The New Album of Billie Eilish: An Anime Love Letter
Released on May 17, 2024, Billie Eilish's third studio album, "Hit Me Hard And Soft," is an intriguing collection of ten original songs and forty-five minutes of personal ballads with With all ten of the songs on the top 40 of Billboard's 100 upon release, the album has received critical praise. Starting in September 2024, Eilish's "Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour"
Particularly Studio Ghibli's "Spirited Away," Eilish has been outspoken about how anime shapes her music. She devoted a song called "CHIHIRO" to the protagonist of the movie, stressing how "Spirited Away" affected her artistic process.
Eilish admitted in a 2019 interview that Miyazaki's works also inspired her album "WHEN WE FALL ASLEEEP, WHERE DO we GO?" Showcasing her great respect of the art form, she said the images in "Spirited Away" were among the best she has ever seen.
Artwork by Hajime Isayama: Honoring Anime's Impact and Billie Eilish
Understanding Eilish's love of anime and her "Spirited Away"-inspired song, "Attack on Titan's creator Hajime Isayama produced an amazing piece of art as an homage to the pop star and her album. Along with three well-known characters from "Attack On Titan," Eilish is accompanied in the artwork by Eren Yeager, Mikasa Ackerman, and Armin Arlert.
Eilish is shown in the picture standing boldly, her famous pouty face and hooded eyes fixed sharply at the Colasant Titan hovering over the wall. Eilish clutches a "flesh paring," a special blade the Scouting Regiment uses in "Attack On Titan."
The personal message Isayama included with the artwork is, "Congratulations on the release of your newest album! For Billie Eilish-san. This kind deed shows Isayama's respect of Eilish's work and his recognition of anime's expanding impact on popular culture.
An increasing impact of anime on popular music
Eilish's record and Isayama's artwork draw attention to how increasingly anime is influencing modern music. Anime is changing the pop music scene significantly from visual aesthetics to musical inspiration.
Eilish's honest admission of how anime shaped her music reflects a change in mainstream culture whereby anime is no longer seen as a niche hobby but rather as a major inspiration for creators of many different kinds. We should expect to see more blurring of the boundaries between Japanese animation and Western popular culture as creators like Eilish keep including anime into their works.
Isayama's work is a potent emblem of this increasing impact. Isayama highlights the connectivity of these two apparently different worlds by featuring Eilish next to legendary "Attack on Titan" characters. The artwork is evidence of the shared storytelling customs and cultural respect that close the distance between mainstream entertainment and anime.
Regarding Attack on Titan
Set in a world where humans live inside fortified cities to guard against terrible human-eating Titans, "Attack on Titan" is a dark-action fantasy manga series After one kills his mother tragically, the protagonist, Eren Yeager, swears to wipe off the Titans. He enlists in the Survey Corps, a top-notch squad of fighters assigned to battle the Titans, setting off a dangerous mission to expose the secrets behind the Titans and the boundaries enclosing humanity.
