HIT ME HARD AND SOFT,’ MY THIRD ALBUMMMMMMMMMMMMM COMES OUT MAY 17THHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH AHHHHHHHHHH,” she wrote in an emoji-loaded social media post accompanied by a photo of the album’s cover, which features Eilish underwater, swimming toward an open white door. “So crazy to be writing this right now i’m nervyyyyy & exciteddd. Not doing singles i wanna give it to you all at once. Finneas and i truly could not be more proud of this album and we absolutely can’t wait for you to hear it. Love you love you love you.”

The album’s official press announcement was accompanied by a new photo of Eilish underwater, similar to the album cover:

(Photo: William Drumm)

The album’s controversial title — which, unlike the all-lowercase type Eilish has used in recent years, is in all-caps like her earlier releases — is at least partially explained in a press announcement that followed her post: “The album does exactly as the title suggests: hits you hard and soft both lyrically and sonically while bending genres and defying trends along the way. ‘HIT ME HARD AND SOFT’ journeys through a vast and expansive audio landscape, immersing listeners into a full spectrum of emotions. It’s what the multiple Grammy and Academy Award winner does best, continuing to affirm Billie Eilish as the most exciting songwriter of her time.” 

As usual, the album was written by Eilish and her brother and musical collaborator Finneas, who also produced the album.

The announcement notes that the album will be available on all digital platforms, and, reflecting Eilish’s recent comments about the environmental wastefulness of physical product such as vinyl, adds, “In a continued effort to minimize waste and combat climate change; across all physical formats in limited variants on the same day, with the same track-listing and using 100% recyclable materials.

For more information on all sustainable practices for this album release, please visit the official website.” The link leads to a detailed explanation of the album’s production process.

Eilish has been speaking about the album for several weeks, and least week teased the album with a series of billboards in major cities across the world.

The billboards did not feature the Grammy- and Oscar-winning artist’s name but did include her familiar “blohsh” symbol and what appear to be lyric snippets saying things like “Did I cross the line?,” “I try to live in black and white” and “She’s the headlights I’m the deer.”

Eilish’s team used a similar tactic in 2021 to tease the release of her second full-length, “Happily Ever After.”

While Eilish and her brother/musical collaborator Finneas spent most of the last few months on an exhaustive awards campaign promoting “What Was I Made For?,” their song from the blockbuster “Barbie” film and soundtrack, they have not released a new album since “Happily Ever After” in July of 2021, although they have toured and released other material.

Eilish confirmed late in February that her new album has been mastered, which is the usually last step before an album is manufactured and sent to streaming services.

She and Finneas have said that writing “What Was I Made For?” opened up the floodgates after a logjam they’d been experiencing in coming up with material for Eilish’s third full album.

“There is a whole album of music coming,” Eilish said in September. “We’re in the final stages of making it, so that doesn’t mean it’s about to come out, but it is getting there and it’s very exciting.”