Billie Eilish set out to write the song for the end credits of the film “Barbie”, entitled “What Was I Made For?”, about the Mattel doll that is the center of the biggest cinematic success of the year. However, the result was a little more personal than the Grammy winner intended.
“I swear to God, I never thought about myself even once,” Eilish said when talking about the Golden Globe-nominated track in a new excerpt from The Hollywood Reporter's Songwriters Roundtable posted on Sunday. “I was thinking about a character, and my brother was thinking about a character.”
Eilish wrote most of the song, a compelling track about finding meaning and purpose, with her collaborator and brother, Finneas, in one night, she said.
He only realized he had inadvertently written something close to his heart when he played the song for a friend. “We were in the car and I was like, 'Oh my God… this song is talking about me,'” she said, laughing.
Earlier in the conversation, Eilish said that she finds songwriting “very difficult” and that “finding honesty in songwriting is very difficult and out of my reach.” She was eager to write a song that wasn't about her own life for the Warner Bros. film, which grossed $1.5 billion worldwide at the box office.
Describing the moment she realized the song had personal meaning as “terrifying,” the “Bad Guy” singer said she “felt like I woke up and someone had taken a picture of her sleeping.”
Eilish and Finneas released “What Was I Made For?” in July, before the release of the film “Barbie” in theaters.
The song is nominated for a Golden Globe for best original song alongside “I'm Just Ken” by Ryan Gosling and Mark Ronson, “Road to Freedom” by Lenny Kravitz, “Dance the Night” by Dua Lipa, “Peaches” by Jack Black and “Addicted to Romance” by Bruce Springsteen.
Source: CNN Brasil
I’m Robert Neff, a professional writer and editor. I specialize in the entertainment section, providing up-to-date coverage on the latest developments in film, television and music. My work has been featured on World Stock Market and other prominent publications.
