Billie Eilish Hit Me Hard and Soft Songs Ranked From Worst to Best

Billie Eilish Jesse Rutherford — Image: Getty Images

“I feel like this album is me,” Billie declared to Rolling Stone. “It’s not a character. It feels like the When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? version of me. It feels like my youth and who I was as a kid.” FINNEAS further elaborated saying that they were”revisiting a lot of things.” He continued, “I feel like this album has some real ghosts in it, and I say that with love. There’s ideas on this album that are five years old, and there’s a past to it, which I really like. When Billie talks about the era of When We All Fall Asleep, it was this theatricality and this darkness. What’s the thing that no one is as good at as Billie is? This album was an exploration of what we do best.”

Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Harder and Softer songs ranked

We’re huge Billie fans over here at StyleCaster, especially our graphic designer Sasha Purdy who helped contribute to this list. With ten songs (and maybe even more to come) included in the album, here’s our ranking of Hit Me Harder and Softer.

BITTERSUITE

With bombastic static-y synths and “I can’t fall in love with you” as a grand opening, BITTERSUITE marks one song that masterfully switches back and forth between delicate and deep. Billie strikes references to other songs on the record like “CHIHIRO” and “L’AMOUR DE MA VIE” but overall develops a unique identity of falling into a complicated love. “I don’t need to breathe when you look at me, all I see is green,” she sings. “And I think that we’re in between everything I’ve seen/ In my dream, have it once a week, can’t land on my feet.”
THE DINER

Stalkers are one big problem for Billie Eilish. The whole POV of “THE DINER” comes from one, and with eerie bouncy beats, the creepiness from this song is off the charts. She once sang about a stalker in “NDA” where they’re “walking up and down the streets” of her neighborhood, but this song delves more into their devious actions and consequences. “I memorized your number, now I call you when I please,” she teases in the bridge. “I tried to end it all, but now I’m back up on my feet / I saw you in the car with someone else and couldn’t sleep / If somethin’ happens to him, you can bet that it was me.” Oh, and if you actually call in the number that she whispers at the end of the song, you’ll get a sweet surprise.
WILDFLOWER

A solemn acoustic track that follows a pattern of comparing yourself to another girl. Billie reflects if she “crossed the line” in a friendship, but it’s also a beautiful reflection in the space of female friendships, and if you can truly move on with ease.”She was cryin’ on my shoulder / All I could do was hold her / Only made us closer until July” she sang in the first verse. The song swells to a literal sweltering epiphany, “I see her in the back of my mind all the time / Feels like a fever, like I’m burning alive, like a sign.”

The song could also be a subtle reference to her friendship with Devon Lee Carlson, who she and Billie share an ex: Jesse Rutherford. Carlson also owns a brand called Wildflower Cases.
SKINNY

A quiet reverbed guitar accompanies Billie’s hard-hitting contemplations about fame. As a young musician, she still feels like life is still starting out for her. But with her life under the microscope, things are harder for her as she sings that she’s a “bird in the cage” when she steps out of spotlight. She digs hard as a supertar online or in her case, a person with a bigger target on her back: “And the internet is hungry for the meanest kinda funny / And somebody’s gotta feed it.”
THE GREATEST

Billie sardonically gives herself congratulations for doing what’s necessary in a relationship. She’s in a relationship with a person who isn’t giving as much as she is. “Doing what’s right / Without a reward/ And we don’t have to fight / When it’s not worth fighting for,” she sings” She shifts at the last verse pleading with her lover that they could have been doing the “greatest” too if they had put in the effort.
BIRDS OF A FEATHER

A lighter track that gives the buoyancy of a Clairo song, “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” describes love that prevails even beyond death. It’s a cleverly packaged love track that uses the cliche saying “Birds of a feater, we should stick together” but being with each other eternally overcomes all—”But if it’s forever, it’s even better.”
CHIHIRO

Named after the iconic main character from Hayao Miyazaki’s Academy Award-winning film Spirited Away, “CHIHIRO” effortlessly gives a whimsical vibe with a submerged bass and glistening vocals. The song is plastered with subtle references from the film like Chihiro forgetting her own name due to Yubaba’s curse: “Said you won’t forget my name / Not today, not tomorrow.”
L’AMOUR DE MA VIE

Part jazzy song, part dance song. Billie’s vocals shine smoothly in “L’AMOUR DE MA VIE.” Though it doesn’t contain any French, her passion in breaking someone’s heart is potent. “Did I break your heart?
/ Did I waste your time?,” she sings. “I tried to be there for you / Then you tried to break mine.”

The beat switches into a more celebratory occasion reminiscent of an 80s synth dance party. She could be referencing her relationship with Jesse Rutherford in the dialogue: Wanna know what I told her / With her hand on my shoulder? / You were so mediocre / And we’re so glad it’s over now.”
BLUE

She wrote this song when she was 14-years-old and there could not be a more satisfying way to close out an album. “BLUE” is a distant cousin from the leaked original demo. It’s not as youthful but it’s more cinematic and captures the essence of growing up and maturing. “I try (I’m not what) to live in black and white, but I’m so blue (But I’m not what you need)” she sings in the chorus as the song layers intricate lyrics from throughout the album.
LUNCH

It’s definitely a cliche (and pet peeve of mine) to put the lead single as the top song, but I can’t deny that “LUNCH” is the ultimate standout. It’s a deliciously horny sapphic track that delivers debonair to the extreme. After her accidental coming-out story made hundreds of headlines, Billie dives head-on into her desires for a woman. The beats are sneaky and groovy, but the song oozes lust at every corner: “I’ll run a shower for you like you want / Clothеs on the counter for you, try ’em on / If I’m allowеd, I’ll help you take ’em off.” We’re blushing so much because after all, “It’s a craving, not a crush.”