Watch Billie Eilish's Performance of 'What Was I Made For?' at the 2024 Grammys
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links."
Up for six awards at tonight’s Grammys ceremony, Billie Eilish commanded the stage with a small piece of Barbie history: In a green gingham coat and bubblegum-pink satin headscarf, the artist resembled a 1965 Poodle Parade Barbie doll as she performed what was, arguably, the sad-girl song of the summer: Barbie’s “What Was I Made For?”
According to Eilish herself, she hadn’t meant for the ballad to become anything more than an assignment. As she shared in a Hollywood Reporter Songwriter Roundtable late last year, “When we’re writing about it, I’m not thinking about my life. I’m like, ‘This isn’t about me. At all.’... I swear to God, I never thought about myself one time. I was thinking about a character, and my brother was thinking about a character.” It wasn’t until Eilish played the song for a friend that she realized, “‘Oh my God…this bitch is singing about me!’”
Eilish’s personal connection to the song was on clear display during the Grammys rendition. Her shoulders hunched as she removed her sunglasses, her voice repeatedly switching from falsetto to chest and back throughout the show. The “Happier Than Ever” artist’s skillful balance underscores what Barbie director Greta Gerwig was first searching for when she asked Eilish and her brother to write the song.
As Gerwig told BBC Radio 2 this summer, she’d initially screened about half an hour of Barbie footage for Eilish and Finneas, then requested the duo write “what felt like Barbie’s heart song.” Gerwig continued, “And then they went away for about a week, and I just totally unexpectedly got a voice note from them, and it was Billie sitting at the piano and singing it. Just raw, beautiful. And I was like, ‘This music, these lyrics, it’s so perfect. It’s so gorgeous.’”
Below, watch Eilish’s performance of “What Was I Made For?” at the 2024 Grammys.
Finneas and Billie Eilish perform "What Was I Made For?" at the 2024 #Grammys pic.twitter.com/J4JbvpuoUl
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) February 5, 2024
You Might Also Like
