“Happier Than Ever” — Disney+ Concert Review

01. Getting Older

I really enjoyed seeing the animation and seeing the transition from animation to real-life venue. I’m always surprised at how soft different singers’ voices sound compared to the studio recordings.

02. I Didn’t Change my Number

The lighting changed from blue to orange/red for this one. I really like the dogs barking in the beginning — mostly because it’s unexpected. No matter how many times I go from the studio album to this concert experience I still don’t expect to hear them for some reason.

03. Billie Bossa Nova

This song had a guitar solo + orchestral accompaniment and I thought the instrumental side of things was absolutely gorgeous. It was cool to hear instruments i didn’t originally hear in the studio recording. The instruments that stood out to me were the flute solos/soli and the violins. Billie took a moment before starting this song to thank the orchestra, her guitar soloist, and everyone else performing with her.

04. my future

This song surprised me as well with the instrumentation. I absolutely loved hearing the clarinet and french horn throughout the piece underneath Billie’s singing. This song started out with some animation as well. The blues with the city lights contrasting with Billie’s animated persona blended well with the blues in the arena/performance location.

05. Oxytocin

This song started out with a car animation featuring animated Billie, where she slams on the gas to get her destination. There are a lot of reds which contrast with the blues from the previous set. There was no orchestral feature but it was really cool to see the lights change and flash as the song climaxed and crescendoed to its most epic parts.

06. Goldwing

The scene darkens and we focus on animated Billie. A choir comes in with song. And, it absolutely gave me chills. The choir mixed with the imagery and the orchestral background? Absolutely stunning. Billie’s vocals really spoke to me in this set too.

07. Lost Cause

My favorite song on the studio album! This might sound odd, but I’m glad that Disney didn’t mess with the lyrics on this one. A lot of times, they will make it cleaner in order to appease their younger demographic. However, as a musician/artist myself, I find a lot more appreciation in the original lyrics.

08. Hailey’s Comet

The orchestra was breathtaking. It makes me want to audition for the L.A. Philharmonia, if it weren’t for the fact that I live in a different state. But this kind of rekindled my desire to audition for different orchestral groups. There were various solos throughout the piece, and before it starts it’s met with commentary from Billie about her growing up in Los Angeles.

I think this song stuck out to me the most for the orchestral side of things. I’ve been playing in a band/orchestra setting instrumentally for 8+ years now and I’ve loved every second of it.

09. Not my Responsibility

Commentary accompanied by music. This segment is accompanied with music/rhythmic patterns. It’s a great commentary on society’s outlook on fashion, perception, sexuality, etc. and it’s very well animated.

It makes me wonder why we perceive people the way that we do. Why we gender things like clothes and makeup, and why we have prejudice against people based on what they wear or what they look like — whether we know we do or not.

10. Overheated

The animation flowed really well into this next set. There were lots of reds, golds, and greens in this set. It’s awesome to see the story of this album played out through the different animations and transitions.

11. Everybody Dies

This set opens with an orchestral entrance, and the music reminds me of the music from the Harry Potter movies in a sense. Or, just John Williams’s work in general. During the soft parts, it’s gorgeous. (Although his compositions are gorgeous in general)

The animation was awesome too. You see animated Billie walking through a graveyard and the vines reaching for her.

I really liked this song too, again, from an orchestral sense because I could hear the orchestra shine a bit more. The cellos and lower instruments in the orchestra really stood out to me in this song. The clarinet parts were absolutely gorgeous as well, especially towards the end.

12. Your Power

I loved hearing the guitar in this song! This song is a LOT better live in my opinion than it is on the studio recording. But it’s still beautiful either way. It’s just an interesting experience listening to it live.

There were percussive parts that I didn’t know existed until listening to it live. So, that was amazing as well!

13. NDA

I liked the sound of this one live, minus the auto-tune bits. This set opens on Billie entering a red-carpet-esque event. There are crows of fans, paparazzi, etc. and then we pan to her concert venue. I found this set intriguing live because I could understand a lot more of the lyrics being sung than on the studio album.

14. Therefore I Am

THE PICCOLO AND THE TUBA AND TROMBONES AAAAAAH

The music major in me was SUPER HAPPY with the instrumentation. I definitely was NOT expecting an orchestra.

The low brass absolutely killed it! All of the glissandos, sound effects, etc. provided by the symphony? Awesome!

The set was very flashy so that was also very interesting.

I absolutely enjoyed the scale fragments, glissandos, solos/soli, and much more provided in this piece. It was awesome and it added texture and flavor to the vocals in my opinion.

15. Happier Than Ever

A really nice guitar accompaniment in the beginning! I loved how this song went from quiet to loud. And, the change was sudden! I almost forgot that it was the same song… if it weren’t for Billie introducing the last song, I probably would have thought it was two separate songs.

16. Male Fantasy

I really liked this song. The lyrics seemed to stand out a lot more to me when it’s sung live, rather than over the studio recording. Billie’s voice is gorgeous and I love hearing her sing — especially in these softer and slower songs.

• • •

Over all I really enjoyed this! I’m probably going to find myself watching this again in the future. For those of you sensitive to flashing lights, however, I wouldn’t recommend watching it. This concert experience shed a whole new light onto Billie’s album for me.

I hope you all enjoyed reading, and I’ll see you all in the next post!

I definitely didn’t just do this to knock out my concert attendance as well as make a cool blog.

[ #curatorreview ]