Billie Eilish Thought Her Career Was Over Before ‘Barbie’ Track
Billie Eilish attends the 2023 Variety Power Of Women at Mother Wolf on November 16, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.
Billie Eilish was seriously worried about her music career before her Barbie hit, “What Was I Made For.” Eilish, 21, told The Hollywood Reporter about her creative struggles before she penned the film’s track with her brother Finneas. In a songwriter roundtable on Thursday (November 16), Eilish was joined by Dua Lipa, Olivia Rodrigo, Jon Batiste, Cynthia Erivo, and Julia Michaels.
Eilish said, “I honestly was concerned that it was over for me. We’d been trying, and it wasn’t doing what it usually would do in me. I was honestly like, ‘Damn, maybe I hit my peak, and I don’t know how to write anymore?’” Getting the call from director Greta Gerwig in January is what changed everything for Eilish. She went so far as to say the director “saved” her and Finneas from the despairing slump. “It brought us out of it, and immediately we were inspired and wrote so much more after that.”
As we previously reported, “What Was I Made For?” has been streamed over 600 million times since its release four months ago. While appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live! last month, Eilish said getting a “prompt” beforehand helped her in the writing process. Shocked about how well the numbers for “What Was I Made For?” has done, Eilish told the host, “It’s pretty nuts. That’s a lot of listens.” Eilish has two studio albums under her belt: 2019’s When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? and 2021’s Happier Than Ever. Now, the dynamic sister-brother duo is making progress on her third album. She revealed they have been “filming the whole creation of the next album we’re working on.” In September, Eilish revealed, “There is lots of music coming. There is a whole album of music coming. We’re in the final stages of making it, so that doesn’t mean it’s about to come out, but it is getting there, and it’s very exciting.” She has yet to announce a possible release date or album name.
Billie Eilish's 10 Best Music Videos
Billie Eilish has put out her fair share of music videos since 2016, starting with her breakthrough single, “Ocean Eyes.” Since then, the now 22-year-old singer-songwriter has created some of the most visually stunning videos any female artist her age has ever accomplished. Two of her music videos have received over 1 billion views on YouTube: her collaborative song “lovely” with Khalid and 2019’s hit, “bad guy.” She has 24 other music videos that have over 100 million views on the site alone.
Eilish’s first studio album, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? released in 2019 as one of the best-selling albums of the year, which she received multiple Grammys for. The 14-song album featured such hits as “you should see me in a crown,” “all the good girls go to hell,” “bury a friend,” and “when the party’s over.” The following year, Eilish performed the theme song “No Time to Die” for the James Bond film of the same name, which is arguably one of her most moving songs to date. By 2021, Billie released her second studio album, Happier Than Ever, which featured the song of the same name, as well as “my future,” “Your Power,” and “NDA.”
As we previously reported, the musician thought her career was over before she got a big break in 2023 with the Barbie film soundtrack. Before she and her frequent collaborator and brother FINNEAS penned “What Was I Made For?”, Eilish was honestly concerned about her music career. “I was honestly like, ‘Damn, maybe I hit my peak, and I don’t know how to write anymore?’” she said during The Hollywood Reporter‘s songwriter roundtable in November. She credits the call from Barbie director Greta Gerwig for saving her and Finneas from the despairing slump. “It brought us out of it, and immediately we were inspired and wrote so much more after that.” The song has now been streamed over a billion times.
Below, we have ranked her best 10 so far, in celebration of the singer’s birthday today (December 18):
Laila Abuelhawa is the Top 40 and Hip-Hop pop culture writer for Beasley Media Group. Being with the company for over three years, Laila's fierce and fabulous red-carpet rankings have earned her a feature on 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert!' Her favorite stories are those surrounding the latest in celebrity fashion, television and film rankings, and how the world reacts to major celebrity news. With a background in journalism, Laila's stories ensure accuracy and offer background information on stars that you wouldn't have otherwise known. She prides herself in covering stories that inform the public about what is currently happening and what is to come in the ever-changing, ever-evolving media landscape.
