If you were one of the many moviegoers that made Barbie a massive success over the weekend, you’re probably still thinking about one pivotal moment at the end that involves the new Billie Eilish song “What Was I Made For?” As it turns out, The Little Mermaid star Halle Bailey is right there with us, also, she has the angelic vocal cords to grace us with her version of the emotional song.
Technically Halle Bailey is already a Barbie considering her Mattel Ariel doll was a huge bestseller earlier this year, but now she’s really giving Mermaid Barbie with a recent Instagram post. The actress and singer took to social media to share an incredible cover of “What Was I Made For?” and it’s absolutely giving me chills.
Halle Bailey truly is Princess Ariel as a human. Her incredible vocals were supported by the app’s echo filter, and she absolutely elevated Billie Eilish’s song to sound like a Mermaid Barbie entering from the depths of the sea to sing her own want song, not unlike “Part of Your World.” It’s a gorgeous rendition of the track that’s simply going to leave me with goosebumps all day.
“What Was I Made For?” was written by Billie Eilish and her usual collaborator and brother Finneas O’Connell. The song was crafted after Barbie’s soundtrack producer Mark Ronson invited the songwriters to watch Greta Gerwig’s movie. After Billie and Finneas experienced the movie months before it became 2023’s biggest blockbuster yet, they were inspired by Barbie’s themes to craft the song, which is how we got the hit.
Eilish shared with Billboard that she “did not think” about herself once while writing it. However, after the Oscar winner wrote it, she realized how every word really spoke to how she was feeling in a way she wouldn’t have been able to tap into without the movie serving as a prompt. Eilish’s involvement in Barbie was announced just weeks before the movie’s release and alongside the song coming out, she released this video, which she directed as well:
While in the context of Barbie, the song serves as an inner monologue for Margot Robbie’s Barbie as she questions her own place in the world, the song also has a double meaning. It can be a rather existentialist track about questioning one’s place in the world. It particularly is a song Billie Eilish, or even Halle Bailey, can likely relate to given their lives are on display frequently. Just look at the lines: “Taking a drive, I was an ideal. Looked so alive, turns out I’m not real. Just something you paid for.”
We love seeing Halle Bailey casually cover “What Was I Made For?” as Barbie becomes the biggest 2023 new movie release so far. Barbie is in theaters now.