It's refreshing to find an artist that is truly authentic, has genuine talent, and despite reluctance, fatigue, and the pressure of having to go on in spite of how she may feel, goes on and on. I always been impressed by how much of herself is on display. She has near total control of her image. She isn't being pushed into a corner by style gurus and managers, and when she does get pushed she pushes back and they listen.
What we have here is an unapologetic eye on her world, the creative process, the ups, the downs, and all the bits in the middle. She's unapologetic about her openness, and that she doesn't have a team of songwriters makes her music all the more special. And it is special, Finneas and Billie O'Connell represent a serious threat to homogeny that is modern pop music, and I'm not sure this is all pop music anyway. Baring one's soul is not in keeping with today's twee world of obvious party lyrics. There's a depth to the lyrics that makes them accessible in a number of ways.
The documentary was well done, and every bit as informative as any we've seen without the need for a narrator or a narrative. It's just Billie and Finneas, raw and mostly unedited. The support they both receive from their parents is lovely to see. I only recently learned that Billie is two weeks older than my daughter, and it was then that I could see some of the parallels of what she is going through. Her mother said it best. It's easy to ignore or write off what our kids are saying, but we can never know their difficulties or their pain points. They're growing up in a totally different world to the one I experienced at that age. It's always going to be difficult, but there's a lot more exposure to everything now. Maybe it's a part of evolution, too. I don't know. I just saw some spooky parallels and heard Billie saying some stuff that I recognize from being around my own kid.
Nevertheless, while I'm not what you would call a fan, as someone who dabbles with music, music production, and understands a fair bit about the process of songwriting and production, I take my hat off to these two. They make it seem effortless.
