我为何而生？ (2023)

"What Was I Made For?" is a song by American singer-songwriter Billie Eilish. It was released through Atlantic, Darkroom, and Interscope Records on July 13, 2023, as the fifth single from the soundtrack to the fantasy comedy film Barbie (2023). The song was commercially successful worldwide and reached number-one in Australia, Ireland, Malaysia, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, as well as peaking at No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States.

It received five nominations at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards, including Record of the Year, and won for Song of the Year (becoming the first song from a film since Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" from Titanic to win in this category) and Best Song Written for Visual Media. It won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song at the 81st Golden Globe Awards and also won the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 96th Academy Awards, marking Eilish as the youngest person in history to ever win a second Academy Award in any category (due to her previous win, in the same category, for James Bond's film No Time To Die's theme song of the same name).

Background and release

In an interview with Time in early July 2023, Mark Ronson, who served as the music producer of Barbie the Album, announced that there were more surprise guests on the soundtrack than had yet been revealed at that time, describing the artist as having a "very personal, idiosyncratic tie to Barbie". However, he skipped the question if Eilish was going to be one of the two. Eilish previously sparked speculation about a possible appearance when she posted a picture of a Barbie neon sign on her Instagram on June 27.

On July 6, 2023, Eilish announced the single on her social media. In an accompanying announcement, she said that the song "means the absolute" world to her. The singer hoped that the track would "change lives" and told her fans to "get ready to sob". A snippet of the single appeared in a trailer for the film on July 10, 2023. Eilish also teased the single and music video on Twitter on July 12. The song was released the following day on July 13. In the film itself, which premiered the same month, the song accompanies a scene in which Barbie meets the spirit of her creator Ruth Handler.

Production

For the song, Eilish again teamed up with her brother and long-time collaborator Finneas O'Connell. The songwriting process began with director Greta Gerwig showing Eilish and O'Connell a rough cut of the film at Warner Bros. Studios. In an interview with Billboard, Eilish stated that the single was the first song that she and O'Connell had written after a prolonged writer's block.

I did not think about myself once in the writing process. I was purely inspired by this movie and this character and the way I thought she would feel, and wrote about that. And then, over the next couple days, I was listening and I was like, girl, how did this … honestly, and I really don’t mean this to come off a conceited way at all, but I do this thing where I make stuff that I don’t even know is … like I'm writing for myself and I don't even know it.

Critical reception

“What Was I Made For?” was met with widespread critical acclaim from music critics, many of whom regarded it as one of the best songs of 2023. Writing for Stereogum, Tom Breihan noted metaphors in the lyrics that parallels Barbie's plot and compared the song to "Happier Than Ever", but lamented that "It seems like it’s building to a grand, cathartic finale, but that finale never arrives". Jon Mendelsohn of American Songwriter called the chorus "melancholy yet hopeful". Walden Green of The Fader saw the song as a "sly commentary on pop stars 'created' for the profit of record labels". Jon Campbell of WNYC and Gothamist noted the melodic similarity of the verse to the chorus of Stephen Sondheim's "Send in the Clowns".

Music video

The music video for "What Was I Made For?" was released alongside the single on July 13, 2023. The video, directed by Eilish herself, was shot in one take, and portrays Eilish in a yellow dress (the color Stereotypical Barbie wears at the end of the film) and a blonde wig styled with bangs and a high ponytail similar to the hairstyle of the original 1959 Barbie. Eilish sits at a school desk in an empty, monochromatic space. From a Barbie-themed case, she removes and examines doll clothing resembling outfits Eilish has worn publicly in the past, which she organizes on a miniature hanging rack. As the song progresses, a brief earthquake, a strong wind, and rain threaten to disrupt her efforts. When the rain ends, Eilish quickly stuffs the doll clothes back into their case and walks away, taking the doll case with her. Shortly after the song's ending, Eilish returns briefly to collect a forgotten accessory before exiting once more.

In W, Matthew Velasco interpreted the music video as Eilish's "way of telling us she's done with her signature baggy look" and that "this feels like the beginning of a new era for Eilish".

Personnel

All credits are adapted from CD liner notes of Barbie the Album.