Looking purely at the charts, “What Was I Made For?” isn’t the biggest hit of career. It managed a peak at No. 14 on the Hot 100 chart, which is great, but not as good her as the chart-topping “Bad Guy” or the No. 2 hit “Therefore I Am.” It’s certainly one of the best-received songs Eilish has released so far, though, and the response to her and Finneas’ performance of the favorite at the 2024
Academy Awards was proof of that. Compositionally, the song is relatively simple, which played in its favor on stage at the Oscars: Its three core elements — voice, Finneas’ piano, and the orchestra that accompanied them — were able to gorgeously play off each other with no distractions. When the song was over, Eilish gave an audible “whoa” in response to the audience’s reaction. She got a standing ovation, and crowd shots showed that a bunch of people were either teary-eyed, close to it, or were otherwise wowed, including much of the cast. In particular,
Ariana Grande looked floored, and Kate McKinnon appeared to be holding something in after giving a triumphant scream. 'What I was made for', Billie Eilish cantando en los , no estoy llorando, es solo agua. — Movistar Plus+ (@MovistarPlus) the entire Barbie cast was either crying or staring in awe at Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell after their
Oscars performance of “What was I made for?” — Spencer Althouse (@SpencerAlthouse) It was a huge night for Eilish outside of the performance, as “What Was I Made For?” also won Best Original Song. That makes 22-year-old Eilish . Find the full list of this year’s Oscar winners .