CHIHIRO

“CHIHIRO” is the third track on American singer-songwriter Billie Eilish’s third album “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT”, which was released in May 2024 through Darkroom/Interscope Records.

The techno-R&B track’s title comes from a character of a Studio Ghibili film, “Spirited Away”, and sees Eilish reference many plot lines in the film, as well as well as navigating a tumultous and unpredictable relationship.

In an interview withe Zane Lowe for Apple Music, Eilish revealed that her and co-producer and brother Finneas wrote and recorded “CHIHIRO” on the spot:

“[Recording ‘CHIHIRO’] was one of the coolest moments of the whole album. I filmed the entire making of the album… There’s this one video where I’m sitting there, and Finneas is coming up with what is one the coolest produced songs of ours, in my opinion. He’s just like, making it up. I’m just improvising – I don’t have any memory of this – and I just went ‘And that’s where you found me | I was waiting in the garden’ – it just came right out. Immediately I was like ‘Open up the door, can you open up the door?’ 

[…] ‘Open up the door’ was a huge win. And it’s ambiguous. And I love an ambiguous line.”

The lyric video for the song

Read the lyrics to “CHIHIRO” here.

*All information accurate at the time of publishing (3rd June 2024).