When Billie met Lisa is the seventh short film derived from The Simpsons series, as well as the fifth created especially for Disney+. This short film is special in that it centers on a celebrity: Billie Eilish.
If the popularity of (The Simpsons is reflected in their audiences, it can also be assessed by the various celebrities who lend their voices for an episode. The first to play himself was Tony Bennet during the fifth episode of the second season, The God of the Stadiumwhere the singer performs a parody of the song New York, New York. After this short appearance, many personalities gave their voice and their game in the series, some even having the right to a whole episode dedicated to them. Michael Jackson becomes during the very controversial first episode of Season 3, My Buddy Michael Jackson, a man taking himself for the star with whom Homer befriends in a psychiatric hospital. Despite the turmoil associated with Jackson’s sulphurous reputation, the episode became cult for many fans, bringing together many viewers when it aired. Twenty years later, the twenty-second episode of Season 25, Lisa Becomes Gaga, sees Lady Gaga trying at all costs to help Lisa who has made herself hated by the majority of the children of Springfield. Even if the episode gathered nearly 4.8 million spectators, the reviews were then mixed, even negative. It certainly offers nice scenes referring to many moments of his career, but suffers a lot from too fast a resolution of the plot, certain gags falling completely into the water and in the end a result that does not make not justice to the popularity and the universe of Lady Gaga. This fiasco, which does not say its name, however, will not prevent the producers of the series from inviting other stars to Springfield, but they will now take care of their approach. Having already worked as a producer on the four previous shorts, producer David Silverman (The SimpsonsThe Simpsons – The Movie, DuncanvilleIce Age, Robots) tries to highlight Billie Eilish as well as her brother Finneas.
Born on December 18, 2001, Billie Eilish records and sends on November 18, 2015 on SoundCloud his first song, ocean eyes, written by his brother Finneas for his band. The success was resounding and the then 14-year-old girl was signed with Interscope Records. His single ocean eyes was released a year later and garnered more than 87 million plays in just a few months. On August 11, 2017, she released her first EP, don’t smile at me, on which the critics are dithyrambic, the EP becoming platinum disc in France as in the United States. In 2019, Billie Eilish almost logically becomes the youngest artist to have reached a billion streams on Spotify. After this first success, released on March 29, 2019 the album When We Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?. The dark and gloomy tone and aesthetic make this album another critical and public success, thanks in particular to singles like bad guy, You Should See Me In A Crown or When The Party’s Over. On July 30, 2021, a 180 degree change for the singer who offers Happy Than Ever, an album less dark than the previous one borrowing influences from jazz and electropop. To promote it, Billie Eilish performs her songs during a recording of her concert: Happier Than Ever: Love Letter in Los Angeles, available September 3, 2021 on Disney+.
In When Billie met Lisa, Lisa therefore struggles to find a place where she can quietly use her saxophone. Playing a tune under a bridge, she was quickly noticed by singer Billie Eilish who immediately offered her to participate in a jam session. Once together, they record the credits of (The SimpsonsBillie Eilish doing scat and Lisa accompanying her on saxophone.
When Billie met Lisa is a short film which, unfortunately, is too short for what it has to offer. The chemistry between Billie Eilish and Lisa, quickly depicted, works despite everything: it is quickly obvious that Lisa feels a deep esteem for Billie Eilish who recognizes her talent unlike her family or the rest of the inhabitants of Springfield. The cartoon then offers spectators some nice animated moments, a few references to the world of Billie Eilish that speak to fans as well as an end that brings an interesting start to Lisa’s place in her family but which is not at the final never exploited. If short films like The Force Awakens after the Nap, The Good, the Bart, and the Loki, The Simpsons Plusanniversary or even Welcome To The Club rely a lot on the nods to the franchises they parody and the gags associated with them, this is not the case for When Billie met Lisa which obviously does not have this vocation with the exception of a very brief reference to Willie, the Steamboat. But the cartoon still manages to make itself entertaining, although it sometimes looks like a simple beginning of an episode of (The Simpsons : it would clearly have deserved to be explored in greater depth. When Billie met Lisa nevertheless sees himself appointed to the 74e Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards ceremony in the category best animated short program alongside the first episode of Star Wars: Visions; both finally bowing to the episode Jibaro from the Serie Love, Death & Robots who wins the prize.
Suffering from a too short format, When Billie met Lisa has great ideas. But, like its predecessors, it leaves the spectators unsatisfied and finally raises the question of the interest of the contents of the (The Simpsons exclusive to Disney+ : this cartoon had everything to be excellent, it remains just entertaining.
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