Just when we were preparing ourselves for The Worlds a Little Blurry we now have another Billie Eilish documentary sent our way. Lord knows we need it. Billie Eilish: Up Close aired last Saturday on BBC One. The new forty-five minute documentary, hosted by DJ and radio presenter Clara Amfo, is a conversation with Billie not too dissimilar, at least, stylistically to the maelstrom that was Oprah, Harry and Meghan's. Sitting poolside in some tropical Los Angeles hotel haven, the two mull over her latest album Happier Than Ever, trolls and what it's like to be nineteen.
Billie let us in on her relationship with online trolls. “The people that even say the crazy stuff don’t even think you’ll see it...They would never say that to you in real life," she explained.
“It’s like, what is the point of trying to do good if people are just going to keep saying that you’re doing wrong? I try so hard to do good for the world and good for people. You can try to do everything right, and still it’s like, one of those exposing celebs accounts goes, ‘Billie Eilish is getting backlash for… whatever in the world’, Eilish continued"
Her words couldn't be more timely, seeing as it was only a week ago when Billie's big brother Finneas defended her on Twitter against the account responsible for spreading fake rumours. The big one being that Billie said she wished she was poor so she could relate to her fans.
The two also discussed how Billie feels about being nineteen. Bringing attention to the way she both benefits from and is burdened by her age, with others using it as a screen to project their own narratives onto.
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In another moment of revelation for us Billie stans, she reveals the way fame has inhibited her. Telling Amfo how she used to avoid going out to parks and restaurants and if she did she would be sure to wear a hoodie or face mask. That is until recently, "It's so freeing" Eilish explained. "Like it made me want to cry when I first went to a restaurant. I was like oh my god, I haven't been to a restaurant in four years."
Billie is trying to weave some semblance of normalcy back into her now life by visiting coffee shops and stores after four years of barely going out. Basically, she was in a sort of semi-lockdown before any of us could even conceive of the idea.
Currently the documentary is only available to the UK through BBC iPlayer. Annoying, we know. But we'll keep you updated when this changes. Until then, here's the music video to Happier Than Ever.
Images: @billieeilish
