बिली इलिश: द वर्ल्ड्स ए लिटिल ब्लर्री

I am a 51 year old single mom and I've loved Billie since the minute I first heard Ocean Eyes. I'm constantly amazed by her growth and groundedness and brilliance. When I was a teenager, we felt that way about Madonna. It's just amazing when a rare jewel shares herself with the world. Even so, a two hour documentary is a pretty huge commitment and I though I'd check out the first 20 minutes or so. Nope. I watched the entire thing which was riveting and honest and emotionally exhausting and completely uplifting. Proud of her like a momma. Keep going girl, but give Madonna a call if you ever get hung up....

Never have I listened to a song by Billie Eilish, I've never really cared for her music personally, I've seen a handful of small clips from her online, and of course watched those Grammy awards but that's about all I knew about her. I also tend to not like docs about artists who are still alive today, I always feel like they're pretty one sided and don't tell a full story. But damn, this really made me appreciate her as an artist. This doc really gives you a feel for her a person, as a sibling, as a friend, and as an artist. All the ups and downs are here. It never feels one sided or feels like it pushes false truths. It's very raw, it's heartfelt, and you get some great insight behind the scenes. Coming from someone who's never listened to Billie their whole life, this doc is great for those like me, and i'm sure even better for her millions of super fans.

Amazing documentary ... It was a little long though.

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.

In ordinary circumstances, I probably wouldn't have watched this. Though I like Billie when I've seen her interviewed previously, I'm not really a fan of the style of music she does. That said I enjoyed (though that sometimes "enjoyed" is slightly the wrong word) the film.

Split into two halves, the documentary follows the singer Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas O'Connell as they produce her debut album "When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go". Her increased profile along with the immediate success of the album see her perform at the Cochella festival. The second half sees the stresses that touring the album has on her physical and mental wellbeing, before finishing with the albums sweeping success at the Grammy awards.

A documentary like this is entirely reliant on the access that the family are willing to provide the filmmakers and here they were allowed to see a lot of personal candid moments at home and footage from the kids growing up. Our central pair mess around trying to write the album, we see the breakdown of Billie's relationship with her boyfriend, lots of footage of the physical damage that Billie's high voltage performances have on her body, the mental stresses of travel and meeting randoms and trying to be earnest with people without spending every minute of your time hugging fans.

It's sad at times, and stressful, as you can see that she hasn't always been emotionally well at points in her life and the amount of stress that we put on performers, particularly in an age of social media, is something we really need to address. There's a lot of time spent with her parents, who homeschooled both their children and encouraged an interest in art, dance and music and who, at times, seem rightly worried about what the world, and in particularly, this world of musical acclaim, might do to their daughter.

Away from the specifics of the subject matter, the access that the filmmakers were given and the small narratives that manged to be pulled from several years of footage makes for an interesting and rewarding documentary.

I am a 56 year old mom and have been captivated by Billie since I first heard Ocean Eye's. I watched this because I wanted to know more about her. I wound up seeing my own daughter's struggles reflected in Billie's. I teared up more than once. This documentary (aside from watching this amazing artist) showed me that as parents we need to be more in touch. Our children are dealing with a lot these days, and it's so important to validate their feelings and individualism. Their mental health is at stake. I'm so thankful for Billie's willingness to share her vulnerability with us.