Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry’ on Apple TV+, A Wild Ride On The Singer and Songwriter’s Rocket To Stardom

Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry (Apple TV+) is an absorbing documentary film about a Grammy-winning young star who collects per-week Spotify streaming numbers by the billion and has become the face and sound of contemporary indie pop’s most tastemaking edge, all before the age of 20.

BILLIE EILISH: THE WORLD’S A LITTLE BLURRY: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: In 2013, youthful singer and songwriter Billie Eilish and her brother, co-songwriter, producer, and instrumentalist Finneas O’Connell, issued the single “Ocean Eyes” through the streaming service SoundCloud, and the track opened up the world to their sound and vision. Agents, endorsement deals, and a record contract with Darkroom/Interscope followed, and by 2015, the singer was regularly greeting snaking lines of quaking, blubbering, adoring teenage fans outside concert venues across the country. Billie Eilish looked around her and said “Well, I made the big time at last”; she was 15. The World’s A Little Blurry rests its camera on the shoulders and in the bedroom recording studio of Eilish, this Gen Z wunderkind whose ascension to worldwide acclaim in a little over two years marks the manifold nature of artistry and stardom in this viral century. It’s a wild ride, and we’re here for it.

Directed by filmmaker R.J. Cutler (The War Room; American High) in intimate, at times stark verite, The World’s A Little Blurry tracks Eilish and Finneas as they write and record songs for what is to become the multiple Grammy-winning When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, embark on a European tour, perform pulsing live sets to reams of ecstatic young fans who thrust aloft mobile devices in unison, and as they hang out back at the family homestead in Los Angeles. (Eilish and her brother were homeschooled, and parents Maggie Baird and Patrick O’Connell are a constant presence at home, on the road, and in this film.) Eilish proves to be a captivating subject. As mercurial in her emotions as she is determined, even hardheaded, in her approach to the creative aesthetic she envisions, the young star can shuttle easily between haughtily sifting through designer threads proffered for stage wear, to getting her learner’s permit like a regular kid down at the Cali DMV, to speaking eloquently with interviewers about the symbiotic connection she feels with her fans, to busting out secret handshakes and eye-popping facemaking with her brother even as they craft spindly lyrical couplets that channel Fiona Apple and Thom Yorke. Cutler’s cameras catch it all. There’s no need for narration; it’s as if we’re sitting on a stack of milk crates in the corner of the bedroom studio.

The catalyst of Eilish’s rapid run to stardom and The World’s A Little Blurry itself proves to be the 2019 Coachella Music Festival. As the camera observes the teeming, disparate vigor of youth in the crowd, it also captures other pop stars in passing, contemporaries of Eilish like Ariana Grande, soldiering on a meta journey of their own. Eilish is nervous about her performance at the festival; she often still questions why anyone would want to see her. And her personhood and officially arrived status crash into one frame when she meets Justin Bieber face to face. Once, not even ten years ago, she was his most devoted young fan. Now, he’s

hugging her and complimenting her aura. The World’s A Little Blurry is full of multi-tiered moments like this, as Billie Eilish grapples in real time with her personal growth, creative life, and professional station.

[/credit]

What Movies Will It Remind You Of? The 1998 documentary film Meeting People Is Easy captured Radiohead inside the media and performative supernova that exploded in the wake of their landmark 1997 album OK Computer, the same chaotic video shoots, unceasing interview requests, and grinding physical burden of tour that Eilish experiences here. The 2020 doc Shawn Mendes: In Wonder depicts the life and work of another young star whose meteoric rise took him from online viral sensation to international superstar in just a few short years.

Performance Worth Watching: A combustible sphere of creative verve, thoughtful introspection, teenage indifference, and street-level cool, Billie Eilish is every part the worldwide sensation except for every time she seems like just another modern-day kid on TikTok. It’s an enthralling dichotomy, and one the doc returns to repeatedly.

Memorable Quotes: Billie and Finneas are tracking in their home studio. “I’m thinking that sounds like a hit,” he says, but she’s drifting. “I’m thinking about getting a tattoo.” Finneas is the architect of Eilish’s sound, where a heady pulse of electronic beats are fused to lyrical frankness and cerebral vocals. But right now he’s fretting a little. “I’m trying to write the best song we’ve ever written, and the most accessible.” Bille’s response? “That’s stupid.” Finneas was told by his label to write a hit. But he needs to placate a churlish teenager before he can access the world-conquering pop singer.

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Arriving on the media scene with a grip of ear-catching material and the currency in hand of surging viral recognition, Billie Eilish was courted almost immediately by brands and entities which sought access to her constituency. Apple, Chanel, Interscope, Spotify: a suite of outfits asserted themselves inside of her sound. Because while Eilish’s talent is undeniable, it’s her Justin Bieber-approved aura that can commodify the aesthetic. It’s the old bit. You don’t sell the steak, you sell the sizzle. And all 360 degrees of that universe are on display in The World’s A Little Blurry. What’s fascinating is to watch as Eilish at once engages with it, wants it more than anything, and wishes like hell that she could just disengage with it all. At one point the Eilish crew jets to Milan for a concert date. The lights come up, the crowd is going bananas, and everyone on stage is set to blow up the spot, when upon first beat drop Eilish aggravates a chronic injury. She limps off stage, and wavers between pulling the plug or gritting her teeth. The show must go on, but can it? Eilish opts for an orthopedic boot, and addresses the gathered thousands in teen speak. “Aw dude, I sprained my ankle immediately. That’s so embarrassing.”

If Eilish was an athlete, she’d have a signature shoe and franchise-building contract by now. Instead, she’s her own franchise, with a signature look and sound that is already exerting its will over the music industry. Blurry captures what’s occurred in these few short years, but it’s crazy to imagine what she’ll do next. To that end, Eilish gets a little advice from a salty veteran. “It’s gonna be wild for ten years. Crazy!” Katy Perry tells the young phenom, greeting her with a hug in the Coachella green room. “If you ever wanna talk, I’m here.” And the pop cycle repeats itself, until the party’s over.

Our Call: STREAM IT. The World’s A Little Blurry is a must for the Billie Eilish legions, but it’s a compelling portrait of the artist as a young woman, too, as she struggles to keep herself, her creative spirit, and her celebrity rep aligned.

Johnny Loftus is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift. Follow him on Twitter: @glennganges