The making of a “Barbie” ballad: Billie Eilish and Finneas on 'What Was I Made For?'

The singer also shares her handwritten lyrics for Barbie's "heart song."

"We didn't anticipate any of this," Billie Eilish says of the Oscar buzz she and her older brother, Finneas, are creating for the second time in their young careers. In fact, when Barbie director Greta Gerwig approached them in January 2023 to craft the “heart song” for Margot Robbie’s Barbie, Eilish says the siblings wondered, “Will we even make anything good?”

A maddening creative rut followed, but after screening some 40 minutes of the candy-colored, existentialism-coated comedy, “we were even more in,” says Eilish, who shared her handwritten lyrics for the song exclusively with EW (below). The end result — the stirring ballad “What Was I Made For?” — surprised even Eilish, who unexpectedly produced her most personal song yet.

EW caught up with the dynamic duo to discuss the song.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How does it feel to be in the Oscar conversation a second time?

BILLIE: It’s surreal. The fact that we were nominated in the first place for “No Time to Die” was insane.

FINNEAS: We feel lucky to be a part of any of it at all. The Academy Awards is peer-voted. The idea that any other artist is voting for your art is moving. The feeling I take away from it is gratitude that people are moved by the song and they’re choosing it. That’s a huge honor.

You’ve spoken about how this Barbie opportunity came at a time when you “couldn’t have been less inspired.” What was going on?

BILLIE: It was a dark, slow period of time. I was also in a weird place mentally in my life. We were in the studio and did come up with stuff, but nothing felt right. I don’t think I was able to be vulnerable and self-aware about my life and surroundings. That makes it hard to write sometimes. When we had this new thing to write about that wasn’t [about] my life, it was almost relieving. I didn’t have to worry about how I felt. I could just write from the perspective of this character. What was amazing is immediately after, I realized it was absolutely about me and my life. I didn’t even mean to do that.

At what point did things finally click?

BILLIE: As soon as Finneas played those first chords, I started singing random melodies and immediately sang, “I used to float,” and went from there. As soon as we started writing it, we were locked in.

FINNEAS: The imagery in the movie is so poetic and metaphoric. Everything lyrically became that kind of double-meaning metaphor.

The song and the scene it’s featured in inspired a TikTok trend celebrating girlhood. Were you expecting the impact that it’s had?

BILLIE: No, I was pleasantly surprised. That happens every time. Every time we make a song, it’s still, “Oh my God, I hope people like it.”

FINNEAS: The only difference is how a song moves you as a person. This struck a chord with us. Billie felt like it was a cathartic experience making it, so you hope other people feel the same way. You’re never like, “They’re going to love it!” You’re just like, “I hope they’re moved by this.”

What were your relationships to Barbies growing up? Any mutilation, setting them on fire?

BILLIE: Oh yeah, all of the above. I had a bunch of ’em, and I would mutilate them and do crazy things to them and make them do crazy things with each other. I am so grateful for Barbie, and for this whole process.

How has your collaborative process evolved since working on Billie’s debut EP, 2017’s Don’t Smile at Me? 

BILLIE: A lot. I mean, we’re talking 13 and 17 to 22 and 26. So much changes with those ages. It’s different each time. The thing that is the same is we’re just as close as we have always been, if not closer. It’s easier. I’ve always found it hard to trust the process, and I’m learning to trust it more.

FINNEAS: I’ve watched Billie get so much more skilled. The thing about having something become successful early on in your career, which Billie’s first album did, is there’s a tendency to compare all of your work to that body of work. I feel better at making music than I felt when I was 21. We’ve grown as artists, and that’s satisfying.

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Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.