Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard And Soft is listed among Uproxx’s “Best Albums Of 2024 So Far” list, largely because of the sharp clarity in Eilish’s messages across the 10-track album. That extends to her new “Chihiro” video.
“The video was directed by Billie Eilish, who envisioned a dream-like narrative where the long, dark hallways and shutting of doors symbolize the different corners of the mind,” a press release relayed. “Along with her co-star Nat Wolff, she tumbles into an inescapable connection. The external expression of an internal push and pull, as our deepest feelings of fear, love, or desire inevitably catch up to us, no matter how hard we try to run away.”
In the five-plus-minute video, Eilish wanders around what appears to be an empty high school, with Wolff lurking around the corners. They engage in an intense argument at one point, or that’s how it seems, at least. It might all be in Eilish’s head because Wolff soon vanishes — leaving Eilish alone again. Eventually, Eilish is casually walking outside before looking over her shoulder to see Wolff (or perhaps the illusion of him) running toward her. She tries to run away, but he tackles her and brutally tosses her around in the grass. It’s an uncomfortable watch, which is probably precisely what Eilish intended. Toward the end, Wolff chokes her around the neck, and the screen briefly elicits imagery resembling the Hit Me Hard And Soft album cover artwork. But just as the screen fades to black, Eilish smiles.
“One of my favorite videos I’ve made [and] truly one of the greatest days of my life,” Eilish wrote on Instagram.
The theatrical nature of the “Chihiro” video bodes well for what the staging might be for Eilish’s Hit Me Hard And Soft: The Tour, which begins on September 29. See all of the dates here.
Watch the “Chihiro” video above.
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