In AppleTV’s new documentary Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry, director RJ Cutler captures the kind of chaotic, exciting year in the life of a pop star that few filmmakers have access to. The document follows Eilish from the final weeks of recording her massive debut album If we all fall asleep, where are we going? to the Grammys in 2020, where she swept the four main categories. Much of the feature flows like home video footage, with Eilish’s parents and brother producer Finneas O’Connell taking a few intimate moments from her quick ascent to the top of the hit lines. The world is a bit hazy offers a window into the teen superstar’s private world, even the parts she’s previously hidden from the public.
Here are eight things we learned from the new movie about Eilish.
1. Eilish’s song-inspired drawings have become music video concepts.
Eilish sketched the concepts for many of her songs in her journal, and many of these drawings also became part of her music videos. In the video for a gloomy single ‘When the Party’s Over’, her plan has always been to start bleeding ‘black’ out of her eyes. She even tested the idea in her backyard, with her mother sitting at a table drinking from an empty glass – while her father picks up the stern. The video brought it to life just as she imagined it: the singer drinking a black liquid just so it could flow out of her eyes as the song progressed.
2. Finneas hid the label’s request for the couple to write a hit from his sister.
Eilish has received a buzz before When we all fall asleep was released, and when she was preparing for her debut, there was tremendous pressure on the album to deliver a hit. Her brother Finneas had to hide the requests for a large single from his little sister, even while recording in the nearby room of his bedroom in childhood. “It feels like a minefield to me,” he tells his mother, who films him in their kitchen. “I was told to write a hit, but I was told not to tell Billie that we should write a hit.” As they neared the finish line of the album, Eilish became more irritated about the songwriting process, especially because of her own concern about people hating the final product. “You can’t fool her into writing a song,” their mother advises.
3. There was concern that her attitude towards drugs and alcohol would later make her look like a hypocrite.
In interviews and on songs like ‘Xanny’, Eilish makes it clear that she is against drug and alcohol use, especially in excessive amounts. When one of Eilish’s collaborators points out that her teenage perception of these substances can turn against her later in life if she ever decides to start drinking, smoking or using drugs, the star’s mother defends the daughter’s right to plan alter. “Are you not going to be authentic to who she is now in case she grows up using drugs?” Eilish’s mother declares.
4. Justin Bieber has been a confidant since he was a child.
Before Eilish himself became a teenage god, he became obsessed with Justin Bieber. He was her hero and her ultimate lover. When Bieber reached out her hand on Instagram and asked to collaborate by the time her album was released, she was forwarded. They decided to do a remix of her hit single “Bad Guy”, though they had not yet met. When they finally met at Coachella while Ariana Grande was on stage, Eilish burst into tears as he held her. Finally, he wrote a long, thoughtful message to her after their meeting in which he explained how her reaction reminded him of why he does what he does and offers words of comfort and support. He even congratulated FaceTimed Eilish after sweeping the ‘four big’ Grammy categories in early 2020.
5. She fell in love and broke her heart while promoting her debut album.
Eilish has kept her solitary life largely private as she has become more famous, and the confirmation of her relationship with Brandon Adams – a fellow musician known as Q – is one of the doctor’s biggest revelations. In the film, Eilish makes it clear that she’s in love with Q, but it’s hard to catch him while she’s on the road and, even worse, when she’s home in Los Angeles, where he’s also based. Her parents seem to support the relationship, but also cautious. “I heard he broke his hand because he was angry, and he hit the wall,” her father said when Eilish decided to visit her injured boyfriend shortly after she got her driver’s license. “We never knew where he lived, or any of them,” her father said in conversation with her mother after she left. The last straw in the relationship is a conversation Eilish and Q have before performing at New York Pier. Eilish does not feel supported, but breaks it down for him forever.
6. Tours have already taken a toll on her physical health.
The busiest year in the rising star’s life has been exacerbated by numerous physical ailments. While on a heavy tour schedule around the world, she got shin and threw out her neck. She continued to perform, but due to life and career stress, as well as her Tourette syndrome, Eilish had to start seeing physiotherapists, who advised her to slow down.
7. Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom are big fans.
Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom also revealed how much they pitched Eilish behind the scenes in Coachella. Perry and Eilish even had it from heart to heart, with the veteran megastar talking to Eilish when the newly known singer needed it for advice. When Eilish returned to her trailer, she revealed that she had no idea who Bloom was initially, and that she had to show pictures of him Pirates of the Caribbean. “I thought it was just some guy who met Katy Perry,” Eilish says. She later corrected it and met and expressed it again with Bloom in the GDP area. “Now I know who he is,” she told the camera.
8. She hates her Coachella performance.
During her highly anticipated Coachella debut, Eilish endured a flurry of problems. The massive screens behind her are not working properly, causing delay. When she sings ‘All the Good Girls Go to Hell’, she speaks the verses and tries to play them awkwardly with the audience as the song continues. After that, she was outside herself, upset about how the performance went and begged her boyfriend to come see her. (As we learn in the movie, he did not show up.)