It has come at last: likely the final time Billie Eilish and Finneas will trot out their Barbie tearjerker “What Was I Made For?” at a 2024 award show. Eilish and Finneas took their song to Oscars 2024 on Sunday night, performing another moving version to make you ugly cry into your Jalapeño Poppenheimers.
Their performance was a striking one: she began with her back to the audience, until the circular platform started rotating to reveal her and brother Finneas, at the piano, to the crowd. They were accompanied by a full orchestra revealed slowly from backstage, and the silence around her was palpable. Eilish let out a “woah” as she finished the song to cheers from Ariana Grande, Greta Gerwig, Kate McKinnon, Carey Mulligan, and more.
Later in the night, she and Finneas won the Oscar for Best Original Song, and Eilish took a lighthearted approach to her speech. “I had a nightmare about this last night,” she said, laughing. “Thank you so much to the Academy. I just didn’t think this would happen, I was not expecting this. I feel so incredibly lucky and honored. Thank you to Greta, I love you, thank you for this. I’m so grateful for this song and this movie and the way that it made me feel.” She also thanked her “best friend Zoe for playing barbies with me growing up,” and her choir teachers, even the ones who didn’t like her.
Previously, Eilish and Finneas performed “What Was I Made For?” at the Grammys, and on Saturday Night Live back at the end of 2023. Their song has swept the award circuit, winning a Golden Globe and two Grammys in addition to its Oscar nomination.
When the song won the Golden Globe back in January, Eilish talked about how writing the song saved her. “It was exactly a year ago, almost, that we were shown the movie, and I was very, very miserable and depressed at the time. And writing that song kind of saved me a little bit,” Eilish said at the time. “And a year later, here we are. It’s really surreal, and I feel incredibly lucky and grateful. I was not expecting this moment. Thank you to my brother, Finneas. You’re the reason I’m who I am. I want to thank Greta and Noah [Baumbach, co-writer of Barbie] for making this incredible film. I want to thank Margot [Robbie] for being the Margot we know and love … You guys scare the living hell out of me, everyone in this room. But thank you so much. This means the world.”
Watch Billie Eilish and Finneas perform “What Was I Made For?” at Oscars 2024 below:
An orchestra pops up behind Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell during their performance of "What Was I Made For?" from #Barbie at the 2024 #Oscars pic.twitter.com/NYodPxLXhj
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) March 10, 2024