Billie Eilish channels a vintage Barbie doll in her new self-directed music video for the piano ballad “What Was I Made For?,” one of the final tracklist additions to the new “Barbie” movie soundtrack.
The emotional song received a thought-provoking visual treatment that sees Eilish dressed as a polished and pensive doll. While seated at a school desk, Eilish digs through a Barbie wardrobe box and tediously preps a variety of Barbie outfits — replicas of her own looks throughout the years — onto a mini clothing hanger.
As the video goes on, Eilish’s reflections are disrupted by rain, wind and earthquakes that ultimately leave her with no choice but to frantically stuff the mini wardrobe back in its box and exit.
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“I used to float / Now I just fall down / I used to know, but I’m not sure now / What I was made for,” Eilish sings over gentle piano keys.
In an Instagram caption posted just minutes after the video’s premiere, Eilish said director Greta Gerwig presented her and her brother Finneas with unfinished “Barbie” movie scenes in January and that’s when the idea for “What Was I Made For?” came to life.
“We had nooooo idea what to expect at ALLL… we were so deeeeeply moved.. that the next day we were writing and COULDNT shut up about it lolll andddddddddd ended up writing almost the entire song that night. to be real with you this all seemed to happen in a time when i really needed it. i’m so so thankful for that,” she said in the Thursday post. “This video makes me cryyyyy… it means so much to me and i hope it will mean just as much to you. don’t have much to say other than that, i think it will speak for itself.”
The pair of musical siblings spoke about their contribution to the “Barbie” soundtrack with Variety at the movie’s premiere in Los Angeles. They further revealed it was the movie’s “touching” closing scenes that inspired the ballad.
“Throughout the movie, there’s some really moving stuff. And then towards the end there’s a couple of scenes — there’s one scene in particular that really had me and Finneas just… choked up really, really choked up,” Eilish said. “I resonated a lot with it in my own stupid ways, and I don’t know. It’s really good and that’s all I can say. It’s really good.”