Billie Eilish breaks industry record as youngest two-time Oscar winner at 22 with ‘What Was I Made For?’
Oscar-winning siblings Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell made Oscar history Sunday night by becoming the youngest-ever two-time winners of the Best Song trophy. Billie and Finneas took home the award for the song What Was I Made For?, an original soundtrack, that was featured on Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and which Billie had performed during the ceremony as well.
Billie Eilish makes history with second Oscar win
“I feel so incredibly lucky and honored,” said a visibly emotional Billie as she took the mic on stage. “This goes out to everyone who was affected by the movie and how incredible it is,” she continued. The brother-sister team had previously won the award for Best Original Song in 2021 for No Time to Die in the James Bond film of the same name starring Daniel Craig.
22-year-old Billie snagged her second Oscar, breaking an 87-year-old industry record. With this Billie scripts history by becoming the youngest two-time Oscar winner at the age of 22, surpassing the mark held by Luise Rainer, who was 28 when she won her second Oscar. She was nominated for her song What Was I Made For? by Barbie. The other nominated song for the night was from the same movie. ‘I’m Just Ken,’ a heartfelt ode to Ryan Gosling, was written by Star Is Born nominees Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt (known for writing Shallow.)
A standing ovation for Billie at 2024 Oscars
As the 96th Annual Academy Awards began, the singer of ‘bad guy’ delivered an exceptional and powerful live stage performance of the song she was nominated for. With pianist O’Connell, Eilish moved the crowd with her ethereal vocal harmonies. The track, which had previously won Song of the Year at the Grammy Awards, was one of the most popular songs of the year.
Other achievements of Billie Eilish this year
Eilish and O’Connell have already won Grammy and Golden Globes. They also won the Society of Composers and Lyricists award for What Was I Made for? The song also holds an impressive 633 million streams.
