Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell made history when “What Was I Made For?” from Barbie took home the prize for Best Original Song at the 2024 Oscars on Sunday, March 10. This made the duo the youngest-ever winners of two Academy Awards.
When Eilish, 22, took the stage with her brother— who previously won Best Original Song in 2022 for No Time to Die — she admitted that she “had a nightmare” about taking the stage last night.
“Thank you so much to The Academy,” Eilish said. “I just didn’t think this would happen. I was not expecting this. I feel so incredibly lucky and honored. Thank you to Greta [Gerwig]. … I love you. Thank you for this. I’m so grateful for this song and for this movie and the way that it made me feel and this goes out to everyone who was affected by the movie, and how incredible it is, and I want to thank my team and my parents, I love you guys so much.”
Eilish also shouted out her “best friend” and “choir teachers” — one of whom didn’t like her — before leaving the stage.
The other nominees in the category were: “I’m Just Ken” by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt, Killers of the Flower Moon’s “Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)” by Scott George, American Symphony’s “It Never Went Away” by Jon Batiste and Dan Wilson and Flamin’ Hot’s “The Fire Inside” by Diane Warren.
The songwriters behind the music are familiar to the Academy, as most were already Oscar winners ahead of the ceremony. Ronson and Wyatt received Best Original Song for A Star Is Born’s “Shallow” in 2019, while Eilish and O’Connell earned the award in 2022 for “No Time to Die” from the James Bond film of the same name. In 2021, Batiste took home Best Original Score for Soul. Warren, meanwhile, has been nominated for Best Original Song 15 times throughout her career.
Prior to the Oscars, Eilish and O’Connell’s “What Was I Made For?” dominated awards season. In January, the sibling duo won Best Original Song – Motion Picture at the 2024 Golden Globe Awards, defeating Barbie’s “I’m Just Ken” and “Dance the Night” by Dua Lipa, She Came to Me’s “Addicted to Romance,” Rustin’s “Road to Freedom” and The Super Mario Bros. Movie’s “Peaches.”
Eilish reflected on the songwriting process for the Barbie hit during her Golden Globes acceptance speech. “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,” she said. “And a year later, here we are. It’s really surreal, and I feel incredibly lucky and grateful.”
The following month, “What Was I Made For?” won Song of the Year and Best Song Written for Visual Media at the 2024 Grammy Awards. Eilish noted at the time that she thought there was “not a chance” she would take home Song of the Year given that her fellow nominees were Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Olivia Rodrigo, SZA, Dua Lipa, Lana Del Rey and Jon Batiste.
“I just want to say everyone in this category, like — that was a crazy list of incredible people, incredible artists, incredible music! I feel crazy right now,” she said. “Damn, dude. I am shocked out of my balls.”
