If teen pop stars once buckled under the pressure of maintaining perfect images, today they face the equally heavy burden of appearing perfectly imperfect – flawed, authentic and honest, at all times. In ‘Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry,’ a documentary marking the ascent of anti-pop star Billie Eilish, a debate erupts between her mother and one of the film producers, Chelsea Dodson. Eilish is considering speaking out publicly against drugs and alcohol. Dodson interjects, ‘my only thought is how you say things, and might grow up to feel differently.’ Eilish’s mother retorts, ‘Are you actually not going to let her be authentic to who she is now in case she grows up to do drugs.’ But, Eilish is highly proficient in these sorts of calculations, they are decisions she makes almost continuously. At times it seems, being real is an exhausting endeavour. It is hardly surprising that many pop stars that came before her chose the alternative.
Eilish is an unconventional popstar and ‘The World’s A Little Blurry,’ is an attempt at an appropriately unconventional take on the popstar documentary, now a routinely promotional format in the age of content. Instead of flashy graphics and edits, the project is presented as authentic footage with the intimate feel of home video; perhaps a reflection of Eilish’s personal life, which has been remarkably family-centric.
The documentary is designed to underscore Eilish’s creative agency in her own career– she works on music almost exclusively with her brother and records at home – and, as a result, the pressure of artistic integrity. Indeed, Eilish demands near-complete control; her Instagram, production and image a child of her own creativity. Her brother, Finneas, cast as her close collaborator and best friend, explains; ‘But Billie…is so woke about her own persona on the Internet, that I think she’s terrified of anything she makes being hated.’
Indeed, as Eilish’s success is rooted in her own relatability, it is easy to see why she is so consumed by it. She is well-versed in the language of mental health, often speaking openly about her own struggles with depression. During a promotional tour for her 2019 album, she tells an interviewer,
Everything about her striking visual aesthetic seems to challenge societal expectations; performative dead eyes, bright blue or green hair, and an all-baggy anti-silhouette – a middle finger to the confines of teen-pop sex appeal.
In February, the documentary ‘Framing Britney Spears,’ was released, charting the rise and fall of a teen star, beginning with Spears at the same age as Eilish when she released her own first song. Spears is cast as the tragic victim of voyeurism and a corrupt puppeteer industry. Indeed, robbed of agency and held to unrealistic expectations, Spears implodes in spectacular fashion. It seems that Eilish’s approach is in direct resistance to the pressure cooker that crushed Spears.
But this perceived creative freedom has its’ drawbacks. A career defined by agency and candour – or at least the performance of agency and candour – is held to continuous account. Eilish has been criticized in the past on social media for being rude to fans. She muses, ‘If I don’t keep smiling, they hate me and think I am horrible.’ It seems it is impossible to overcome fame’s most oppressive elements; a desire to be liked consumes all.
Facts • Balance • Context
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
Cloudflare | 1 month | The cookie is used by cdn services like CloudFlare to identify individual clients behind a shared IP address and apply security settings on a per-client basis. It does not correspond to any user ID in the web application and does not store any personally identifiable information. |
Cloudflare Always Online | This cookie is set by the provider Cloudflare content delivery network. This cookie is used for determining whether it should continue serving "Always Online" until the cookie expires. | |
Cookie Consent | 1 year | The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data. |
Login Paywall | 1 month | This cookie keeps track on whether the user is logged in and can view content. |
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
Google Analytics: Persistence | 2 years | This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to persist session state. |
Stripe M | 2 years | This cookie is set by Stripe payment gateway. This cookie is used to enable payment on the website without storing any patment information on a server. |
Stripe MID | 1 year | This cookie is set by Stripe payment gateway. This cookie is used to enable payment on the website without storing any payment information on a server. |
Stripe SID | 30 minutes | This cookie is set by Stripe payment gateway. This cookie is used to enable payment on the website without storing any payment information on a server. |
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
Google Analytics | 2 years | This cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to calculate visitor, session, campaign data and keep track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookies store information anonymously and assign a randomly generated number to identify unique visitors. |
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
Amazon Load Balancer for Stockdio | 7 days | AWSALB is a cookie generated by the Application load balancer in the Amazon Web Services. It is used by the Stockdio Stock Ticker. |
Amazon Load Balancer for Stockdio | 7 days | This cookie is used for load balancing services provded by Amazon inorder to optimize the user experience. Amazon has updated the ALB and CLB so that customers can continue to use the CORS request with stickness. It is used by Stockdio Stock Ticker. |
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
Google NID | 6 months | NID cookie is a third party cookie automatically placed by Google services. To opt-out please visit https://adssettings.google.co.uk |
These cookies are used by the GDPR Cookie Consent Plugin. They only store whether the user has opted in or out of other categories. They do not store any personal data.
Cookie | Duration | Description |
---|---|---|
Cookie Consent: Analytics | 1 year | This cookies is set by GDPR Cookie Consent Plugin. The cookie is used to remember the user consent for the cookies under the category "Analytics". It does not store any personal data. |
Cookie Consent: Necessary | 1 year | This cookies is set by GDPR Cookie Consent Plugin. The cookie is used to remember the user consent for the cookies under the category "Necessary". It does not store any personal data. |
Cookie Consent: Others | 1 year | This cookies is set by GDPR Cookie Consent Plugin. The cookie is used to remember the user consent for the cookies under the category "Others". It does not store any personal data. |
Cookie Consent: Performance | 1 year | This cookies is set by GDPR Cookie Consent Plugin. The cookie is used to remember the user consent for the cookies under the category "Performance". It does not store any personal data. |