Billie Eilish and Finneas on ‘Barbie’ and the Benefits of Writing From a Doll’s POV: ‘You Say Something You Maybe Weren’t Brave Enough to Say About Yourself’

variety.com:

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Billie Eilish remembers being aware there were some puzzled — or just wary — reactions when a song she and Finneas co-wrote, “What Was I Made For?,” was one of the last tracks announced for the “Barbie” soundtrack. “I remember everybody being like, ‘What the hell?

It’s gonna be a fun, cute, girly, pink movie for the summer and we’re all going to be laughing. What the fuck is Billie doing on the soundtrack?

Why is there going to be a sad song? That doesn’t make any sense.’ And I remember just being like, ‘Guys. It’s not me, it’s the movie.

The movie is fucking sad!’” That may not be everyone’s all-consuming experience of the mostly comedic “Barbie,” but for a good segment of the audience, the doll movie is a tear-jerker, and its emotional climax is signaled by the arrival of Eilish’s tender, yearning ballad, which gave the main character the “heart song” filmmaker Greta Gerwig felt was missing from the movie.