Latest news: “HIT ME HARD AND SOFT”, What ? First we had Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter,” then Taylor Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department” and now Billie Eilish’s “Hit Me Hard and Soft”…

What a great season for music this is, if you’re someone who has an old-fashioned thing for albums that really feel like albums. And it’s not because of any wave of old-timers ganging up with each other to show off their concept-record chops. It’s a trifecta of megastar divas who really want you to hear their truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the full album-length truth (although they surely won’t turn down your random Spotify spins). First we had Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter,” then Taylor Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department” and now Billie Eilish’s “Hit Me Hard and Soft” as collections you want to immerse yourself in, not because the artists in question imperiously demand it —

although they kinda do — but because these are women who know how to world-build. Experiencing their latest wares just a city or a continent at a time doesn’t seem enough.