At the Oscars on March 10, Ryan Gosling‘s performance of “I’m Just Ken” might have stolen the show, but it wasn’t the Barbie tune that won the Best Original Song Oscar. The trophy went to “What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish and her brother FINNEAS, who are now the only people ever to have won two Oscars before the age of 30. But backstage, Billie, 22, recalled a time in her life that she felt she’d never accomplish anything.
Asked what advice she’d give to other young people dreaming of a career in music, Billie said, “Don’t do it for other people … I want everyone to be doing something that they feel passionate about and that they feel proud of and that makes them feel like the best version of themself.”
Her other piece of advice was to “give yourself time,” because she admitted that when she was 12, she felt like a washed-up loser after going to see the Broadway musical Matilda.
“I was bawling in the back of the nosebleed [seats], and I was like, ‘I’m never going to amount to anything because I’m not in Matilda!"” Billie recalled. “[So] I would just give yourself some time and do what you love.”
She laughed, “And I know that’s kind of easier said than done, because some of us don’t really know what we love. But you’ll figure it out. You’ll find it.”
Billie also commented on why she thought that Barbie had been such worldwide sensation.
“I think it made a lot of people feel very seen. And I think that can be rare, especially as a woman,” she said. “And I think that really resonated and, I think, traveled the world of feeling seen and heard and understood, y’know?”
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