IndyArts: Billie Eilish, Will Young and what to do on a rainy weekend

The Independent’s entertainment newsletter [View in browser]( [The Independent]( July 31, 2021 [The Independent]( Written by Alexandra Pollard The IndyArts Newsletter Hello and welcome back to the IndyArts newsletter. I'm back from holiday just in time to enjoy London's rain and Billie Eilish's brilliant new album. If you'll forgive me quoting [my own review](, I wrote that "Happier Than Ever is full of things most of us don’t have to deal with – NDAs, interviews, paparazzi – and yet Eilish weaves them around universal woes, with such a knack for sharp, insightful lyrics that it never comes across like her diamond shoes are too tight. 'The strangers seem to want me more than anyone before,' she sings on opener 'Getting Older', a song whose disorienting beat sounds like the pulsing of blood you hear when you’re about to faint. 'Too bad they’re usually deranged.' She sniggers – the first of many." [Oscars image]( Toast Press Meanwhile, no-one writes about pop culture icons better than Adam White, whose piece on how [Paris Hilton has always been living performance art]( is typically brilliant. Finally, a new documentary, Under the Volcano, tells the story of Beatles producer George Martin’s fabled Caribbean recording studio. [Kevin E G Perry spoke to Jimmy Buffett](, one of the first artists to record there, about the trials and tribulations of making music in paradise. The Saturday Interview – [Will Young]( [Oscars image]( Katherine Waterson will star alongside Eddie Redmayne in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Getty Images) Today’s big interview is with Will Young. The multi-talented singer is about to release a new album and two books, including his first novel. He talks to David Smyth about mental health, personal tragedy and how attitudes to sexuality are changing. [Oscars image]( Will Young duetting with Kelly Clarkson on ‘American Idol’ in 2002 (Getty) Read an extract from our Saturday Interview below... Will Young is being the familiar self we know from TV, charming and informal, confiding that he’s enjoying talking to me because it delays the wrist-melting chore of signing 3,000 copies of his new album. Light pours into his spacious south London home from the high windows behind his face, framed in the Zoom screen that he continues to favour over in-person meet-ups. So it’s surprising when, halfway through the conversation, his face crumples a little and he says: “I’m having a dreadful day today.” I offer to continue the interview another time, but he explains that work commitments tend to help with the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with which he was diagnosed following a breakdown in 2012. “To be boring and scientific about it, when you have PTSD or are triggered by past emotions, that affects the back of your brain. But this kind of thing: ‘Hello, I’m Will, I’m 42, I’m talking about music,’ brings the prefrontal lobe back on board. Luckily for me, work actually really helps.” [Read the full interview here]( What to binge this week [Oscars image]( Maitreyi Ramakrishnan stars as Devi in Netflix's hit teen comedy (Netflix) [Never Have I Ever]( Having not enjoyed watching a new romcom in about a decade, our arts columnist Micha Frazer-Carroll is finally feeling optimistic about the genre – thanks in no small part to Mindy Kaling's Never Have I Ever. "The coming-of-age series, which follows the romantic pursuits of Devi Vishwakumar (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) and is loosely based around Kaling’s own adolescence, manages to explore teenagehood, grief, family tensions, mental health, sex and relationship dramas, and the realities of living in an immigrant family in the US," writes Micha in this week's column. "But perhaps most interestingly, the writers manage to package all of this up within the humble romcom format, which has long since slid from its golden age." It's streaming on Netflix now. Out and about [A Fine Day For Seeing - Southwark Park Galleries]( With its title taken from the New York School poet and curator Frank O’Hara, this exhibition presents 10 pairs of internationally acclaimed contemporary poets and artists, who have been invited to work together in dialogue. [Books tickets here](. [Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience – London]( You might not have known you needed to see Van Gogh's work in 360 degrees, but now's your chance to see a 20,000 square foot light and sound spectacular – featuring two-storey projections of the artist’s most compelling works. [Book tickets here](. [Oleanna - The Arts Theatre]( I already recommended this powerful two-hander from director Lucy Bailey after seeing it in Cambridge – and now it's transferred to London. The play, written by David Mamet in the Nineties, is as relevant in its dissection of sexual harassment and power dynamics today as it was back then. [Book tickets here](. Essential reading [The film hits you shouldn’t miss this summer on Sky Cinema]( [The film hits you shouldn’t miss this summer on Sky Cinema]( [The film hits you shouldn’t miss this summer on Sky Cinema]( [The film hits you shouldn’t miss this summer on Sky Cinema]( [The culture games: How Japan Olympics are about manga and anime as much as sport]( [The culture games: How Japan Olympics are about manga and anime as much as sport]( If you can spare a minute we’d love your [feedback]( on our newsletters. [The Independent]( Join the conversation or follow us [Facebook]( [Twitter]( Please do not reply directly to this email You are currently registered to receive The Independent's entertainment newsletter. Add us to your safe list of senders. 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