Billie Eilish has revealed that her new album was almost named after a legendary quote from The Office.
The singer released her third studio album ‘Hit Me Hard And Soft‘ today (May 17). In an interview with Rolling Stone, Eilish revealed that before landing on the official title of the album – which was taken from what she misheard as the name of a Logic Pro synth – she nearly named it ‘Patheticville’ from a scene in The Office.
The term is used by the character Kelly Kapoor (Mindy Kaling) in the third season of the US TV series when she and the rest of the crew from the show are making fun of a speech given by Pam Beesly (Jenna Fischer) at Dunder Mifflin’s “beach games.”
“I thought it was patheticville. No offense, Pam,” Kapoor says in the episode. Eilish is a massive fan of the US series and believed it was a good potential title for her third album.
“I just thought that was awesome, and we laughed and we wrote it down,” she told the publication. “Then there’s a couple more that we thought of and nothing was really sticking, but I knew it would come. It always comes.”
The Office ran for nine seasons in the US from 2005 to 2013. The musician’s love of the show has long been known. Back in 2019, actor Rainn Wilson, who played Dwight Schrute, challenged her to a quiz about the show.
In 2020, Eilish appeared as the special guest for the final episode of The Office actor Brian Baumgartner’s podcast about the US version of the sitcom.
The show’s final episode focussed on The Office‘s continuing appeal to younger viewers, with Baumgartner, who played Kevin Malone on the show, speaking to super-fan Eilish along with the show’s star Steve Carrell.
During their conversation, Eilish said she’d watched the entire series 14 times over. “Every time I watch it, I understand something new, because I started at [age] 12,” she said.
“And honestly, if you asked my parents, this makes me sound so stupid, but the most of the things that I know are because of The Office.”
In a four-star review of ‘Hit Me Hard And Soft’, NME shared: “Billie came into this process with aspirations to find herself, creatively and personally: ‘Hit Me Hard and Soft’ remains distinctly unique, a portrait of a singular talent entering young adulthood, exploring her queerness and experiencing the emotional thrill and (sometimes) catastrophe of chasing passion or falling in love.
“In trying to write an album for herself, she’s made one that will resonate harder than anything she’s done before.”
Elsewhere, Eilish shared a brand new feel-good video for her song ‘LUNCH’. She previously previewed the track at Coachella during a secret DJ set at the festival.
The ‘Happier Than Ever’ singer and her brother Finneas recently opened up about the album, saying they have “never ever ever loved something more”.
“Finneas and i put so much into this album and have never ever ever loved something more,” Eilish wrote in an Instagram post. “we hope you enjoy it so much and i’ll see you on the other side EEEEEEEEEEEEEK HMHAS OUT NOW EVERYWHERE LOVE YOU ALL TO DEAAAAATH!!!!”
Meanwhile, Finneas posted his own thoughts, writing that the album was “my favourite thing I’ve ever been a part of making”, adding: “There were so many times during the making of it that I thought we’d never finish it or had no idea what we were doing I lost count- just goes to show- when you’re in it, you might just have to try to keep swimming- you can only really see the ocean once you’re on the shore.
“I’m going offline now because what you all think of this album is your business, not mine but I really do hope you like it- we make everything with you in mind and we owe it all to you- thanks for the sick job/life. We’re so lucky”
In other news, Eilish recently announced a ‘HIT ME HARD AND SOFT’ 2024-2025 world tour – set to kick off this Autumn. Visit here to purchase US tickets and here for UK tickets.