"I was not expecting this," said Billie Eilish shortly after ascending the stage to accept her second Academy Award on March 10. If so, she was just about the only person who wasn't. Eilish, who won alongside her brother and collaborator Finneas O'Connell for the song "What Was I Made For?" from last summer's blockbuster Barbie, was widely predicted to take home the statuette, having won virtually every precursor film award over the past several months, as well as the Song of the Year Grammy.
All the same, the singer was effusive in her speech, beginning with "I had a nightmare about this last night." She went on to thank Barbie director Greta Gerwig, as well as "everyone who was affected by the movie and how wonderful it was."
After O'Connell thanked the pair's parents and the film's star/producer Margot Robbie, Eilish cut back in to add some additional thanks, including to her childhood best friend "for playing Barbies with me," as well as a music teacher, about whom she said: "you didn't like me, but you were good at your job."
Eilish became the youngest person to win two Oscars.
Eilish and O'Connell was long considered the favorites in the category, having also won the Golden Globe earlier this year. (The two siblings won their first Oscars in this category for composing the James Bond theme "No Time to Die" in 2022.) With this year's win, Eilish becomes the youngest person to win two Oscars in the awards' history.
Eilish was similarly full of disbelief when she won the Song of the Year at the Grammys in February, saying: "That's stupid guys! That was a crazy list of incredible artists, incredible music… I'm shocked out of my balls... This is silly, I'm not supposed to be here."
Also nominated in the category, Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt's "I'm Just Ken," sung by Ryan Gosling, also from Barbie. Diane Warren received her 15th career nomination for "The Fire Inside" from Flamin' Hot, sung by Becky G. Jon Batiste picked up a nomination for "It Never Went Away" from his documentary American Symphony, along with Scott George's “Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)” from Killers of the Flower Moon.
Eilish and O'Connell won their first Oscars for the James Bond theme "No Time to Die."
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Presenters Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande presented the Best Original Song award, as well as Best Original Score, which went to Ludwig Göransson for Oppenheimer. The Swedish composer thanked his parents "for giving me guitars and drum machines instead of video games."
Göransson won in a field that also included the late Band frontman Robbie Robertson, who was nominated for his score for Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon. Robertson was the first composer to be nominated posthumously in the category since film music great Bernard Herrmann, who was nominated for both Taxi Driver and Obsession in 1976.
Ludwig Göransson won the Oscar for Best Original Score for 'Oppenheimer.'
Though he did not win his sixth Oscar for his score to Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, John Williams had already made history in the category, with his 54th career nomination.
