Entertainment Desk

Hot off her second Academy Award win for the Barbie song “What Was I Made For?”, Billie Eilish has debuted her third studio album, titled “Hit Me Hard and Soft.” The song “Lunch” is the lead single of the album, which contains 10 tracks and runs for 43 minutes.

Eilish has previously won acclaim (and multiple Grammys) for her breakout album “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” and its equally celebrated follow-up, “Happier Than Ever.” The new album continues the pop sensation’s creative collaboration with her brother, Finneas O’Connell.

Early reviews for “Hit Me Hard and Soft” have been universally positive, with the album scoring a 95/100 approval rating on Metacritic. In a five-star review, The Independent’s Helen Brown wrote that the album “whispers its way through a marvelous maze of music to deliver some big emotional wallops.”

In another five-star review, The Telegraph’s Neil McCormick wrote, “Eilish has made something rich, strange, smart, sad and wise enough to stand comparison with that classic [Joni Mitchell’s Blue], a heartbreak masterpiece for her generation, and for the ages.”

The Guardian’s Alexis Petridis wrote that the album offers ‘evidence that, among the ranks of mega-selling pop stars, Billie Eilish remains a fascinating law unto herself.’ El Hunt from the Standard also awarded the album a full five stars, saying there are “surprises around every corner of this album”.

“In a year marked by baggy, poorly-curated, unexciting and frankly complacent releases from some of mainstream pop’s biggest stars, this kind of originality and risk-taking feels particularly welcome,” they wrote.

Billie Eilish’s “Hit Me Hard and Soft” released on Friday.