There are some absolutely fantastic music documentaries out there for you to watch. They can either be heartbreaking posthumous lookbacks on the lives of music’s lost icons, or thrilling glimpses into the backstage machinery behind the bright lights of today’s contemporary stars. Whatever the subject they document, these films offer you a unique up close and personal look into what life is really like when the microphones of the studio are switched off, and the seats of their arenas are emptied.
Here are five music documentaries that you should totally watch.
Amy (2015)
The troubled turmoil of Amy Winehouse’s career is a modern tragedy, but this Oscar-winning documentary manages to shine some well-needed light on her legacy. It’s a captivating and compassionate biographical film on her lost talent, taking you on an emotional journey from her humble and hopeful beginnings to the soaring highs and agonizing lows of her career. Amy is intimate, enlightening, and heart-wrenching, telling her story profoundly and with great empathy. Winehouse was a woman who said goodbye to music far too early, and the insightfulness of this film makes her untimely passing all the more upsetting.
Gaga: Five Foot Two (2017)
Whether you’re a little monster or not, Gaga: Five Foot Two gives you a fascinating look into the workings of what it takes to keep her pop icon status alive, and boy does she work hard for it. It follows the lead up to the halftime performance of her prestigious Superbowl gig, and we get to see the hardship in what it takes to pull off the dazzling shows she always puts on. The colorful and enigmatic art that Gaga crafts so well in her pop music is stripped in this behind-the-scenes look, instead revealing to you who Stefani Germanotta is.
Whitney (2018)
No star quality or talent like Whitney Houston’s will ever grace the music industry again. After several other documentaries were released attempting to piece together Houston’s life, the latest 2018’s Whitney feels most at home in trying to picture who the real Whitney Houston was. Harrowing interviews with her nearest and dearest make it informative and raw, shining light on her troubles which ultimately led to her downfall that the world stood painfully watching.
Homecoming: A film by Beyonce (2019)
As one of the most influential musical artists of all time, whatever Beyonce puts out to the world is always immaculately molded with great power and purpose, and this concert film of her 2018 Coachella performance and its backstage rehearsals is no different. It would be easy to think of Homecoming as just an egotistical vaunt of her untouchable and unstoppable Queen B status, but it wonderfully unfolds as an explicit, sincere, and fierce look at the importance of her world-class talent that no other woman or man can better. Plus her Coachella performance is absolutely out of this world.
Biggie & Tupac (2002)
The world still theorizes on what exactly happened to rappers Biggie & Tupac, and this investigative documentary attempts to fit pieces of the puzzle together in the best way possible. After their murder became hip-hop’s biggest mystery throughout the 90s, this 2002 analysis of their shooting manages to successfully and compellingly string together mostly undocumented evidence that brings some new well-needed questions to the table.
All of these documentaries are available online streaming services, so don’t miss out! Prepare to feel enlightened and take your love for music to the next level.
