Billie Eilish has been teasing new music online and now she's officially announced her new album. But you won't get to hear any tracks from her third studio effort until its release next month.
Arriving nearly three years after her chart-topping album Happier Than Ever, the young pop music game-changer's new record, Hit Me Hard and Soft, will be released on Friday May 17.
Eilish said she was "ner[vous] and excited" in an Instagram post announcing the title and release date, adding: "not doing singles i wanna give it to you all at once."
As with all of Eilish's releases, the album was produced and co-written with her brother, Finneas O'Connell.
"[We] truly could not be more proud of this album and we absolutely can't wait for you to hear it," Eilish added.
Featuring cover art from underwater photographer William Drumm, Hit Me Hard And Soft runs at 10 tracks.
But the 22-year-old musician was none too happy with the album track list coming out earlier than planned thanks to a leak from Rolling Stone.
"F*ck Rolling Stone," Eilish said in a now-deleted Instagram story.
The surprise factor
Choosing not to release any singles ahead of the album is a big shift for Eilish. There were six singles released over the course of 12 months in the lead-up to Happier Than Ever and five ahead of her history-making 2018 debut When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
It also bucks the industry standard in the streaming music era, where major labels treat album rollouts as carefully orchestrated marketing campaigns conducted with military-level strategy and secrecy.
When upwards of 100,000 songs are uploaded to Spotify each day, the parade of album teasers, interviews and singles is designed to not only stoke anticipation but stay relevant in a rapidly shifting 24-hour news cycle.
Eilish's anger at the track list "leak" stems from the sabotaging of the element of surprise, and speaks to the music industry's unspoken rules of engagement when it comes to blockbuster artists and their carefully laid plans.
It's reminiscent of Beyoncé speaking out after her 2022 album Renaissance was leaked online two days before its release. In a public note, she thanked the Beyhive fans who'd "actually waited" while subliminally scolding those "trying to sneak into the club early".
Currently making chart history with her latest album Cowboy Carter, Beyoncé famously helped popularise the "surprise album" when she dropped her 2013 self-titled album with next-to-no-warning in December — a typically quiet period for music releases.
For a number of years after, the surprise album became a popular method for some of music's biggest names – everyone from Rihanna and U2 to Kendrick Lamar and Drake.
However, recent years have seen more superstars shifting to an "appointment release" strategy, offering a title and release date but saving the full listening experience.
The most obvious current example would be Taylor Swift using her 2024 Grammys Album of the Year win for Midnights to announce its follow-up, The Tortured Poets Department, which is due April 19 and – as yet – has had no advance singles.
Many of these household names simply don't need to play the same music industry game, and in recent years, Billie Eilish's stardom has risen so much that she doesn't need to do widespread promotion.
Her breathy ballad What Was I Made For? from the Barbie soundtrack won the Grammy for Song of the Year and made Eilish and O'Connell the youngest-ever two-time Oscar winners.
As with Taylor and her Swifties, Billie Eilish has built a similarly ravenous fanbase to whom she can directly market to. In fact, she's literally been teasing new music to her followers via Instagram's "close friends" feature.
Environmentally friendly vinyl
As well as being available on the usual digital platforms, Hit Me Hard and Soft will be available on a range of eco-friendly vinyl.
Eight different vinyl variants will be produced "with the most sustainable practices available", according to the "Sustainability" tab on Billie Eilish's official website.
"The standard black variant is made from 100% recycled black vinyl. The remaining 7 colored vinyl will be made from ECO-MIX or BioVinyl. The former is created using 100% recycled compound made of leftovers from any color which cannot otherwise be used."
The site also details the use of "100% recyclable" materials in album packaging and shipping, plus the use of environmentally friendly inks and record sleeves.
Significantly, the new album vinyl variants come after Eilish criticised the practices of artists releasing multiple vinyl formats for "how wasteful it is".
"I find it really frustrating as somebody who really goes out of my way to be sustainable and do the best that I can," she told Billboard in March.
"And then it's some of the biggest artists in the world making f**king 40 different vinyl packages that have a different unique thing just to get you to keep buying more.
"It's so wasteful, and it's irritating to me that we're still at a point where you care that much about your numbers and you care that much about making money — and it's all your favorite artists doing that sh*t."
When fans claimed she was targeting Taylor Swift, Eilish clarified on Instagram that she "wasn't singling anyone out" with her comments.
"These are industry-wide systemic issues. When it comes to variants, so many artists release them—including ME! The climate crisis is now, and it's about all of us being part of the problem and trying to do better," she wrote.
Eilish has long been outspoken about the climate crisis, from addressing the topic in her 2018 single All the Good Girls Go to Hell' to partnering with environmental organisations to reduce carbon emissions from her touring footprint and speaking at climate action events.
Hit Me Hard and Soft is out May 17.
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2024-04-09 04:14:02Z
CBMicWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDI0LTA0LTA5L2JpbGxpZS1laWxpc2gtaGl0LW1lLWhhcmQtYW5kLXNvZnQtbmV3LWFsYnVtLXRyYWNrbGlzdC1lY28tdmlueWwvMTAzNjg1NTUw0gEoaHR0cHM6Ly9hbXAuYWJjLm5ldC5hdS9hcnRpY2xlLzEwMzY4NTU1MA
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