Hyderabad: Billie Eilish, with the song, "What I was made for", created history at the Oscars 2024. The 22-year-old American singer and songwriter has become the youngest person ever to win two Oscars. She broke a long-standing record previously held by Luise Rainer, who was 28 when she won her second Best Actress Oscar in 1938. "What I was made for" was this season's awards favourite bagging the Grammys, and a Golden Globe in January, and now the Academy Award in best original song category.
The melancholy ballad by Eilish and her brother Finneas O Connell struck a chord with fans all over the world. It has so far racked 600 million streams since its release in July 2023. The song was part of the 2023 blockbuster Barbie movie soundtrack and was featured during a pivotal scene between Margot Robbie’s Barbie and the creator of Barbie, Ruth Handler.
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The song many believe set the tone for the movie which was a satire on patriarchy and the contradictions a woman is faced with in the garb of "women empowerment"'. Barbie, the movie is made from the perspective of Barbie doll, who in her pink and purple candy land believes women to be achievers and accomplished in every way. However, she is in for a shock when she comes to the real world as a woman. Barbie who believes she is all empowered and important in Barbie Land has a tryst with patriarchy in real life.
Barbie, who made its debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York on March 9, 1959, is no ordinary doll. Despite being every young girl's dream possession, Barbie has also been the subject of significant criticism. In the movie, Barbie is often portrayed as a "sexy siren," leading to accusations of objectifying women and facing criticism for allegedly setting back the feminist movement by decades.
Some people had earlier dismissed the movie as 'too lecturing' but the overwhelming response by people made it into one of the biggest blockbusters in 2023. Women who all turned up wearing pink soon realised it was no kid’s stuff, the movie was for adults-both men and women as it pointed out the obvious. Patriarchy does exist, whether in your face or smartly hidden. And one sees it be at homes, in offices, even on the roads when a lady driver makes the same mistake as a male driver, in malls and marts.
The movie was a social satire and it had its movements, be it the song or the monologue towards the end by America Fererra highlighting the conflicting standards women are expected to meet both on the professional and personal front. Take for example the lines "You have to be thin, but not too thin. And you can never say you want to be thin. You have to say you want to be healthy, but also have to be thin."
The character in Barbie resonates with every woman at some stage in their life. Even Eilish admitted it did with her. For Eilish who has often been trolled on social media for her weight gain, or weight loss, her choice of clothing, even her hairdo, the song has been a personal journey.
"It was as if this song was a tiny creature inside of me for years, scratching the inside of me. As soon as we got that prompt, the creature was like, ‘Okay, I’m out,'" Eilish explained in an interview to an American magazine. "We wrote it in a period of time where we couldn’t have been less inspired and less creative. That day we were making stuff and were like, ‘We’ve lost it. Why are we even doing this?’ And then those first chords happened and I used to float / now I just fall down came out and the song wrote itself."
In a conversation with a music streaming platform, Eilish said she didn’t think about herself at all while writing but later realised she had written for herself and put her own story into music. "Every single lyric is exactly how I feel. It’s about my life."
"What Was I Made For?" charted around the world, topping almost everywhere. With the Grammy and Oscar in the kitty, Eilish and the movie itself seem to have made a little contribution to just that.
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