By now, pretty much everyone has heard of Billie Eilish. Winning all the Grammys tends to do that. In all seriousness, Eilish took home five Grammys last year—including Best New Artist, Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album, Record of the Year, and of course Best Pop Solo Performance.
Bad Guy (her enormous hit single) debuted to the world March 29, 2019, and since then her world has unequivocally changed. Lucky for her fans and appreciators of well-made and thought-provoking documentaries, much of the populous possess video cameras of one sort or another. From her tween years professing her adoration for Justin Bieber to the fact that she has been touring so much and giving it her all (read: jumping A LOT on stage) to the point where she has the most painful of shin splints.
Documentarian extraordinaire R. J. Cutler (September Issue) has stumbled on quite the subject matter for his lenses with his latest documentary, Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry—debuting on Apple+. Besides possessing one of the best doc monikers in some time, its look at the world of the artist Eilish, who—while still a teenager—went from recording songs with her collaborator brother Finneas O’Connell in his bedroom to traveling the world and dominated the tough to crack popular music landscape.
It is clear from the get-go that Eilish can sing, she is beyond gifted. What is so welcoming about this music doc, as opposed to Morgan Spurlock’s One Direction: This Is Us is at its core Cutler’s film is it feels so much more organic. There’s also a personality issue that was a complete and utter surprise to experience from those opening moments of The World’s a Little Blurry.
Audiences are drawn to Eilish and have been since she came on the scene at the age of 13 with her YouTube videos—like a certain Canadian crooner. She’s fun. She LOVES what she does, and it is always refreshing to witness a documentary that spotlights an individual who all-out adores what she does—day in, day out. The so-called American Dream is alive and well and as handled by Cutler, Eilish, O’Connell, and their mother Maggie Baird, and their father Patrick O’Connell. Its journey from goal to achievement is as enjoyable as witnessing your favorite baseball team win the World Series.
It’s difficult to discuss a film about the chanteuse, in this particular case, without chronicling her sonic style. Eilish is the most unique of singers. There is something about her vocal tone and how she has such command over it, watching her work is a lesson in vocal prowess and power. Billie can sing with almost a falsetto-laden charm while getting to the part of the song where anger and frustration are palpable. She’s not Alanis Morissette, who 25 years ago took the world by storm with her Jagged Little Pill where she wore her emotions on her sleeves and broadcasted them to the world.
Eilish, on the other hand, finds a way to tweak her divine delivery for what the song she’s singing requires. That comes through with every scene Cutler devotes to her music—whether it e creating it or performing it. One will emerge from The World’s A Little Blurry with a deeper appreciation of the singer if you already have a penchant for her and her brother’s sonic succulence. The producers of No Time to Die saw it and felt it when they tapped her for the extraordinary honor of recording the theme song. There’s a vulnerability to her voice that is exactly what the scenes we’ve seen from the trailers for Daniel Craig’s final foray into the world of 007. Side note: Watching her and her brother work on crafting the esteemed honor of creating a 007 theme song is a highlight for this writer from the entire film.
In fact, the entire World of Billie Eilish is thoroughly enjoyable. Simply hanging out with her for just a wee bit over two hours is at its core divinely delightful. She possesses a personality that is entirely electric. Audiences have seen countless gifted singers and musicians over the years get the documentary treatment. But it is rare to exit the room where a documentary was just experienced and feel as though you too could take over the world.
That’s something that I so treasured about Katy Perry’s Part of Me. That’s what makes the scene where the two meet in Blurry so blindingly special. Perry knows exactly what the young vocalist is experiencing and with merely a few well-chosen words, Eilish is back down on Earth, ready to take on the universe. The hug between Perry’s fiancé Orlando Bloom and Eilish seems so innocent from the outside. Yet after living with Perry for years and keenly knowing life in the music business—as opposed to his film and television work—the Brit knew what Eilish is feeling to her core. The cure: Hug as hard as you can, and then try to embrace even more tightly.
Her parents also cast quite a shadow. This is a girl who has made enough money, she could live on her own at 17, definitely 18. Yet, she still (when she is not on the road) seems to have a ball retiring to her childhood room and recording songs in her older brother’s room where it all began. Her mother recalls Bieber’s mother in his first movie Never Say Never. There’s a caring element that is inescapable while simultaneously a proud parent in there who would not be upset of their little darling left a seismic print on the culture of popular music.
Cutler has filmed and edited together a marvelous doc that at its heart is a story of success and all that it entails to achieve it. Everyone who has Cutler’s camera pointed at them, gives off the sense that they could use a hug. They’re happy. A family’s dream is coming true. It’s just that they are so pleasant, supportive, and willing to go that extra mile to ensure their children have exactly what they want and most importantly—it was earned, not given.
Grade: A+