On Thursdays Watch What Happens live with Andy Cohengave producer and songwriter extraordinary Mark Ronson some insight into how the Barbie soundtrack came together, including which artist he called first and why he thinks this pulled Billie Eilish out of a creative slump.
In addition to a list of A-list artists, the soundtrack features a score by Ronson and Andrew Wyatt, who collaborated with artists such as Bruno Mars, Miley Cyrus, Lady Gaga, and Dua Lipa.
And speaking of Lipa, it turns out she was the first phone call Ronson made when he was hired by director/writer/producer Greta Gerwig to produce the soundtrack.
“The first song we wrote was ‘Dance the Night,’ because the first thing Greta had told me about was a big dance number they were doing,” Ronson said. “So I immediately thought of Dua because she’s fantastic, and we’ve worked together before.”
Ronson also discussed how the reinterpreted version of the iconic “Barbie Girl” song came about with Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice, called “Barbie World.” He said that because Minaj’s fanbase is known as the Barbies or Barbz, she helped keep the brand relevant.
“We knew she had to be there, and Ice Spice exploded too,” said Ronson. “And we managed to get them. I mean, the fact that we have them talking about this ‘Barbie Girl’ thing is… it’s just insane.”
Host Andy Cohen also asked Ronson why he thinks working on the soundtrack helped Billie Eilish out of an admittedly creative funk. She contributed the song “What Was I Made For?” bee, produced by her brother Finneas O’Connell.
“You know, Greta and I played the movie in different forms for all the different artists. And Billie and Finneas watched about 20 minutes of the movie and they seemed to be very inspired,” Ronson said. And a week later Billie sent us the most beautiful ballad, one of the most beautiful ballads we had ever heard. So I think the movie really inspired her, I think emotionally and what not.
And finally, Cohen wanted to get Ronson’s take on one of the few high-profile people negative reviews of Barbie That came from Bill Maherwho called it “preaching” and “misogyny.”
“I was just like, ‘Just chill, it’s a movie,'” Ronson said.
Watch What Happens live with Andy Cohen airs from Sunday to Thursday evenings Bravo.
