Billie Eilish enjoyed promoting 'Barbie.' Until she didn't - Los Angeles Times
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This is what Billie Eilish talks about when she’s not promoting ‘Barbie, Barbie, Barbie’

A split image of Billie Eilish with red-and-black hair and Kate McKinnon with spiky blond hair, shapes on her face
Billie Eilish, left, who wrote and performed a song for “Barbie,” was overwhelmed by the movie’s promotion. Kate McKinnon, right, played a well-loved “weird” Barbie in the movie.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times, left; Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., right)
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Billie Eilish is so sick of talking about her Oscar-winning “Barbie” song.

The singer, who co-wrote “What Was I Made For?” with brother-collaborator Finneas for Greta Gerwig’s movie, finally has time to talk about how tiring it was to promote the song and attend all those awards ceremonies.

“Bro, nobody can get enough of me,” she told Rolling Stone. “Every second of every day is Barbie, Barbie, Barbie, Barbie, Barbie, which is great, but as soon as the Oscars are over and I lose, I’m going the f— away. I’m literally gone.”

She did not, in fact, lose the Academy Award for original song, and she and Finneas became the youngest two-time winners in Oscars history. The duo also picked up a Golden Globe and a Grammy for the hit.

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Eilish told the magazine — in what she said was her first non-”Barbie” interview in more than a year — that the song became a bigger hit than she was anticipating.

The 22-year-old hitmaker is set to release her third album, “Hit Me Hard and Soft,” on May 17. Though she is exploring different sounds and more mature themes than in her previous work, she and Finneas, who was also interviewed for the profile, revealed that the opening track mirrors “What Was I Made For?”

She and Finneas had writer’s block when they were creating the “Barbie” track, and they ended up writing this new song first, she said.

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The tune, with its yet-to-be-revealed title, became the catalyst for the emotional and delicate “Barbie” hit, sharing its whispered sound and a similarly graceful melody. It explores the myth that losing weight means gaining happiness — another emotional theme that, like the one in “What Was I Made For?,” often plagues girls and women as they grow up.

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Eilish, 22, said she felt like she had been making music and working nonstop since she hit the A-list as a teenager.

“I had this moment of like, ‘Oh, my God, I haven’t had fun in seven years.’ Truly. I had this illusion that I had, because who experiences going to the Grammys at basically 17 and winning five?” she said. “But in life, I realized I had really not experienced that much. I didn’t go outside for five years. How was I supposed to have any experiences?”

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Since 2019, the singer has put out two albums, written and performed songs for “No Time to Die” and “Barbie” (winning Oscars for both), headlined at Coachella and picked up more than a few Grammys. After the lengthy and very pink “Barbie” promotional tour, she said she was relieved to catch a break.

That is, until her next album kicks off a whole new cycle.

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