Finneas (‘Barbie’ songwriter) on the ‘fragility’ in ‘What Was I Made For?’ [Exclusive Video Interview]
“I think the life of this song outside of this movie has felt really profound. We’ve felt really lucky,” admits Finneas O’Connell of the “Barbie” track “What Was I Made For?” He wrote the tune with sister Billie Eilish and it has blossomed into that rare song from a movie to capture the zeitgeist. Look no further than the song’s awards success: Finneas (as he is known mononymously) and Eilish are nominated for Best Original Song at the Oscars, but on the road to that ceremony, they have already picked up two Grammy Awards, including the coveted Song of the Year trophy. “As a songwriting geek forever, that’s the award that I’ve always paid the most attention to,” he confesses. Watch the exclusive video interview above.
“What Was I Made For?” is used as a recurring motif in “Barbie,” though perhaps its most memorable appearance is when Margot Robbie’s title character meets her literal maker Ruth Handler (Rhea Perlman) in a heavenly white room. When writer/director Greta Gerwig screened parts of the movie for the songwriting siblings, it was this moment that ignited a creative spark. Once they sat down to write, it only took about half and hour to come up with the first pass. “I really do feel career-wide, that the songs that I have been the most proud of have been written the most quickly,” explains Finneas, “I think there’s a kind of a power to the inspiration and how inspired you are when you write it.”
Perhaps that burst of inspiration is what led to the profound lyrics to spring forward so quickly. “Billie and I were just very struck by the sort of sentiment of it,” says Finneas of Barbie’s emotional moment, “and the idea that to be a human being is to feel the range of emotions from euphoria to grief and anxiety.”
The warm, gentle quality of the song was present from the very start as well. “Billie has really a dynamic voice, and she started to sing in this high falsetto, and that is pretty quiet,” explains Finneas, “so to match her dynamic, I was just playing as quietly as possible.” He made use of the practice pedal on an upright piano in order to dampen the sound. As a result, his instrument matches the tenderness of his sister’s vocals. “It’s a song about how fragile people are,” reflects Finneas, “we were just trying to be delicate and careful.”
Finneas is an Oscar winner for the title song from “No Time To Die,” which he shared with his sister. The pair’s collaboration on “What Was I Made For?” has already won a Golden Globe and Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Best Song Written for Visual Media. In total, he is a nine-time Grammy winner and the youngest ever recipient of that ceremony’s Producer of the Year award.
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