The FADER

As the daughter of a musician, Dua Lipa grew up surrounded by music, inspired by listening to Christina Aguilera, Stereophonics, and Robbie Williams as a teen. At 15, she started posting videos on YouTube, showcasing her incredibly powerful voice with covers of her favorite songs. But the transition from recording in her bedroom to recording in studios wasn’t always easy. "I’ve had ups and downs trying to find myself,” she said about the process of discovering her sound. The earnest, neon-tinged film chronicles Dua Lipa’s transformation, interspersed with footage of her expansive performances. In See In Blue, Dua Lipa shows off her true, new self — the self she’s been working to become. Intent on authenticity and influenced by the likes of J. Cole and Nelly Furtado, her dreams of making a pop album that defines her as an artist have come true. “Mwah!”

Filmed in the Atlanta suburbs where the red-headed Lil Yachty grew up, this 14-minute film — sort of like a docu-musical — is a gorgeous and goofy look at his rise. It’s full of surreal reenactments, boat trips, and interviews with Lil Yachty’s mom, his uncle Darnell Boat, his go-to producers Burberry Perry and Earl, and all his good friends in the Sailing Team.

Following the artist from the bustling streets of New York to her rain-soaked hometown of Bergen, the film includes interviews with AURORA's closest friends, as well as uniquely stripped-back performances of tracks including “Warrior” and “Murder Song (5, 4, 3, 2, 1).” Whether she’s reminiscing on her childhood with her sisters, dancing through the city streets in her headphones, or discussing the secret life of apples, there’s a spellbinding quality to everything the artist does.

What follows is a candid look at the Pittsburgh native’s past six years, starting with his ascent, when he was 19, as a popular but critically panned rapper. “I was an easy target. I admit that,” he says now. “It became one of those things where I got so much negativity that it almost became, like, ‘There’s no point to overly hate on this dude, let me look in and see what he’s doing.’ And when you look in, there’s some good music there.” Following his 2011 debut album, Billboard's first independently released No.1 in over a decade, Mac moved to Los Angeles, where it seemed to many he was thriving. That’s where Andrew Nosnitsky met him for Mac Miller's 2013 The FADER cover story, and where he played an endearing role in Earl Sweatshirt’s cover too.

In The FADER's doc Right Here Is Home, JPEGMAFIA revisits one of the first places he connected with a creative community, The Bell Foundry in Baltimore, and explains how the city's collective fight against police brutality helped foster his early forays into music. He then gets into how there really wasn't a backup plan after music, despite his journalism degree. And to show the electric energy in his live shows, the doc ends with a sold out show at Baltimore's Metro Gallery featuring himself as the DJ.

Princess Nokia is unafraid. During the 16-minute film directed by Orian Barki and produced by The FADER, the self-proclaimed New York aficionado commands the sidewalks of the Lower East Side and East Harlem. There's footage of intimate recording sessions, shots of some of her most beloved local spots, and vulnerable stoop conversations that all show the city's important connection to her work.

DIIV open up about sobriety, their near-break up and the new phase of their band.

Documentary following Jimothy Lacoste through his life in North London, where his sincerity and oddities combined to deliver a compelling view into his as a viral musician. He shares more about his work, his relationship with his mother, the highs and lows of performing, and what his relationships with his friends mean to him.