You say you know her but do you know the last thing she thinks of before she falls asleep? First discovered at the start of her teenage years, singer-songwriter Billie Eilish creeps into fame with her earnest words and vocals alongside brother-producer Finneas O’Connell. As Eilish takes pop culture by storm, little did we know her life had been documented for the world to see since 2019.
It only took meeting Billie once for director R.J. Cutler to decide to spend the next few years of Eilish’s peak teenage stardom sculpting a raw, intimate and intrusive piece. While you can’t help but feel you’re peering over her shoulder as she thinks or wishing you could just reach for her hand through the screen, Billie allows her darkness to be heard. You know we all have our demons.
There was no better time to birth the release of this film than now. Although the core of what you see is a young girl writing music about depression or heartbreak, it doesn’t glamorize the sulky side of being a teenager. We all ventured through puberty and had our crushes, but not all of us had a comfortable outlet to express every single inner most thought. Music has always come naturally to Billie. Melodies are nearly woven through her veins. Her silky and softer tone is best heard from her brother and co-writer’s childhood bedroom, where her latest debut album ‘WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP WHERE DO WE GO?’ was created.
Described as an ‘often undervalued tool,’ by the host of Billie’s premiere event for the doc held on the golden cliff sides of L.A., she lets us gaze into her mind through her journal.
Holding grey and droopy monsters to thoughts she felt during her most catastrophic hours, it gives you a taste of how a growing artist gaining what it seems to be all adoration and riches, can never escape her lonesome and insecure head.
The most magical thing about a creator like Billie is how genuinely similar she is to her fans. She continuously dotes over her fans throughout the film, as she confesses to the camera on the tour bus, “They’re not my fans, they’re like a part of me.”
It’s easy to neglect how painfully young Eilish is while she poses such a brave face when being watched. At the beginning of her tour experience at age 14, the majority of her fans were also 14. They have grown up alongside her, as they use each other for solace. Truth and empathy are revealed to be the two core themes of the film, illustrating this visual as ‘her moment.’
Eilish is painstakingly herself in every part of what you see whether it’s watching her trip into love with someone who doesn’t feel the same or fighting against her mental and physical health to perform the best version of herself, Billie Eilish is the mould for a tortured artist gone rogue. This tender yet lucid story pierces your heart strings and reminds us – inside we’re all the same.
