We have always known of Billie Eilish’s transparency, now with her new documentary filmed by R.J. Cutler, we got to see everything from the making of their songs to family love. With this film, we see how a 13 year old rose to fame and the battles she faced on this journey. However, she was never alone, she always had her loving parents, her brother, Finneas, and their family dog, Pepper.

Her start to the road of fame is a groundbreaking story. On November 18, 2015, she released “Ocean Eyes” onto SoundCloud, an online music platform that allows users to upload and share their music, which led to her overnight success. With old family films shown in between the documentary, we see Eilish mature, change her style, and become the person we know as Billie Eilish. From working on her album with her brother in their iconic bedroom, getting her dream car after she passed her driver’s license test, to her being in love and an eventual heartbreak. 

WIth someone as transparent about their personality as Eilish, we didn’t just get to see the effort it takes to be an artist and a performer on stage, but also being a young artist. Through her music she expresses the emotions that teenagers have. 

“There are things you can feel and not describe. It’s not ‘oh I don’t have words for this’ there’s literally no words to describe that feeling.” Eilish said, however she was able to describe these feelings with her songs.

“To have a song that is describing exactly how you feel is the best feeling in the world. It makes you feel comforted, you’re not alone.”

Not only do these songs comfort Eilish herself, but also the millions of listeners who also feel her warmth, comfort and companionship.

However, Eilish is not the first child superstar. One of the most popular and most well known is Eilish’s idol, Justin Bieber. He started his career at 13, the same age as Eilish did. His life has always been out in the public where everyone knew about every little rumor and detail of his past. His existence in Eilish’s documentary posed as an idol and a fan; to a collaborator of Eilish’s hit song, “Bad Guy”; to becoming a close friend that congratulated Eilish on her Grammy wins. 

“It’s moments like tonight where I’m reminded what I mean to be born. Your love touched my heart…not for what you can do but for who you are, remember that. You are an idol to so many, I’m excited to watch you flourish,” said Bieber as encouragement for Eilish after her Coachella performance. “It feels like yesterday, I was 15 singing ‘One Time’ and now I’m 25 and that was 10 year ago. And it flew by like a flash. Enjoy every minute of what you are experiencing.”

Katy Perry, the artist that had all the children and teenagers singing “Fireworks”, also started her career young. She made her debut when she was only 15 and worked her way up. Her hardships are very well known and her comeback was unbelievably beautiful. She alongside her now husband, Orlando Bloom, appeared in Eilish’s documentary sharing advice and love. 

We can hear her say, “This is gonna be wild ten years, it’s gonna be crazy. If you ever wanna talk because it’s a weird ride.”

Katy Perry’s sincerity is shown from her worry and genuine support of Eilish’s starting career. As a watching audience it was touching to see Perry’s encouragement to Eilish, from the standpoint of someone who has lived experiences similar to Eilish .

With such caring mentors with her all the time, she never fails to remind her fans about how thankful she is to have them. She never is too greedy and constantly tells her fans,

“You need to be okay because you’re the reason I’m okay.”

She repeatedly talks about her mental health and questions why it’s such a big deal to talk about how she actually is feeling at the time. A host asked her why she was so transparent. Eilish answered,

“I never decided to. I never was like ‘I’m gonna talk about this’. I just talked about what I was feeling and talked about why it was bad or why it was good…Then it became a ‘oh she’s making a statement’ which I actually love because I didn’t realize I was. And now that I think about it, I realize how many people aren’t talking about [it] and why people are so shocked when you do talk about it. I’m like ‘why’s it so shocking? I’m just telling you how I’m doing as a human. Why’s that weird?’.”

If one does think about it, why is mental health such a secluded discussion? Eilish is helping many teenagers be more open and expressing these emotions that one can have. She gives young people a voice, she pushes them to lead. 

“I think people give teenagers a really rough time because they’re like ‘oh their privileged and they have it so easy and they’re fake depressed’. No, there’s a lot to be depressed about right now,” 

says Maggie Baird, Eilish’s mom. She tells the filming crew about her frustration with some adult’s opinions on teenagers being depressed.

“If you’re a teenager, you’re dealing with parents who probably lived through the recession…a culture with a drug epidemic, and you’re facing posibilly the destruction of the planet. You’re in a political climate that is terrifying, racist climate, hateful climate. It is a horrible time to be a teenager. And people are like ‘Billie Eilish’s music is so depressing’. No, kids are depressed. It’s a scary time.”

We can see where Eilish gets her caring personality from as Baird continues to defend teenagers and their mental health.

Throughout this film, we got to see Eilish change and become the star we know her as. With her music that touches millions of teenagers globally and her carefree personality that everyone loves, we are excited to follow her to becoming even more of a person that we can look up to. 

And finally, the beautiful documentary ended with her beginning, singing Ocean Eyes.