Its lyrics address various social and political topics including unpaid internships, revenge porn, feminism, abortion, animal welfare, sexual assault and long-term illness.
[4][5] As a result of this turmoil, Svalbard approached the writing of It's Hard to Have Hope as if it was going to be their final album, giving them the chance to be "creatively fearless" with their compositions and lyrics.
[16][17] According to Kerrang!, the album's songs are established on a foundation composed of "surging riffs and a sense of constant forward momentum that’s as infused with the spirit of punk rock as it is the thunderous power of metal".
[6][10][19] Cherry wrote the lyrics in a direct and confrontational manner,[10][13][15] lacking any metaphoric and poetic ambiguity, "so a six-year-old could read the words and know exactly what I'm talking about and where I stand on [the] issues [addressed]".
[21] She also credited journalist Caitlin Moran for "[inspiring] me to be much more open and direct about being a feminist [...] Through reading her work, I felt encouraged not to hold back my thoughts and feelings, and to put them into songs.
[24][25] In an interview with Astral Noize, Cherry said that whilst none of Svalbard's members had been unpaid interns themselves, she had been forced to turn down several companies offering them in the past.
covers the pro-life movement against abortion,[6][25] which Cherry saw as "something that criminalises doctors, and to me, it doesn’t even seem to be about saving lives – it seems to be about patriarchy and oppressing women.
[4][25] Having not talked about the experience publicly, she was inspired to after reading an article about Architects frontman Sam Carter, who stopped the band's performance at Lowlands in August 2017 to call out sexual harassment.
[23] "Try Not to Die Until You're Dead", the only "personal song" on the album, is about Cherry's health struggles after contracting a parasitic bug that left her stomach organs permanently damaged, and "suddenly having to fight very hard to keep on living, and feeling pathetically grateful for any morsel of support you receive when your life takes a turn for the worse".
[7][23] Cherry said that the lyric refers to her health struggles in the original context of the song, but that she and the other members of Svalbard also felt that it "surmised both the personal and the political outlook of the band".
[7] The album's cover artwork was drawn by Steve Kingscote, whom Svalbard discovered after he drew its members as dogs whilst they were working at their practice space.
[20][36] Although Heffernan had previously declined an offer to join the band a few years prior, he would express interest in doing so shortly before Parrish's departure.
[20][37] Afterwards, Svalbard performed at the 2019 Roadburn Festival as part of a Holy Roar Records showcase,[38][39] before embarking on their first-ever tour of Japan in May 2019 with The Tidal Sleep.
[14] Invisible Oranges head editor Ian Cory praised its "stirring [musical] conviction" and bluntness of its message, concluding: "you couldn’t ask for a better record to have in your corner when stepping into the ring with the world’s bullshit.