She’s not your little sister’s Disney princess.
Billie Eilish is not your little sister’s Disney princess in the new trailer for the singer’s upcoming Disney+ concert special, Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles. “I definitely have fantasies about L.A.,” Eilish says in voice-over at the beginning of the nearly two-minute preview as she does a slo-mo spin for the camera, which then swoops down over the City of Angels at night.
A close-up of her face then begins to flutter with glimpses of the animated Billie, as we do a deep dive into one of her irises and are then transported to the stage of the iconic Hollywood Bowl. The movie was directed by Robert Rodriguez (Sin City, Spy Kids) and Oscar-winner Patrick Osborne (Wreck-It-Ralph, Bolt) and promises to take viewers on a “dreamlike journey through Billie’s hometown of Los Angeles and its most iconic backdrops.”
Among the guests who join Eilish are brother/producer Finneas, as well as the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus, the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by music and artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel and Brazilian guitarist Romero Lubambo. The orchestral arrangements were done by David Campbell (Ariana Grande, Harry Styles).
“It’s a concert film but it’s also a story at the same time,” Eilish says as she spins around in a chair while morphing into a sad-eyed Disney princess in a shimmery gold outfit who climbs into a shiny sports car while musing about the movie being “this kind of beautiful version of old Hollywood.” A Speed Racer-style run through the city at night rolls in the background as Billie explains that the special will have her performing her entire new Happier Than Ever album front-to-back as a symphonic version of “Therefore I Am” pumps out in the background.
“We all have these idealized versions of ourselves in our head,” she says while the album’s title track fills up the empty Bowl. “This is a dream come true.” A Love Letter to Los Angeles will stream on Disney+ beginning Sept. 3.
This week Eilish’s Happier Than Ever topped the Billboard 200 albums chart for a third straight week, earning 60,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Aug. 19 (down 29%), according to MRC Data. The album opened atop the list two weeks ago. Happier now has as many weeks atop the chart as Eilish’s last album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? The latter logged three individual nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1, in 2019 (April 13-dated chart, its debut; May 4 and June 8).
Check out the trailer below.
