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\n \t\t\t\t\tBillie Eilish’s Audacious ‘Hit Me Hard and Soft’ Completes Sublime Coming-of-Age Trilogy\u2026\t\t<\/p>\n<\/h3><\/div>\n
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\n\t\u201cIt feels very, very me and it feels like all of the music is exactly who I am, all the visuals are exactly who I am and that\u2019s honestly terrifying and that\u2019s why I\u2019m literally shaking right now,\u201d she told Colbert, who parried back that exposing yourself like that requires vulnerability and removing the mask from the character you\u2019re created to protect you.<\/p>\n
\n\tAsked what she meant in a recent Rolling Stone<\/em> cover story in which she said up until now she felt like she was playing a character, Eilish said after putting out her first songs as a \u201cvery young\u201d teenager, she felt like audiences thought of her as \u201cone thing,\u201d leaving her little room to do anything but what people thought she was.<\/p>\n\n\tShe called her previous album, 2021\u2019s Happier Than Ever<\/em>, a \u201creaction of, \u2018you can\u2019t tell me what to do! I\u2019m gonna do whatever I want to do and here it is!\u2019 And I think I may have gone a little\u2026 I really wanted to prove a point and so I think I went so far, but that\u2019s kind of what I needed to do. I needed to play this whole thing of, \u2018I\u2019m not what you think I am.\u2019 I thought at the time that it was very me and I realized in hindsight I was just trying to be seen and express myself and show that people can be multi-faceted and I am one of those people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\tEilish also noted that she\u2019s willing to suffer for her art, describing waking up at 7 a.m. the day after the most recent Grammy awards and driving to some \u201crandom\u201d place in Santa Clarita to spend six hours inside a 10-foot deep water tank, fully clothed, to shoot the cover of the album. \u201cDude, I was wearing big, long pants, like giant Pro Club shorts. I was wearing a thermal long sleeve, a button-up flannel, a tie, rings, arm warmers, bracelet and a weight. I had a weight strapped to me,\u201d she said, proudly affirming that it was all her idea.<\/p>\n
\n\tIn another segment, Eilish had a laugh when Colbert asked about a quote from her 2021 doc, The World\u2019s a Little Blurry<\/em> in which she described her family as \u201ca song\u201d in painting her musical upbringing. \u201cDude, my family is so musical and we always have been, and we remain that way,\u201d Eilish said. \u201cI grew up thinking that every family was like that. I thought that everyone was singing all the time and playing music with their family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\tWhen the audience chuckled, Eilish turned to them and swore that she actually thought all families were like that. \u201cWe\u2019re big fans. Our whole family, we are music fans,\u201d she said. \u201cWe love music and I think that\u2019s really what it all stems from.\u201d The night before, she noted, the whole fam sat around singing and playing guitar while harmonizing to the Beatles. \u201cThat\u2019s what it\u2019s always been and it\u2019s so wonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tColbert also mentioned that Lana Del Rey introduced Eilish at Coachella last month, calling the 22-year-old singer \u201cthe voice of our generation. No pressure. How did it feel to have an artist you admire describe you that way?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
\n\tEilish said it was \u201cridiculous,\u201d returning the compliment by calling LDR the voice of her own generation, doubling-down by saying that Del Rey is one of the \u201ctop three reasons\u201d that she is the person and artist that she is, as well as the reason she started making music to begin with. \u201cIt was crazy to hear her say that,\u201d Eilish said. \u201cI love her so much.\u201d Then, while ticking off her early musical inspirations \u2014 which included such throwback legends Ella Fitzgerald, Chet Baker, Julie London and Johnny Mathis \u2014 Colbert asked if Eilish would ever consider recording a standards album and she lit up with a sly smile. <\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cYeah, yeah, I would love to do that some day,\u201d Eilish said with a happy grin. <\/p>\n
\n\tWhen Colbert asked what song she was planning to perform that night, Eilish blushed a bit, laughed and said she would be performing \u201cLunch<\/a>.\u201d She then closed out the night with brother\/producer Finneas and her band, singing the homage to sapphic love on a dark stage lit by strobing lights while rocking a backwards plaid cap, oversized baseball jersey and striped tie and plaid culottes. <\/p>\n\n\tWatch Eilish perform \u201cLunch\u201d and talk about her new album below.<\/p>\n\n
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