Billie Eilish has graced the Grammys stage for the past four years, and honestly, I wouldn’t miss her and Finneas’s genius for the world (sorry, this is definitely not the slot for a bathroom break). The singer-songwriter’s contribution to Barbie’s star-studded soundtrack, “What Was I Made For?” not only made millions of people sob during that scene in the movie but also took over awards season. She won a Golden Globe for the track and earned Oscar and Grammy nominations for it too—so it’s no surprise she hit the Grammys stage and sang the hit while decked out in a gorgeous homage to the 1965 Poodle Parade Barbie.
Here’s a clip of the performance for your viewing pleasure:
Billie also showed her gratitude for her Grammy nominations with an Instagram post in November 2023. “Six nominations 🥲🥲🥲🥲🥲 my heart hurts :’) 🫀🫀🫀🫂🫂🫂,” the singer, who’s nominated for her Barbie track and Labrinth collaboration “Never Felt So Alone,” wrote.
Oh and btw, Barbie has already won big in the Best Song for Visual Media category, where Billie was nominated alongside Dua Lipa, Ryan Gosling, Ice Spice and Nicki Minaj, and Rihanna for her Black Panther: Wakanda Forever ballad, “Lift Me Up."”
In an essay for Vanity Fair, Billie opened up about the songwriting process, noting that she and her brother grew up writing tracks inspired by movies. When it came to Barbie, Billie realized that the emotional track about Mattel’s iconic doll was also autobiographical.
“I don’t ever remember writing a song about how I was actually feeling in the moment, because I was bored by that. Who cares about what I feel like today?” Billie wrote. “But writing ‘What Was I Made For?’ I wasn’t thinking about myself or my life. I was just inspired by the perspective of a character. It was only afterward that I had a realization: It actually was about me. A lot of the time it is a subconscious thing, writing about myself, but doing it in a way that feels safer. It’s kind of trippy. I was thinking about a character, but it turns out I am the character.”
