Streaming platforms not only host movies and television series. Documentaries are also part of its content offering. There are all kinds of them, but perhaps those with the largest number of viewers are those that focus on the life and work of singers and musical artists. In recent months, all kinds of titles have been proliferating.
Singers and musicians who have hundreds of millions of fans around the world, interested in knowing what lies beyond music and songs, star in these titles. In recent years, documentaries about contemporary artists have become popular. The idea is to know their day-to-day life or how they face concerts, professional challenges, tours… There are also those who explore musical figures of yesterday whose cultural validity continues to be alive.
These are some of the most successful documentaries about singers that can be found on streaming platforms today.
The best documentaries about singers and musical artists
-Bosé Renacido (Movistar+): In the documentary it is Miguel Bosé himself who reviews his life, from when he was a child until five years ago he decided to go live in Mexico. He recalls his relationship with his family, his main successes, his tours… and also obliquely addresses his controversies and secrets.
–«Billie Eilish: The world’s little blurry» (AppleTV+): Since she was a child, music was her passion and over time she became a world-class star, with multimillion-dollar sales, multiple awards and even performing the main theme in one of the film installments of the Bond saga. All of this is narrated in this documentary that focuses on how all this evolution affects the life and feelings of the singer.
-Parchís (Netflix): A review of the history of what is possibly the most famous children’s musical group in the history of Spain. From its creation to its separation, it focuses on how success affected children who, as adults, leave their testimonies in the documentary.
–«Grass is greener« (Netflix): Cannabis has been playing an important role for decades in relation to the musical world, especially with some musical styles whose artists it has served as inspiration, as a theme for their lyrics or as a setting for their video clips. At the same time, it has led to unfair racial friction in legal persecution in the United States, criminalizing a part of the population and fans of styles such as jazz, rap or hip-hop. This is the background of this 2019 documentary.
–«Homecoming: A film by Beyoncé» (Netflix): Beyoncé had an outstanding performance at the elitist Coachella festival in 2018. This documentary covers different aspects related to it, from its creative conception to the musical and artistic preparations or, of course, how Beyoncé lived through all that experience.
–«Selena Gómez: My mind and I» (AppleTV+): Six years of hard road are what the artist Selena Gómez went through. From meteoric fame as an actress and singer to having to take a break from everything for reasons of both mental and physical health, this documentary reveals a little-known but tremendously honest struggle.
–“Summer of soul” (Disney+): In 1969, the Harlem Cultural Festival was held in the United States, serving as a tribute to African-American music and culture and helping to promote the black pride and racial unity. With the appearance of artists such as BB King, Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Mahalia Jackson and many more, this documentary shows the music that accompanied a social, political and artistic revolution.
–“Taylor Swift: Miss Americana” (Netflix): Taylor Seift is one of the artists with the greatest global projection today, a true artistic and economic phenomenon with multiple successes. At the time this documentary was filmed (2020), Swift was facing a crucial moment in her career in which to move to the next level of evolution of her talent.
–«The Beatles: Get back» (Disney+): Peter Jackson, director of the Tolkienian trilogies of “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit”, used more than 55 hours of filming and 140 hours of voice and audio recordings, all unpublished, obtained during the recording of “Let it be”, the latest album by The Beatles as well as their last concert on the terrace of London’s Saville Row. The result is condensed in this documentary of more than two and a half hours that is a unique look at a historical moment.
-«What happened, Miss Simone?« (Netflix): More than 100 hours of unpublished interviews with jazz singer Nina Simone form the basis of this documentary that reconstructs her complex personality as an artist and civil rights activist.
