In new documentary, Billie Eilish is ready for her extreme close-up
It was April of 2019, and singer/songwriter Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O’Connell (you know her as Billie Eilish) was making her Coachella debut. At the age of 17. The week after her first album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts. And as she prepared to launch “When the Party’s Over” into the welcoming arms of tens of thousands of festival fans, one of the biggest stars on the pop planet had one small request.
“I just want us all to be in the moment with this song,” she said. “This is happening right now, and this is crazy.”
This is happening right now, and this is crazy. In addition to summing up that wild moment in what would become an even wilder year, that stunned sentence is also a pretty good synopsis of the new Apple TV+ documentary “Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry.”
Director R.J. Cutler (“Belushi,” “The September
Issue”) gives us a fly-onthe-wall look at the two action-packed years that started with Eilish and her collaborator brother, Finneas O’Connell, pushing to finish the album and ended with the sibling duo sweeping the 2020 Grammy Awards.
From the big professional triumphs (world tours, TV appearances, zillions of Spotify streams) to the personal milestones (getting her driver’s license, breaking up with her boyfriend, meeting Justin Bieber), Cutler and his cameras are there for all of the big moments as they are happening. And yes, it’s all a little crazy.
At 140 minutes, the film has a few too many moments of all sizes. But Eilish is such great company, she helps Cutler pull it off. Even if your high school journal did not contain the raw materials for a millionselling album, this film about a pop prodigy who is also a smart, moody, goofy and passionate teenager will send you right back to that time when everything matters, nothing makes sense and no one understands you but your friends.
The film opens with a brief clip from 2015, when Eilish’s recording of O’Connell’s dreamy ballad “Ocean Eyes” was released on the SoundCloud music-sharing platform and became an immediate streaming hit. Fast-forward three years, and the siblings are toggling between performing before increasingly passionate
crowds and grinding out songs with a record company deadline breathing down their necks.
When she is performing for the fans who already know many of the songs that will be on the album, Eilish is a ball of rock-star energy who can be as vulnerable as your best friend on her worst day. It is a real gift.
“I don’t think of them as fans, ever,” she says. “They’re not my fans. They’re like a part of me.”
And when she is working on songs with O’Connell
(who is four years older), Eilish is one half of a mindmelding team capable of turning keyboard noodlings and cellphone notes into songs that strike a universal chord while still sounding like no one else.
Watching them kick around the half-formed song that will become the Grammy-winning “Bad Guy” or perform an early version of “My Strange Addiction” to a few visiting record company dudes (“Why didn’t they clap?” O’Connell wonders, half in jest) is pure music-nerd
gold. These moments are also a great glimpse into the duo’s creative chemistry and sibling dynamic. Eilish frets about deadlines and struggles with self-doubt (“I can’t sound good because I’m not good”), while O’Connell stays calm and encouraging while carrying on with the business of writing songs with someone who says she hates writing songs.
“I feel like I’ve been told to write a hit,” he says wearily at one point. “But I’ve been told to not tell Billie that we have to write a hit.”
But they do write a hit. In fact, they write several. And before we know it, Interscope Records is celebrating the completion of the “When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” album by giving Eilish her dream car (a matte black Dodge Charger), even though she can’t drive it on her own yet.
Then the siblings and their band are off on an exhausting world tour that will find the singer communing with deliriously happy fans (Eilish is a hugger) and singing songs about death and heartbreak and dangerous love in a smoky croon that lands like a comforting weighted blanket on the people who most need to hear it.
In keeping with the insular spirit of an artist who recorded her Grammysweeping album with her brother in his childhood bedroom, Cutler rarely strays outside of Billie’s bubble and the tight family circle of Eilish, O’Connell and their supportive parents. The lack of outside voices and big-picture perspective makes the film feel claustrophobic at times, but Eilish is such a relatable bundle of raw nerves and high spirits, you won’t mind the confined quarters.
And thanks to Cutler’s access, we are there for the highs and the lows and everything in between.
We are there when Eilish and O’Connell write the theme for the next James Bond movie and when she sprains her ankle onstage. We are there when the physical demands of the tour aggravate Eilish’s Tourette’s syndrome tics and her aggressive onstage dancing gives her shin splints. We are there when her dubious but resigned dad watches her take the Charger out for her first solo drive and when her mom wakes her up with news that she has been nominated for a slew of Grammys.
Perhaps best of all, we are there as a young artist begins to come into her own.
After watching Britney Spears get swallowed up by fame in the recent FX documentary “Framing Britney Spears,” it is heartening to see Eilish stick up for herself when an after-show meet-and-greet goes awry. We see her directing her own videos and refining the style (baggy hip-hop clothes, sneakers, major jewelry) that is very much hers. We see her flipping slowly through the painful entries in an old journal and recognizing how far she’s come.
And on the day of the Grammy nominations, we see Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O’Connell going for a drive and reveling in her blessings. The big, the small and the crazy.
“I’m nominated for six Grammys. I have my dream car. I had doughnuts last night,” she says. “Life is good.”
March 9 WILDOMAR Coffee talks
The monthly Coffee with the City of Wildomar series continues at 8:30 a.m. March 9. Held the second Tuesday of the month, the free events hosted by the city and the Murrieta/Wildomar Chamber of Commerce provide an opportunity for residents to connect with city officials. Email Rhonda Warner at rwarner@mwcoc.org for more information.
March 11 MURRIETA/WILDOMAR Networking breakfast
The Murrieta/Wildomar Chamber of Commerce holds its monthly networking breakfast via Zoom on March 11. Held the second Thursday of the month, the meeting includes breakout rooms from 7:30 to 8 a.m. followed by the regular program at 8 a.m. The guest speaker for March is Gene Wunderlich. Cost is $10 for members, $20 for non-members, and $25 for Soap Box Minute. For more information or to register, visit https://tinyurl.com/march-bfast.
March 12 TEMECULA Virtual concert
The city of Temecula will host a Virtual St. Patrick’s Day Concert featuring Celia & Mulligan Stew at 7 p.m. March 12. The free concert will be streamed on Facebook @TemeculaParksAndRec.
March 23 MURRIETA Coffee talks
The Coffee with the City of Murrieta series continues at 8:30 a.m. on the fourth Tuesday of the month via Zoom. The free events hosted by the city and the Murrieta/Wildomar Chamber of Commerce provide an opportunity for residents to connect with city officials. For more information, visit https://bit.ly/MurrCWTCMar.
Through April 4 VALLEYWIDE Blood drive
LifeStream Blood Bank and the Blood of the Martyrs Committee are teaming up in an initiative to honor the memory of Martin Luther King Jr. The 21st annual Blood of the Martyrs Blood Drive runs through April 4. Community residents giving blood at any LifeStream donor center are encouraged to use the code RC26 to credit the initiative. Those who donate blood on or before Feb. 28 will receive a “Count on Me” T-shirt. For more information or to make an appointment, visit lstream.org.
Ongoing TEMECULA Free COVID testing
The city of Temecula has teamed with Riverside University Health System-Public Health and Covid Clinic to offer coronavirus testing.
• Free COVID-19 testing in partnership with the
RUHS-PH is from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursdays at Ronald Reagan Sports Park. Register online at http://bit.ly/CityofTemeculaTesting. Information: GetTested.ruhealth.org.
• Free drive-thru testing is available from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily at the Margarita Recreation Center, 29119 Margarita Road; Patricia H. Birdsall Sports Park, 32380 Deer Hollow Way; and the Temecula Community Center, 28816 Pujol St. Appointments are required. Rapid tests are available for a fee. Information: covidclinic.org/testing-sites.
BONSALL Animal refuge runs virtual program
The nonprofit Wild Wonders animal refuge offers a new virtual program, “Saturday Morning at The Zoo,” at 10 a.m. Saturdays. Sessions are monthly through April, including March 20, Wonders from Down Under, a continent of “macropods,” poisonous toads and laughing birds, and April 17, Our Big Backyard, wildlife a few miles away. The cost of each 45-minute Zoom session is $20. Registration closes at noon the Friday before the event at wildwonders.org.
TEMECULA Chamber events
The Temecula Chamber of Commerce offers webinars and virtual events to connect and educate the local business community. To sign up, visit http://members.temecula.org/events.
PERRIS PerrisTV
The city of Perris has a YouTube channel with news, events and activities for residents of all ages. View the available videos at www.youtube.com/perristv.
TEMECULA Second Saturday at Home
The Temecula Valley Museum moved its monthly Second Saturday program online during the pandemic, offering activities exploring other cultures. Programs have explored Mexico, Germany, Scotland, Hawaii, Australia, Jamaica, Cuba, Vietnam and India. To check out the program and the activities, visit https:// tinyurl.com/tvm-second-saturday.
MURRIETA Senior games
The Murrieta Senior Center staff has compiled a list of free online games to help seniors keep busy while the center is closed. Visit www.murrietaca.gov/Facilities/Facility/Details/SeniorCenter-7 for links to games.
TEMECULA Virtual recreation for seniors
The city of Temecula has compiled a list of virtual activities, classes, games and more for seniors at temeculaca.gov/1346/Senior-SpecialNeeds-Resources. The webpage also has information about meal programs for seniors.
VALLEYWIDE Library programs
Libraries across the region are offering virtual programming, e-book and audiobook checkouts, and more for residents of all ages. Visit their websites for more information:
Temecula Public Library: https://tinyurl.com/ yadbrp9y or https://tinyurl.com/yb3xdu25
Temecula, Ronald H. Roberts Temecula Public Library: https://tinyurl.com/gq4zf6z
Temecula, Grace Mellman Community Library: https://tinyurl.com/yyxh947j or https:// tinyurl.com/yboghqjf
Murrieta Public Library: www.murrietaca.gov/261/Library or www.facebook.com/ murrietalibrary/
Lake Elsinore Public Library: tinyurl.com/y9vhelbp
Perris Public Library: https://tinyurl.com/ y9sdswa8 or www.facebook.com/perrislibrary/
Wildomar Library: http://rivlib.info/branchpage-829/location/Wildomar or www.facebook.com/WildomarLibrary/
VALLEYWIDE Blood donations
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Donations of blood and plasma are needed for patients throughout the region. LifeStream continues to host mobile blood drives at various locations as well as collections at its regular locations. Face coverings are required of all donors, regardless of location, and all potential donors are subject to a temperature check and COVID-19 symptom review before admission to the donor waiting area. All donations are tested for the presence of COVID-19 antibodies. The Murrieta donation center is a 40365 Murrieta Hot Springs Road, and is open seven days a week; hours vary. For hours or for more information, visit www.lstream.org.
Email community event information at least three weeks in advance to temecula@sduniontribune.com.