Eilish had previously publicly stated that she has started work on her third studio album, both in interviews and while performing live. Work on the album appears to have started around late 2021, preceding Eilish's world tour.
On November 2022 an Instagram story was posted of her working on the production of a song.[1]
She announced in an interview with 102.7 KIIS FM in October 2023 that the album was reportedly 80% finished and ‘in the fourth quarter’.[2]
In an Instagram story in October 2023 she posed a video playing an unknown song on guitar.[3] A month later she teased on Instagram that she was finishing the album. She continued to actively tease the album in multiple interviews since then.
In an interview with Jimmy Fallon on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" in December 2023, Eilish stated that her third studio album was "almost done" and that "at some point" fans would know more.[4]
During an interview at the GRAMMY Awards in early 2024, Eilish said that her new album era would begin sometime after the release of singer Ariana Grande's seventh studio album. On February 22, 2024, Eilish posted multiple photos on Instagram captioned “my album is mastered” hinting that at the future release.[5]
In early April 2024, lyrics were spotted on billboards in various cities around the world. Eilish "liked" several images of the billboards, some of which also contained her old "Blohsh" logo, fuelling speculation that this was a teaser for her upcoming third album.[6]
On April 7, 2024 Eilish added all her followers as close friends and posted on her Instagram story "I'm telling you something tomorrow"[7], followed by a 17-second snippet video.[8] The video contains a soundtrack, presumed to be from her third album.
On April 8, 2024 Eilish took to her official social media accounts to announce the album's name. She also revealed that it would be releasing on May 17, 2024.[9] On the same day, Rolling Stone revealed in an article the full tracklist for the album, which Eilish criticised publicly on Instagram. The article section has since been removed.
In addition to the album announcement, some fans received an email from Spotify that promoted the album alongside a Fan exclusive vinyl, the fans who received the email had early access to the exclusive vinyl. The vinyl sold out until restock on the 21st of April.
Following the release date announcement for the album, Eilish announced that no singles would be released prior to the full album release.
The shortest track on the album is "LUNCH" at 2 minutes and 59 seconds, with the longest track being "BLUE" at 5 minutes and 43 seconds. "BLUE" is also the longest track in Eilish's discography.
Eilish announced that she would be hosting two in-person listening parties for this new release, one in New York City on the May 15, 2024 and the other a day later in Los Angeles on May 16.
It was also announced that there would be listening parties in AMC Theaters in North America on May 16 and 17.
The album was originally named "Patheticville".[10]
