LA native and universe-owning pop star Billie Eilish stages Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles (Disney+) on the storied ground of the Hollywood Bowl, performing her second full-length album in its entirety and transforming into a cartoon avatar of herself for a string of accompanying animated sequences. This thing is sure to make her thriving fan base swoon.Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles 2021 Full Movie Download
Dubbed a “concert experience,” Love Letter features all 16 songs from Billie Eilish’s recent second album Happier Than Ever, 56 minutes and change, performed chronologically onstage at an empty Hollywood Bowl by the Grammy Award-winning singer, her brother and regular musical collaborator Finneas O’Connell, and special guests including the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, Brazilian guitarist Romero Lubambo, and the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus. Accompanying the live footage, which was directed by Robert Rodriguez, are animated interstitials that feature a cartoon Billie cruising around LA in a live-action, mid-engine Porsche convertible, adding some noirish, Jessica Rabbit-style flair to the concert proceedings.Reflection is key to Happier Than Ever; it’s the record where a worldwide star, a contemporary pop music phenomenon, reckons with her fame, image, mindset, and media perception, and Eilish was forced to make it with 18 and life to go. As introspective as it is, and with its promotional rollout curbed by COVID restrictions, Love Letter serves as a kind of visualizer for Eilish’s new material, and tides over fans and observers until the 60-date, globe-spanning tour to support Happier Than Ever begins this September. Those Eilish stans number in the zillions, of course, so they’re sure to eat up these performances with a giant spoon and a side of avocado. The Hollywood Bowl stage remains largely unadorned at the outset, with Finneas off to one side on keys or bass guitar, a drummer at his kit, and Eilish in the center, utilizing the space to her advantage. But she uses the camera, too, occasionally singing directly into the lens with a look of mischievous glee. There might not be anyone in the Bowl’s box seats, but Eilish is definitely grabbing stans everywhere by their lapels and shaking.