To capture an authentic album cover, Billie Eilish spent six grueling hours submerged in a dark pool with weights tied to her shoulders and no goggles. That ordeal was nothing compared to the risk she took with the music: releasing her 2024 album Hit Me Hard and Soft cold, with zero lead singles, in an era ruled by TikTok teasers and algorithmic playlists. This deep dive explores how she broke the rules of the streaming era and won.

Recorded in her brother Finneas's basement, the album was designed as a single uninterrupted ecosystem, a family that could not be judged by one child alone. We examine the guerrilla marketing of cryptic billboards and the Instagram close friends stunt with 110 million followers, the sprawling genre shifts within songs, and the album-closing track Blue that reprises the entire record.

• Why she shoved a ...