LET HER VOICE AND MUSIC BE HEARD!

Be Bad Be Bold Be BILLIE: Scarlett Russell

Success comes to different people in many ways. Unique, bold, non-conforming and caring less for what others think about her, Billie Eillish rises to the top by just being Billie. Her voice is hers, unique in style and her songs are written with the help of her brother, Finneas who co-created her first album and to this day collaborates with her. Family is paramount to her and her mother joins her own tours. Friendships are often hard to come by, but Billie and Zoe will be BFF’s forever.
Her style is different, her clothes are baggy and her makeup and stage presence all her own as the author takes us on the journey from childhood to the present and we all learn the secret of being BE BAD, BE BOLD, BE BILLIE.

This book is a testimony of her life, her successes and how she became a modern pop star and a guide to how you too can become a star like her. The lessons at the end of each chapter will help you reflect on what she is trying to teach each and everyone whether you want to be a pop star, nurse, doctor, educator of anything else.

Born in December of 2001, Billie’s parents were musicians who had both worked as actors. Money was tight but their environment was filed with love. Her brother is four years older and each of her four children were schooled at home. Billie and Finneas explored and discovered whatever they felt that week, museums, galleries, art or science. Music was underlying always.

At the end of the first chapter the author includes a guide that focuses on how dancing and singing are incredibly beneficial to our health and well being and have been known to increase flexibility and reduce stress levels and more. She also includes a guide dealing with how do you like to express yourself? There are questions that have you the reader write down the things you love to do, making time to do each of the three hobbies that you love in the next two weeks and writing down using  diary or pop them in your calendar as a remind.

She continues with how Billie at 13 recorded Ocean Eyes and how Danny Rukasin hear the song, contracted her and her brother is becoming her manager. She had a record deal and in 2016 it was released as a single. At 16 she was showcasing her music at festivals and she also signed a contract to model with Next Models and was placed on the Forbes 30 and Under 30: 2018 list in 2017. She continues by saying that we should all take a moment to appreciate our own accomplishments and I agree we may not have given ourselves the proper credit for the work we have done and our accomplishments. Pages 24-25 will guide you further by having your write your give goals and how you accomplished them. How to make a vision board is next

The author focuses on her positive attributes one being her individuality. Billie does not conform to that of others. She has her own rules and likes to break them. What is fun about her is that she is unpredictable and her own person. “ I’m gonna make what I want to make, and other people are gonna like what they’re gonna like. It doesn’t really matter.”

More of a guide on page 35 dealing with self-awareness, self-acceptance and self-worth. It includes how to write down all your strengths and weaknesses and being honest plus more. Page 41 includes How to Do you the Billie Way. You might want to try out what she suggests you write and it might help teens, and young adults learn how to know who their true friends are, writing down your feelings good, bad or ugly does not matter and this is valuable: Don’t let others try to define you! You are great the way you are!

Learning more about her as a person we learn that she does not allow social media to rule her life. Her twitter account is active, but she does not post herself. Being bold like her the next time you are going to check social media instead write down a song lyric of Billie’s that means something to you and what is the message you learn from that song?
Billie speaks to her fans and considers them her family. She knew when to ask for help and realized she was suffering from depression. She has overcome much of that and she has found comfort from her family, friends and her art. Read page 84 the top to learn how you can center yourself like Billie. Page 85 is helpful to everyone: How to spot blue thoughts: Blaming myself, looking for bad news, unhappy guessing and exaggeratedly negative. Read the explanations and understand how to take on the positive. The remainder of the chapter focuses on mental health, what some professionals like Chloe Brotheridge focus on in her book The Anxiety Solution. The author did research into this area and many others. Next the author includes a guide to speaking up, creating a positive self and body image and questions you should ask yourself dealing with your appearance, how to prepare for a performance, how to prepare for a speech coming up, scanning your audience so you can make eye contact with them. Try to speak at a steady pace and more on page 97. Followed by her views on climate control and dealing with changes we can all make follows on the pages up to page 104. The final chapter helps you to answer questions we all face and using her songs and her music to help you get over a somber or sad mood:
feeling a bit insecure your song that she wrote is Watch.

When it is time to pick yourself up and shake it off; Your song is You should see me in a crown. There author shares more like when you are heartbroken, when it is time to walk away and other feelings and moods and which songs will lift you up. Finally, there are short multiple-choice questions, and more that will help you the reader including me BE BAD, BE BOLD, BE BILLIE. But before I posted this review I did take the time to hear her voice, listen to her music and learn about her style and understand why she is so popular.

Author Scarlett Russell created a beautiful tribute, outstanding biography to spotlight the songs, voice, music and life of this young star that has way more to go and more music to share with the world. Family, friends, fans, speaking out, hearing her voice and letting it be heard Billie is a role model for so many.

Fran Lewis: Just reviews