By Jana Neimanns
Rating: 5/5
Content warning: This article mentions suicide
The recently published Netflix documentary Lewis Capaldi: How I’m Feeling Now shows
Lewis Capaldi’s journey of recording his next album ‘Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent.’ The documentary is directed by Joe Pearlman and Capaldi is listed as the only cast member.
The documentary starts in 2020, at the very start of the pandemic, and continues to follow Capaldi until his next album, released in May 2023. There is a lot of emphasis on mental health and the pressure he feels to deliver another great album. Additionally, the camera follows Capaldi as he is diagnosed with Tourette’s and battles with imposter syndrome.
The audience gets to see Capaldi’s parents interact with him daily and they are interviewed throughout the film. Capaldi’s friends and co-workers are also included, however, his mother and father are a big part of the documentary because of how much they have supported Capaldi’s career from the beginning. So, their view on Capaldi’s life and career is shown as well. Both of them want Capaldi to be happy and do not think his career should force him to change too much or pressure him. The documentary also conveys the importance of Capaldi’s friendships, with Capaldi explaining that his friends are what keep him ‘grounded.’ Some of his friends work on music with him now as his musical director and as part of the band. Capaldi’s manager is also interviewed as part of the documentary.
Apart from mental health, Capaldi’s music is the main focus of the documentary. The story revolves around the making of Caoaldi’s future album which he hopes will be as successful as his previous one. The audience gets to hear snippets of Capaldi’s new songs and learn about his process of songwriting. The stress of writing a song is also clearly represented as, in the first part of the film, Capaldi struggles with the fear of being a bad songwriter. Some of his most popular songs are discussed, like ‘Before You Go.’ Unfortunately, this song stemmed from a suicide in his family.
In my opinion, this documentary is worth a watch. It discusses mental health and the pressures Capaldi deals with compassionately. The documentary gives a good perspective into the music industry and into Capaldi’s personal life, as well as the struggles that come with being famous and other people's expectations. It showed that musicians are just like any other person but that being a successful one is probably more stressful than many other jobs. It also gives insight into how long it takes to make music, which is one aspect that most people don’t know much about.
Overall, the documentary Lewis Capaldi: How I’m Feeling Now spreads awareness about mental health and pushes the idea that musicians are human too. While Capaldi faces difficult challenges and struggles, he eventually finds joy in his music as the film promotes Capaldi’s new music that’s available now.
