The singer’s streaming concert makes excellent use of its setting but flattens her normally vibrant charisma.
Even if you’re not familiar with Billie Eilish ‘s story by now, you probably know that the 19-year-old pop sensation is inextricably linked with Los Angeles. So it only makes sense that she would host a cinematic (because, LA; because, movies) concert in her hometown. Even if no one can technically attend. Enter: Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter To Los Angeles, currently streaming on Disney+. If you need catching up, here’s a primer on Billie’s SoCal heritage: Born in East LA to showbiz parents, Billie grew up singing in the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus and started writing songs as early as age 11. Her debut album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?, was famously written in her teeny Highland Park bedroom with brother and producer Finneas. Today, Eilish is a multiple-Grammy-winning household name, ultra-famous for her otherworldly vocals, lyrical honesty, and genre-jumping soundscapes. She’s also gotten the film treatment before: earlier this year, fans got an up-close look at Billie’s incalculable rise to fame in RJ Cutler’s Apple TV+ documentary Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry, which felt satisfying to watch largely due to how unflinchingly it portrayed the upshots and unglamorous downsides to its subject’s viral success. The viewer got to tag along with Billie as she and Finneas pieced together what would become When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? They watched Billie meet her musical hero, Justin Bieber, fill her room with free swag, and amasses literal armfuls of Grammys.
