From Peter Jackson’s epic dissection of the making of The Beatles’ “Let It Be” in “Get Back” to Questlove’s Oscar-winning revisitation of the star-studded 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival in “Summer of Soul,” music documentaries have been among the hottest and most lauded programming recently.
And the blows keep on coming. This year’s video re-releases include backup singer-turned-star Sheryl Crow, revered rappers Lizzo and XXXTentacion, multi-talented Latin titan Jennifer Lopez, metal icon Ronnie James Dio, and country rebel Tanya Tucker.
Here are 19 new music documentaries vying for your attention and ears in 2022:
Although she is perhaps best known recently for her role in “Only Murders in the Building” alongside comedy veterans Steve Martin and Martin Short, singer and actress Selena Gomez has been particularly forthright about her health battles, both physical and mental.
In this documentary, Gomez discusses her lupus diagnosis and the resulting mental health challenges, including bipolar disorder. Expect a story about human resilience. “My lupus, my kidney transplant, chemotherapy, having a mental illness, going through very public heartbreaks – these were all things that honestly should have taken me down,” Gomez told Elle magazine last year.”
Lizzo’s meteoric rise to fame was as quick as they come, with hits like “Truth Hurts,” “Good as Hell,” and the impossibly catchy “Juice” propelling her to the top of the charts. Her apparent overnight success, however, was the result of years of hard work.
HBO Max is tackling Lizzo’s (born Melissa Viviane Jefferson) life in a film that will follow her journey from classically trained flautist to hit-making rapper. The documentary will look at her creative influences as well as the difficulties of being in the spotlight. “I’m seeing negativity directed towards me in the weirdest way, people saying (stuff) about me that just doesn’t even make sense,” Lizzo lamented in an Instagram post. It’s fatphobic, racist, and insensitive.”
‘Shania Twain: More Than A Girl’
Shania Twain is one of a small group of Canadian sirens whose country-rocking hits such as “You’re Still the One” and “That Don’t Impress Me Much” helped propel her to the top of the US charts (along with Alanis Morissette and, of course, Celine Dion). The singer’s story is detailed in “Not Just A Girl,” from her Ontario roots to her breakthrough work with veteran rock producer (and then husband) Mutt Lange.
The documentary delves into issues such as the singer’s temporary loss of voice due to Lyme disease, as well as surreal turns in her personal life. (Twain divorced Lange after falling for her best friend, Marie-Anne Thiébaud, and then married Thiébaud’s ex-husband.)
‘Woodstock ’99 Clusterf—-‘
The focus is clearly stated in the title. Following the original Woodstock’s towering cultural success in 1969, it’s no surprise that promoters sought to recapture that magic with encore fests bearing that haloed name, beginning with a fairly well executed 25-year anniversary show in 1994.
However, the manure hit the fan in 1999. The three-part documentary series aims to lift the lid on what was supposed to be a millennium-defining celebration of peace, love, and great music. Instead, the festival devolved into a conflagration of fires, riots, and destruction. This documentary, which is based on insider footage and eyewitness interviews with festival staffers, performers, and attendees, shines a light on the egos, greed, and music that fueled three days of craziness.
‘Machine Gun Kelly’s Pink Life’
This documentary promises a look at the highs and lows of a musician vying for the top spot in music while juggling the demands of stardom and fatherhood. While MGK’s platinum-selling album “Tickets to My Downfall” and his most recent studio album “Mainstream Sellout” were triumphs, the challenges, as depicted in “Life in Pink,” included a fractious relationship with the media, peers, and even fans, who occasionally threw cups and branches at him in concert.
The film depicts the Houston-born musician’s joys (his daughter) and torments (many), including the revelation that in 2020, while on the phone with his now-fiancée Megan Fox, he was suicidal and put a shotgun in his mouth.
‘Sheryl’
Sheryl Crow’s career has taken a circuitous route, beginning as a backup singer on Michael Jackson’s “Bad” tour and Don Henley’s early solo efforts, and culminating in her own chart-topping career and a contentious relationship with disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong.
Anchored to both contemporary interviews and archival footage, “Sheryl” promises a look back at how the talented singer-songwriter navigated those often rough waters, which includes her “hard-fought musical career battling sexism, depression, perfectionism, cancer, and the price of fame.”
‘Women Rock’
Since the genre’s inception, women have rocked as hard as men, whether it’s the gritty bombast of Elvis favourite Big Mama Thornton or the ethereal yowl of Heart lead singer Ann Wilson. So it’s about time they got their own documentary series to honour their unique and enduring contributions.
“Women Who Rock” is a multi-part series divided into decades, beginning with the turbulent 1960s and progressing to the present. Kate Pierson of The B-52s, Nancy Wilson of Heart, Mavis Staples, Aimee Mann, Tori Amos, Tina Weymouth of the Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club, Chaka Khan, Pat Benatar, Sheila E., Macy Gray, and Rickie Lee Jones are among the rockers featured in the series.
‘The Death of Music’
Don McLean is best known for his unlikely 1971 hit “American Pie,” whose endless and often enigmatic verses trace an early rock history. It’s sparked endless karaoke singalongs, even when the singers have no idea what they’re singing.
“The Day the Music Died” delves into both the songwriter’s life story and the origins of that eight-minute-plus classic. It all begins with the 1959 rock ‘n’ roll tragedy that inspired the song – Buddy Holly’s death – with the help of a variety of artists, including Garth Brooks, who explain their connection to the song. There’s also plenty of McLean himself, verse by verse, deconstructing the autobiographical elements and social themes of his masterpiece.
Don McLean is best known for his unlikely 1971 hit “American Pie,” whose endless and often enigmatic verses trace an early rock history. It’s sparked endless karaoke singalongs, even when the singers have no idea what they’re singing.
“The Day the Music Died” delves into both the songwriter’s life story and the origins of that eight-minute-plus classic. It all begins with the 1959 rock ‘n’ roll tragedy that inspired the song – Buddy Holly’s death – with the help of a variety of artists, including Garth Brooks, who explain their connection to the song. There’s also plenty of McLean himself, verse by verse, deconstructing the autobiographical elements and social themes of his masterpiece.
‘A New Orleans Story: Jazz Fest’
Jazz Fest is arguably more than just a music festival. It’s a reason to exist. For more than a half-century, musicians and fans from all over the world have descended on New Orleans to crowd onto more than a dozen stages for multiple days of unbridled musical excess. You know if you’ve been. If you haven’t seen it yet, there is now a documentary.
Using the 50th anniversary show in 2019 as a springboard, the filmmakers weave between rapturous testimonials from Bruce Springsteen, Katy Perry, and Jimmy Buffett, as well as profound pronouncements from zydeco, jazz, and world music titans. These voices combine to create a global melting pot of tunes, foods, and ideas that is entirely unique to the annual New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.
‘Take a Look at Me: XXXTentacion’
The rapper XXXTentacion, born Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy in 1998, had a short life filled with both misery and promise. His early years saw him in and out of juvenile detention centres due to thefts and other crimes, but the musical muse later summoned powerful raps from him that frequently explored alienation and depression.
“Look at Me” began production shortly before the rapper was gunned down in 2018 by assailants at a motorcycle dealership who stole a bag containing $50,000 from him. While he was charged with battery on a pregnant woman two years prior, many saw redemptive changes in the rapper in the final months of his life. XXXTentacion’s legacy lives on in songs like “Sad!” and “Look at Me.”
‘Halftime’
In 2020, nearly three decades after the last Latin performer to headline the Super Bowl halftime show – Gloria Estefan in 1992 – a slew of Latin music superstars stormed the stage halfway through Super Bowl LIV. Jennifer Lopez, singer/model/actor, set the tone for fellow performers Shakira, Bad Bunny, J Balvin, and even Lopez’s daughter, Emme Muniz.
“Halftime” uses that event as a touchstone for a documentary that looks back at Lopez’s successes as well as her ongoing evolution as a Latin star determined to use her fame for more than just financial success.
‘Uncut George Michael Freedom’
George Michael was the driving force behind the 2017 documentary “George Michael Freedom,” which wanted the world to hear his shy-chubby-kid-to-handsome-pop-idol story firsthand. The film included interviews with other celebrities, including Elton John and Linda Evangelista, as well as narration by British-born Georgios Panayiotou. Michael died in 2016, before the statement was released, so it became his final statement.
According to the producers, the new “Uncut” version of the documentary will include previously unseen footage and improved video quality. Otherwise, it will retell the story, focusing on many ’90s highs and lows, such as the recording of Michael’s best-selling 1990 album “Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1” and the AIDS death of his partner, Anselmo Feleppa, in 1993.
Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah: A Journey, A Song’
Leonard Cohen was arguably more of a poet than a musician, in the same way that Bob Dylan fits that description. The Canadian was adored not only by ardent fans, but also by fellow musicians who regarded him as a songwriter’s songwriter.
No Cohen song has been covered more widely, let alone scrutinised and debated, than the soaring hymn “Hallelujah,” an incantation that manages to captivate and mesmerise. This documentary attempts to deconstruct Cohen through the creation of his greatest composition, and includes not only previously unseen personal notes and videos, but also interviews with musicians ranging from Judy Collins to Rufus Wainwright who have attempted to do the song justice by covering it.
‘My Rolling Stone Life’
From early black-and-white interviews to Martin Scorsese’s dazzling 2008 concert documentary “Shine a Light,” the Rolling Stones have been under the video microscope almost since their inception in the early 1960s.
In this four-part documentary series, each surviving Stone, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Ronnie Wood, as well as the band’s recently departed anchor, drummer Charlie Watts, gets a personal spotlight. Given that the directors have previously collaborated with the Stones on projects, this series promises to provide new insights into musicians who have been rocking hard for more than 60 years.
Lil Baby served a two-year prison sentence on drug and weapons charges before becoming an international celebrity. Following his release in 2016, fellow Atlanta musicians encouraged the rapper to pursue music as a way to protect himself from the pitfalls of street crime. He took it to heart, making statements about police brutality in his chart-topping raps.
