The catastrophe suffered by the film ‘Barbie’ in the Oscar distribution was not absolute thanks to the musical chords, specifically those of the song ‘What was I made for’ co-written and performed by Billie Eilish. The magnitude of the news increases if we take into account that the twenty-year-old girl already won the same award two years ago with ‘No time to die’, from the James Bond film of the same name.
Eilish, in close complicity with her brother Finneas O’Connell, exhibits in the song her close, almost intimate, and at the same time moving and beautiful interpretive art. And especially in the performance he offered this morning, with his brother at the piano and the orchestra more in the background so as not to take away from the duo’s prominence. Ah! And with her dark hair and a wardrobe with schoolgirl aromas.
And of course, if she won the Oscar it was impossible for her film colleague Ryan Gosling to achieve the same. The actor was defending ‘Barbie’s other big hit, ‘I’m just Ken’, and the organization of the evening knew that Rosling’s live performance had to be the highlight of the show. It wasn’t a bad decision and things went as expected with a performance that he began in his seat and continued on stage with dancers, co-stars and, be careful, the presence of the iconic guitarist Slash of Guns N’Roses, as well as members of two other leading muscle rock bands such as Van Halen and Foo Fighters. An unexpected and welcome shot.
The other competitors were not rewarded by those responsible for the ceremony, starting with the duration of their presence on stage. The performance of the egomaniacal and lovey-dovey Joe Batiste was fortunately short, while that of the sanguine and stellar Becky G and her abrasive ‘The fire inside’ could have been more generous. The fifth in contention was the atypical performance of the Osage Tribal Singers, a group of percussionists, vocalists and dancers from the Native American Osage ethnic group, who gave life to the ritual composition ‘Wahzhazhe (A song for my people)’. An explanation of the thematic and protest context of the piece, which closes the necessary film ‘The Moon Killers’, by Martin Scorsese, was missing.
