Billie Eilish Reveals Strapping Weight for Underwater Shoot on 'Hit Me Hard and Soft' Album Cover

No one can bring Billie Eilish down… unless you’re the weight she had to bear during the photo shoot for her "Hit Me Hard and Soft" album cover.

Billie Eilish JON KOPALOFF/GETTY IMAGES

On Tuesday's episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, the Grammy-winning artist revealed that the photo for her third studio album, released on May 17, was completely “very real” and not digitally altered.

“This was the day after the last Grammys, actually. I had gone to sleep at 7 a.m.,” Eilish reminisced about the day she shot the cover. “I woke up, dyed my hair black—it was bright red before—I dyed it black that day. Then I went to this random place in Santa Clarita or somewhere like that. There’s a tank in this huge space, and it was about 10 feet deep. And I hopped in there and stayed for six hours.”

The "Lunch" singer mentioned that she was “fully clothed” while submerged, wearing “big long pants, giant shorts, a thermal long-sleeve, a button-up flannel, a tie, rings, arm warmers, a bracelet, and a weight. I had a weight strapped to me,” which was used to keep her submerged.

Host Stephen Colbert humorously asked who came up with this idea, quipping, “‘Guys, it could be so cool if I could almost die.’” Eilish took full credit for the creative direction, replying, “Dude, I’ve done it so many times — almost died in these shoots. It’s like I need to suffer.”

The Oscar winner elaborated, “You know what it really is? It’s not like, ‘What can I do that will be the most uncomfortable that I could possibly dream of?’ It’s more that I think about the visual before I think about how it’s gonna make me feel. So, it’s like, OK, I want to be fully dressed, underwater, eyes open, upside down, and then I deal with how horrible it is.”

The “What Was I Made For?” the artist also mentioned that she didn't use a nose plug during the shoot, humorously adding, “so I was basically waterboarding myself for six hours,” which drew laughter from the audience.

“A lot of my inspirations for the visuals on this album were optical illusion-type things,” she explained. “Things that just make you question it or think about it for longer.”

Hit Me Hard and Soft, created in collaboration with her brother and longtime collaborator Finneas O’Connell, features 10 tracks.