This year's documentries 'Demi Lovato: Dancing with the Devil', 'The World’s a Little Blurry' (about Billie Eilish), 'Framing Britney Spears', and 'Alone Together' (Charlie XCX project) are a part of "a larger reconsideration of how female stars are discussed, hounded, anointed and denigrated – and thus how we judge and value women in public, how we consider ourselves", Guardian writes comparing the four. "As Lovato’s story attests, the appearance of power under the impossible binds of marketable public womanhood, especially for young women – be sexy but sexless, confident but not threatening, empowered but desirable – is a ruse" the G's writer concludes.

Covering the build-up to, and the aftermath of, the pop star’s accidental overdose in the summer of 2018, four-part series 'Demi Lovato: Dancing With the Devil' is harrowing and unflinchingly honest - Guardian writes in review on the new docu about the American pop-star. The G points out how "its central theme – that one individual shouldn’t bear the burden of other people’s expectations – is important". Lovato revealed deeply private information in the documentary, about how she was raped as a teenager, and sexually assaulted by her dealer. The docu airs on YouTube from 23 March.

"This isn't a typical music documentary. It’s as personal as it gets" - director Leigh Brooks says about 'The Sound of Scars', his new docu about Brooklyn alt-metal vets Life of Agony.  The 90-minute film features new interviews with band members and their families, as well as archival footage, rare photographs, and "lost" interviews, and it looks at lead vocalist Mina Caputo's gender transition.

Poly Styrene was the frontwoman of influential UK band X-Ray Spex, the first woman of color to front a successful UK rock band, getting into punk which "she helped to define and energise", as Peter Bradshaw argues. A new "riveting and valuable documentary" about her life, 'Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché', co-directed by her daughter Celeste Bell, is out now. "There was something authentically heroic about Poly Styrene", Bradshaw adds (gives the docu 4 stars).

An amazing story told in Jonathan Sutak's new documentary 'Dons of Disco' about the 1980s Italian pop star Den Harrow. There was however no Den Harrow (the name itself is a joke on Italian word “denaro”, money) - the face of the singer was Stefano Zandri, charismatic young Italian, who didn't speak any English so the producers Roberto Turatti and Miki Chieregato hired a Swiss-American singer Tom Hooker to do the singing parts (without the public knowing it). When Hooker quit the act and music, the Den Harrow character continued, with other singers recording the voice. New Yorker writes in a review that "Sutak tells this amazing story with an admirable directness and simplicity; he avoids the sense of documentary convention and seems to be following the urgency of his own sense of wonder".

Netflix documentary 'Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell' is "the first to successfully sidestep the quicksand of murder mystery, and focus instead on what Wallace accomplished in life", Guardian writes in a review. Also, "it’s the contribution of Wallace’s mother, though, that’s particularly significant. Firstly in the form of family photos and stories illustrating a childhood spent between their Brooklyn neighbourhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant and her family’s home in Trelawny, Jamaica". And - "there’s a detailed account of how Biggie came to dominate the local crack cocaine economy. These mid-90s, north-west Brooklyn specificities are fascinating and relevant; to Biggie’s art, certainly, but possibly also to his death".

New documentary 'Poly Styrene: I Am A Cliché' looks and the life of the late singer of iconic 1970s UK punk band X-Ray Spex, the first woman of colour in the UK to front a successful rock band. "Poly Styrene... introduced the world to a new sound of rebellion, using her unconventional voice to sing about identity, consumerism, postmodernism... the Anglo-Somali punk musician was also a key inspiration for the riot grrrl and Afropunk movements" - the press statement reads.

Filmmaker R.J. Cutler talks to Spin about his latest documentary 'Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry', which he started filming in 2018 and finished 2020 on the night of the Grammys (it's out today). While filming he got an insight into her family: "She and Finneas have this arrangement where, if they disagree, one of them will win and the other will lose... They believe that one of them should be right, one of them should be wrong and when the other one agrees to let the other one be right". About their parents: "And you see them living in denial. You just see them hoping that she’s never gonna grow up. Not because they don’t want Billie Eilish to grow up, but because parents don’t want their children to grow up".

"I'm a girl from a cotton field that pulled myself above the destruction and the mistakes. And I'm here for you" - Tina Turner says in the official trailer for the documentary 'Tina', which is set to follow her early life and childhood, People reports. The brief interview clip refers to Turner's youth. At 11, Turner's mother Zelma left her family and the abusive relationship she had with Turner's father Floyd. The documentary also features interviews with Tina in her hometown of Zurich, Switzerland and shows new footage, audio tapes, and personal photos.

Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson of the Roots will direct a documentary about Sly & The Family Stone, with Common executive producing it, Deadline reports. “It goes beyond saying that Sly’s creative legacy is in my DNA….it’s a black musician’s blueprint" Questlove said, with producers MRC Entertainment adding the film "follows the story of the influential artist, king of funk, and fashion icon". Questlove's directorial debut, the music documentary 'Summer of Soul', recently won two awards at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival.

A great Twitter thread about Black British documentaries, including 'Sounds of the West' about Bristol jungle and drum'n'bass scene, 'Broken Glass' about Manchester breakdancing scene, 'Champion Sound' about reggae sound systems in Coventry, Goldie documentary etc.

'Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell' docu on the life and career of The Notorious B.I.G. is officially coming to Netflix on March 1, and the streaming service unveiled the first trailer. The documentary is executive produced by the late rapper's mother Voletta Wallace and his friend and collaborator Diddy, both contributing candid interviews to the film.

"Another notch in a string of slow-rolling, ever-expanding reconsiderations of American celebrity culture, and particularly the female tabloid figures of the 90s and aughts, one facilitated by the larger #MeToo retelling of sex, power and the spectra of traumas faced by women, partly by the simple passage of time" - Guardian writes in the review of 'Framing Britney Spears', a new docu mostly about the controversial conservatorship by her father. CNN asks a "more uncomfortable, slightly meta question... whether even serious attempts to examine the star's fame and potential exploitation wind up participating in the process". Decider thought it was "entertaining to watch, but even more than that, it is shocking and hopefully motivating".

The Quietus is delighted by the new documentary about Robert Lloyd and cult Birmingham punk band The Nightingales: "You’d expect a film by the director of Brass Eye and 'Toast of London', and the comedian behind some of the most brilliant stand-up sets ever to come from these shores, to be funny and smart – but the experience of 'King Rocker' explodes those expectations. It’s not hyperbole to say this is one of the best music documentaries of all time. Hilarious and brilliantly knowing about the form of music documentaries, and caustic about the music industry and fame, at its moving heart it’s a wonderful homage to and a portrait of a true outsider artist, and an inspiring comeback story that in the already boiling maelstrom of 2021 feels profoundly necessary".

'Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)' documentary by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson from the Roots won the Grand Jury Prize for the best documentary as well as Audience Award for U.S. Documentary at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, the Wrap reports. Built around long-unseen concert footage from the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, a six-weekend event, that first-time director Questlove uses 'Summer of Soul' as a launching pad to explore race relations and Black culture in that tumultuous time.

'The Sparks Brothers' documentary about avant-garde pop duo Sparks made its world premiere at the virtual edition of Sundance, and the trailer is out now. The film features rare and archival footage of Sparks' 50 years of weird, wonderful pop, extensive interviews with the duo of brothers Ron and Russell Mael, as well as interviews with collaborators and fans, including Flea, Todd Rundgren, Mike Myers, Neil Gaiman, Tony Visconti, Jane Wiedlin, Amy Sherman Palladino, Giorgio Moroder, Sex Pistols' guitarist Steve Jones, Weird Al Yankovic, Duran Duran, Jason Schwartzman, and more...

The Coda Collection is a new multi-media company featuring rare concerts and music documentaries, exclusive premieres for films and more, Deadline reports. The founders include Yoko Ono and Jimi Hendrix' sister Jaine so it will feature Rock'n'roll leaning shows, including streaming premieres such as 'Music, Money, Madness…Jimi Hendrix In Maui', 'The Rolling Stones On The Air', 'Johnny Cash at San Quentin', exclusive performances by Jane’s Addiction and Stone Temple Pilots, as well as new and rarely seen performances by Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Avett Brothers, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Tyler Childers, Billy Strings, Paul Simon, AC/DC, and more. The channel is launching on Amazon Prime in February for $4.99 per month and globally throughout the rest of 2021.

Joey “Shithead” Keithley, frontman of Vancouver hardcore pioneers D.O.A., is the subject of a new documentary from Scott Crawford called 'Something Better Change' (named after D.O.A.'s 1980 debut album), Rolling Stone reports. It shows the journey of a punk-rocker to a position of power, and possibility to change stuff. The doc will explore "connections between music and activism," and it features Henry Rollins, Keith Morris, Jello Biafra, Krist Novoselic, Duff McKagan, and Beto O'Rourke.

"People close to Britney Spears and lawyers tied to her conservatorship now reassess her career as she battles her father in court over who should control her life" - the press release for the upcoming documentary 'Framing Britney Spears' says. It is a part of 'The New York Times Presents' series and it comes out Feb. 5.

The 'Killing in Thy Name' project is a RATM collaboration with a collective of international artists called The Ummah Chroma (“communities of color”), which seeks to be “a fire escape from the fiction known as whiteness and a spring for discovery". The better part of the 15-minute docu features footage of a teacher and some schoolchildren learning about the west’s dark history of slavery, manifest destiny, and the very concept of “whiteness” within the context of America, Loudwire reports. The film is spliced with quotes from members of the band, and their song 'Killing in the Name'.

Two rappers moved to the Colorado desert to grow weed and make SoundCloud rap. Their friend, director Marnie Ellen Hertzler visited them for a week to make a documentary. Animal Collective, also deeply affected by life in the desert, made music for it. 'Crestone' had its debut during last year’s virtual SXSW festival, and it is coming out February 16.

Music REDEF's chief Jason Hirschhorn tweeted a thread of music business documentaries, including docs about the Rolling Stones, Bad Boy Records, Clive Davis, David Geffen etc.

Minnesota Hardcore is a docu-series about the hardcore scene from 1980-1985 in Minnesota, with episodes about The Replacements, Husker Du, and Soul Asylum, as well as smaller bands like The Blu Hippos, Todlachen, Rifle Sport and Red Meat. Friendly outcast people, really...

Director Peter Jackson has shared a preview of his forthcoming documentary 'The Beatles: Get Back' which aims to “take audiences back in time to The Beatles’ intimate recording sessions during a pivotal moment in music history”, NME reports. Jackson said he wanted to showcase “the vibe and energy” of the film with the preview. It will be out in August 2021, probably.

Paul McCartney and Rick Rubin are joining forces for a six-part documentary series that will take a look at the ex-Beatles' rich career, and the first official trailer is out now (watch it below). In the trailer, the duo talks about how the bass guitar can control a band, and McCartney explains how the Beatles wrote their tunes - “we realized we were writing songs that were memorable, not because we wanted them to be memorable, because we had to remember them”. According to Deadline, the untitled project is the first time that the original masters have ever left Abbey Road Studios.

The first full trailer for Billie Eilish’s new documentary 'The World’s A Little Blurry', directed by R.J. Cutler, has been shared. It shows archival footage from throughout Billie Eilish’s life, her looks at life in recent years, some footage of her early performances and more.

London drill rapper Digga D is one of the first musicians in British history to be given a criminal behaviour order that controls his creative output, which means he says to tell the police before releasing any music or videos. If the police conclude it is "inciting or encouraging violence" they can arrest him. The new docu 'Defending Digga D' by the BBC starts on the day he is released from prison after 15 months of being incarcerated, and it follows him through trying to restart his career.

'Other Music' was a cult record store in Manhattan, which opened in 1995, becoming a crucial hub of New York’s vibrant 00s indie boom, and closing in 2016. New docu of the same name "goes on to capture the store’s final days, before it gets physically ripped apart. Watching it could hurt even the coolest of hearts", Guardian says.

Actor and director Alex Winter got lucky - he was the first author to get access to Frank Zappa's immense vault, and he made the first authorised documentary on Zappa based on the never-before-seen footage of the legendary rock polymath he found there. "The resulting film", Guardian says, "presents a nuanced and authoritative portrait of an artist who may have spoken prodigiously to the media during his lifetime about his music and politics but who remained oddly aloof as a person".

The first trailer for the first feature-length film about Bee Gees, 'How Can You Mend A Broken Heart' has been released. Directed by Frank Marshall, who produced 'The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button', the documentary promises an intimate look and the stratospheric rise of Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb, Deadline reports. The docu features rare performance and archival footage of the group, as well as new interviews with Barry Gibb (Maurice died in 2003 and Robin died in 2012), as well as friends, collaborators and other pop musicians like Justin Timberlake and Coldplay's Chris Martin, as well as Noel Gallagher and Joe Jonas who talk about being in bands with siblings.