Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell’s “Jackson Pollock” Approach to Writing ‘Barbie’s “Heart” Song “What Was I Made For?” – Crew Call Podcast.

“The movie allowed us to be honest in a way that I don’t think we would have been able to achieve if it hadn’t been for — had it not been like an assignment,” Billie Eilish says of creating the weepy and emotional Barbie ballad “What Was I Made For?”
While intended to be the aorta soul ballad for Warner Bros.’ summer movie, the single is so characteristic Eilish and brother/collaborator Finneas O’Connell: Self-reflective, penetrating, lyrical, and deeply emotional. How can one not weep when listening to it? It’s no surprise that “What Was I Made For?” won Song of the Year at the Grammys (one of two awards, with Best Song Written for Visual Media). Let me repeat that: the song won Song of the Year, beating out “Flowers” (Miley Cyrus), “Dance the Night” (Dua Lipa, also from Barbie), “Vampire” (Olivia Rodrigo), “Butterfly” (Jon Batiste), “A&W” (Lana Del Rey), “Kill Bill” (SZA), and “Anti-Hero” (Taylor Swift). More indication that Eilish and O’Connell are on their way to winning their second Oscar for original song, after 2022’s “No Time to Die” from the 007 film of the same name.

Eilish, who discusses the somber theme of her song “What Was I Made For?” explains, “It was a dark period of time in life and very not inspiring period of time and a lot of like not feeling excited for the future and not feeling hopeful for the future, and not looking forward to the future.”
“It was a deeply important thing for my life, and also Finneas and my creative life; we needed something to shoot us back into the world of being creative.”
After being shown around a half hour of early Barbie footage, O’Connell describes how director and co-writer Greta Gerwig guided the team toward penning what would become the film’s climactic song.
“She gave us, she genuinely stated ‘carte blanche.’ She was like, “You can do whatever you want.” I believe it was a lesson in attaining what you desire via giving. I believe she made us feel that whatever ideas we had were valuable to her. Any ambition we wanted to pursue was the best route to proceed.”
He continued, “And then she kind of slid under the hotel door like, ‘If you feel like making Barbie’s heart song, we’re missing it,’ which is such a really smart, whether it was on purpose or because she’s such a pure person, that’s such a smart way of communicating with a person where you say, ‘No rules, here’s what I’m looking for.’” That’s a terrific way to approach all collaborations. I’ve tried to absorb it and share it with the other folks I deal with.”
The scene where the song plays in the movie when Barbie meets her maker, Ruth Handler (Rhea Perlman), pays a special homage to Eilish herself: the scene is filled with nostalgic footage of young girls’ childhoods, a sequence that’s akin to an interlude in Eilish’s concerts where she plays home video footage of herself during the song “Getting Older”
In terms of their composition approach for “What Was I Made For?” don’t expect the pair to analyze.
When it came to selecting the song’s initial chord, O’Connell said, “You’re familiar with Jackson Pollock?” He described doing “automatic art,” meaning he didn’t think about where he was moving his arm while creating fantastic splatter paintings. It was allowing him to move his arms and spatter the paint anywhere he wanted. It’s incredibly crucial in music to not overthink things.”

Eilish chimes in, “Finneas is not an overthinker when it comes to playing instruments, which I believe is quite essential. He simply sits down and plays anything he wants, and it’s great.”
The couple discuss their family link to Barbie (their father was a carpenter for toymaker Mattel) and their future plans (Eilish: “no more songs for movies….we’re going into album land.”)

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