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Barbie arrives next week on July 21, and the titular character (Margot Robbie) appears to be longing for something more than her picture-perfect Barbieland and dreamhouse can offer, as the new teaser showcases. It also gives the first taste of Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?”
“We made this song forBarbieand it means the absolute worrrrllld to me,” Eilish wrote on Instagram, announcing that the song will be part of the film’s soundtrack last week. “This movie is gonna change ur lives, and hopefully this song will too. Get ready to sob.”
She wasn’t kidding about the tears; the wistful, piano-led ballad soundtracks the new emotional clip, lending weight to what appears on the surface to be a happy, very pink world.
“Close your eyes, take my hands, close your eyes, now feel,” Barbie is told. When she opens her eyes, she’s transported into a magical pink place with a smile on her face, as she descends from her shiny house into a pink convertible. Later, she’s on a beach at night being serenaded by Ken (Ryan Gosling) by a bonfire as the lilting piano melody buoys the romance.
But all is not happy and romantic in Barbieland, as the teaser shows the emotional turmoil rocking Barbie’s world, and the upset-looking doll running through the Mattel offices while she is chased by folks in suits.
“What was I made for?” Billie Eilish hauntingly sings as the 30-second clip ends.
Director-writer Greta Gerwig told Rolling Stone that the movie addresses the moment when Barbie learns that some women in the real world hate her and find her oppressive, mirroring IRL feelings some have for Barbie.
“It felt like we had to give the counterargument to Barbie, and not give it short shrift, but give it real intellectual and emotional power,” Gerwig said. “And Mattel was incredibly open to it. I said, ‘We have to explore it, because it’s a lie any other way. And we can’t make it a lie.’ I think they heard it.”
