Finneas Slams Pitchfork's 6.8 Review of Billie Eilish's Hit Me Hard and Soft

[stewie_e]

Finneas reacts to Pitchfork’s 6.8 review of ‘HIT ME HARD AND SOFT’:

“Nothing cool about writing a positive review of an album everyone likes - they’ve gotta have an angle. They gave ‘Born To Die’ a 5.5 - it’s their whole hater-ass bag.” pic.twitter.com/kOS9PP5Jax
- Pop Crave (@PopCrave) May 27, 2024
Finneas, producer and brother of Billie Eilish,

Comments

[genbu_no_miko24]

I've only listened to a few songs (although I barely remember anymore haha) but I was expecting to be more upbeat since ontd loved it so much. Not a hinderance to me but I was surprised it sounded more downtempo.

Chihiro is the one I keep going back to primarily because I loooooove her vocals on it. Especially on the "from meeEEEeeeEEeee" parts. I like how late 90s/early 00s? it sounds. It reminds me of another song but I can't think which one but it clearly taking influence from various songs of that era.

Also makes me think of anime lofi vaporwave aesthetic

[palmsread]

it has been reminding me of some daft punk song

[genbu_no_miko24]

I got daft punk too. Discovery era especially but a bit of Homework too.

[doubtmars]

The end of it definitely sounds like Daft Punk. The beginning sounds like something else. I still can't figure out what exactly, it's been bothering me haha.

[hateistoodark]

Yeah i get why it would bother him. It’s a really good album.

I know people dunk on him a lot but the production on this album in particular is a work of art.

[swissbeauty23]

ia the production is exquisite

[screamingintune]

it really is, for me the production was the best part of the album. just a really lovely sound

[ky16]

Pitchforks written reviews are mostly fine and fair (occasionally they’ll get unnecessarily nasty but not as much anymore lol). It just that the scores they give are so much lower then the 4/5 or even 5/5 that a similar review would get elsewhere. They kind of stick to a grading system where a “good” is anywhere between 6.5-7.5 and they don’t give out high scores often (unless your beyonce lol)

I do think they are inconsistent with some of their scoring though. The review for Taylor’s latest album was fair but the score was way higher then it should have been based on their usual scoring structure

[screamingintune]

Reputation is still Taylor's lowest scored album on Pitchfork and Metacritic, which is kind of ridiculous because it's a much better, tighter album than TTPD. TTPD's inflated scores are just proof of how much Taylor is overscored in general

[cbluechicken]

tbh, out of her post 1989 albums, I do revisit Reputation more than I realized.

[screamingintune]

it got a bad reception initially but for me the production was so much more layered and interesting than 1989, imo of her pop albums, Reputation absolutely had the best production, I worry that the Tayler's Version won't be good. I recently heard Style (Taylor's Version) for the first time and it is HORRIBLE, my god. I felt like Fearless was the only good TV she's released, the rest are a mess. The normal version of Red TV All Too Well has a fucking audio skip like a minute in, the effort feels so minimal and I'm afraid Reputation is going to sound like garbage.

I don't normally like when she leans heavily pop because the production usually ranges from deeply cloying to just bland, but Reputation's production is good. "Getaway Car" is my favorite pop song she's done and I wish she and Jack Antonoff could replicate that instead of whatever insipid dull synth we've been subjected to the last two albums

[genbu_no_miko24]

Lol this made me re-read their review of Born To Die and for the most part the writer def dismissed it.

"The album's point of view-- if you could call it that-- feels awkward and out of date. Whether you take a line like "Money is the reason we exist/ Everybody knows that it's a fact/ Kiss kiss" with a 10-carat grain of salt is up to you, but even as a jab at the chihuahua-in-Paris-Hilton's-handbag lifestyle, it feels limp and pointless (unlike, say, Lily Allen's mock-vapid but slyly observant 2008 single "The Fear"). Still, the dollar signs in its eyes aren't an inherent strike against Born to Die: Even in the wake of an international debt crisis and the Occupy movement, it was hard not to fall for Watch the Throne. But that's because Jay and Kanye made escapist fantasy sound so fun. Del Rey's gem-encrusted dreamworld, meanwhile, relies on clichés ("God you're so handsome/ Take me to the Hamptons") rather than specific evocations. It's a fantasy world that makes you long for reality."Funny enough songs and then the music videos

[_kleptomane]

Reading that bit now that time has passed and within the context of the time, it actually seems pretty fair. Of course, also in hindsight it's an album that would warrant something higher than a 6.0 at least, but they're not out of line with how she uses cliches. I have a friend who isn't necessarily into her but appreciates some of what she goes for commented on how she throws out a lot of very obvious pop culture references and relies on repetitive motifs (crimson and clover, moonlight, party dresses, being crazy and free etc) which especially at the time seemed very manufactured instead of sincere. Now, we know it's exactly who she is.

[screamingintune]

Lana gets lavish, loving reviews from Pitchfork these days. 2010 might as well have been a zillion years ago in Pitchfork time so I'm not surprised at how they reviews Born to Die

[genbu_no_miko24]

NFR and up I think is when them and other critics started taking her seriously.

[benihime99]

I have to agree with their review
The album is good but not great
There's a couple of skip and some of it is giving "avocado, banana" which I personnaly enjoy

But I understand the rating.
It's a 7 for me