For all of the confessional and twisted songwriting that has permeated her work, Billie Eilish has always held on to a deep level of privacy over her personal life. So it was perhaps surprising to hear that she’d agreed to be the subject of an all-access, 140 minute-long feature film.
The documentary, directed by filmmaker R.J. Cutler, and filmed over the course of three years, tries to make sense of Eilish’s mind-bogglingly rapid rise to pop stardom. It offers an overview of the 24/7 cycle of modern celebrity; there are intimate home clips, deeply insightful interviews, and many shots of sold-out arenas, press junkets, and award shows.
For anyone who has wondered how Eilish has become the global phenomenon she is, Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry charts all of her hard work and determination, and the fundamentally human connections she has built with millions of fans across the world.
Here are the key talking points from the documentary, which hits Apple TV+ today (February 26).
Creative control has always been important to Eilish
The art direction behind the video for the 2018 single ‘When The Party’s Over’ was Eilish’s own doing. The gruesome clip was inspired by a drawing that a fan gave to her, and at home, Eilish and her mother acted how she wanted the video to look prior to creative meetings for the shoot, where she pitched her vision.
Eilish dreamed of being a professional dancer
It seems that Eilish’s talents go beyond her incredible vocal range. Archive footage throughout shows that from a young age, she took professional contemporary dance lessons at Revolution Dance studio in Montrose, LA. Later on, however, she concedes in an interview that the training “broke [her] body”.
Her love for Justin Bieber runs really, really deep
It’s no secret that Eilish is a devoted Justin Bieber stan. (Remember that Coachella encounter?!) The documentary, however, offers greater insight into their newfound friendship: at one point, she jumps on FaceTime with her idol, who called to congratulate Eilish on her record-breaking 2020 Grammys sweep.
… because Eilish grew up in a household of Beliebers
But Eilish has never been alone in love for the Biebs. After claiming that she “would kill [her] dog” for him, later in the film, her mother recalls how the Eilish family has always supported Billie’s obsession. They even went to the cinema together to see Justin’s 2013 concert film Believe on Christmas Day that year.
Eilish dated singer Brandon Adams (AKA Rapper 7: AMP)
Prior to The World’s A Little Blurry, Eilish’s year-long relationship with Brandon Adams, the hip-hop artist 7: AMP, who she calls “Q”, was kept secret from the public. Throughout, we see clips of the former couple holding hands, ice skating, and ending phone calls with “I love you”. However, things didn’t last: “I didn’t want the same things he wanted and I don’t think that’s fair”, Eilish explains of the break up. Adams is five years her senior.
But her relationship with Q was tumultuous
The documentary doesn’t hide the behaviours of Eilish’s ex-boyfriend. Several clips show the “self-destructive” Adams failing to show up to important events, and he isn’t there for the singer at her lowest; when, post-Coachella, she suffers a severe crisis of tics due to Tourette syndrome; or when she discusses her history of self-inflicted pain.
Orlando Bloom is a Billie stan
Backstage at Coachella, Bloom expresses how he listens to Eilish’s music in the car “all the time” with his wife Katy Perry. However, Eilish initially has no idea who the actor is; she returns to her team, who proceed to show her pictures of Bloom from Pirates Of The Caribbean. “I thought that was just some dude Katy Perry met!”, she exclaims.
Eilish considered her groundbreaking Coachella 2019 set to be merely below-average
On April 15, 2019, a then 17-year-old Eilish set social media ablaze as #BillieChella started trending within minutes of her hit-laden set starting. After she tripped on stage and forgot the words to ‘All The Good Girls To Hell’, Eilish told her team backstage that she thought her show was “trash”. We would argue otherwise.
Her live performances are still incredible without the gargantuan screens
Eilish was almost 40 minutes late to her Coachella set due to a series of unprecedented technical difficulties: a scheduling delay, audio problems, and crucially, the screens weren’t working. However, despite the lack of slick visual effects for the majority of her performance, she absolutely nailed her Empire Polo Club debut.
Eilish’s physically demanding shows often leave her in pain
One heart-wrenching scene shows Eilish’s performance at Milano Rocks 2019, where she sprained her ankle during ‘Bad Guy’, only weeks after she had suffered shin splints from touring. She runs off stage in tears, before returning to a roaring, supportive crowd and continues the rest of the show while seated.
