At the midpoint of awards season, big hitters have come and gone, and it seems like a new supreme rises every week. That being said, Barbie (2023) has seemingly fizzled out in key categories despite massive box office numbers and flaming hot awards buzz early in the season…Except for its music.

At the Grammy Awards on Feb. 4, Billie Eilish (and her brother Finneas O’Connell, who is her co-writer and producer) took home two awards for her original song “What Was I Made For?”: Best Song for Visual Media and a surprise win for Song of the Year. In major film awards (like The Golden Globes), Eilish has swept in music categories (save for the Critics Choice Awards) and is favored to take home the Oscar statuette come March. But why are people only showing up for the music in a film that’s made over $1 billion dollars and got nominated for seven additional Academy Awards?

For starters, Eilish is a Grammy darling. She made history in 2020 as the youngest artist to take home Album of the Year, and to sweep the “top” four: Album, Song and Record of the Year as well as Best New Artist. She has won nine times out of 25 total nominations in the last four years. In her fairly short career, she’s had an astronomical take-off and has commanded the respect of the industry. She’s unapologetically herself and embodies everything Barbie stands for. It’s easy to see why so many view a win for Eilish as a win for the film as a whole.

A lasting aspect of Barbie, besides the color pink, is its soundtrack. Curated with infectious pop songs from PinkPantheress, Tame Impala, Lizzo, Dua Lipa, Charli XCX and many other contemporary hit artists, the album is a perfect encapsulation of all the fun audiences had in the theater.

But Eilish’s song stands out. It’s a slow, wistful ballad about femininity and growing up, and it makes one of Barbie’s final scenes pack an emotional punch. 

Through all the criticism the film got (too much Ken and not enough Barbie, the weird Chevrolet commercial disguised as a car chase scene, the “Feminism 101 Monologue”), it was never directed at penultimate scene between Barbie and her creator, Ruth Handler (Rhea Perlman). After all the jokes and absurdities in Barbieland, having a sincere, heartfelt moment of authenticity is made all the more deeper with “What Was I Made For?”

Could the scene have worked without Eilish’s song? Maybe. But it has powered its way through awards season because of the way people associate the movie’s themes on human introspection and emotion with it. While Eilish and O’Connell produce a lot of fun, energetic pop songs, changing up tunes and putting out a gorgeous, simplistic ballad make the song stand out even more. It’s a crowd-pleaser yet also a tear-jerker moment that’s made even more impactful by the song. 

There has been plenty of backlash surrounding Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie missing out on Best Director and Best Actress nominations, as well as the film not being favored to take home some of the other awards it’s been nominated for. But the three other films that picked up more nominations than Barbie (Oppenheimer [13 nominations], Poor Things [11 nominations] and Killers of the Flower Moon [10 nominations]) are all extremely worthy of those awards, too. Not every film can take home every award, and it’s important to take a look at the bigger picture and keep an open mind when evaluating what counts as a snub, and what happens when something or someone just simply doesn’t get nominated. 

Plus, it’s hard to measure the merits of a film by whether or not it’s “deserving” for one reason or another. Barbie was a supremely important film in terms of breaking down barriers for female-made art, showing that it can be even more lucrative than films made by men. But to highlight Gerwig’s snubs as “anti-feminist” when another woman got into Best Director (Justine Triet) for a film that deals with a much more complex and thought-provoking exploration of feminism (Anatomy of a Fall [2023]) shows that we have a long way to go in terms of supporting female filmmakers. 

This is what makes Eilish’s wins stand out even more. Her song is the perfect combination of a heartfelt moment and exceptional artistic merit. While I’m rooting for the film to pull off a win for its stunning production design, a win for Eilish is a symbolic, well-deserving win for Barbie.

Article Courtesy of Gabriella Madden

Feature Image Credit to Warner Bros via LA Times