Billie Eilish announces new album: Hit Me Hard and Soft arrives ...

Billie Eilish created a global fan frenzy in recent weeks after she put up album-hinting billboards across the world - including in Auckland - and made all of her followers on Instagram close friends. Now, the news is finally out: the artist is releasing new music.

Billie Eilish announced on Monday her highly anticipated third studio album, Hit Me Hard and Soft, will be released on May 17.

The news arrived via Instagram, where Eilish shared the album artwork, which depicts the pop singer floating in a body of water after being ejected from a door. In the caption, she wrote that she would not drop singles in advance of the release.

“I wanna give it to you all at once,” she captioned the image. “I truly could not be more proud of this album.”

In the album’s press announcement, it was revealed Eilish’s new work will bring a rollercoaster of emotions to fans, while “bending genres and defying trends”.

“The album does exactly as the title suggests: hits you hard and soft, both lyrically and sonically, while bending genres and defying trends along the way.

“Hit Me Hard and Soft journeys through a vast and expansive audio landscape, immersing listeners in a full spectrum of emotions. It’s what the multiple Grammy and Academy Award-winner does best, continuing to affirm Billie Eilish as the most exciting songwriter of her time.”

Eilish worked with her brother and long-time collaborator Finneas O’Connell on Hit Me Hard and Soft. The pair recently took home their second Oscar for their big Barbie ballad What Was I Made For? In doing so, Eilish, 22, became the youngest person by far to have won two career Oscars.

Earlier this month, Eilish signed a new open letter submitted by the Artist Rights Alliance non-profit calling on AI tech companies, developers, platforms, digital music services and platforms to stop using artificial intelligence “to infringe upon and devalue the rights of human artists”.

All physical variants of Hit Me Hard and Soft will feature the same tracklist and will be made of 100 per cent recyclable materials, a press release from Eilish said.

- Additional reporting by NZ Herald.