When Billie Eilish announced that she would be performing at the 92nd Academy Awards, there were speculations that she might be performing the new theme for the upcoming James Bond movie, which she and her brother Finneas have been tapped to write.
However, during her red carpet interview, she revealed that she wouldn’t be doing that – she would be singing for the ceremony’s “In Memoriam” segment.
“I can’t do that for the In Memoriam,” she told Entertainment Tonight. “It’s not about me, this is about them and showing love. It’s not my thing. It really is true. I don’t want it to be about me, I want people to be watching the screen, watching the people and you know.”
“I’m really looking forward to being a — what’s the word — respectful and respecting all the people that have passed this year. That’s all I’m here to do,” she added.
Prior to taking the stage, Billie also went on Instagram Story to let fans know she would be performing a cover.
“Honored to be performing during the in memoriam segment for the oscars tonight covering a song i’ve always loved,” she wrote.
Billie Eilish got high praises for her heartfelt cover of the Beatles’ “Yesterday” – with Finneas on the piano – to soundtrack the “In Memoriam” segment during the Oscars, which opened with a tribute to Kobe Bryant, who tragically died in a helicopter crash on January 26th. The emotional tribute also featured past Oscar nominees, including Robert Evans, the legendary producer of Chinatown and The Godfather, screenwriter Buck Henry who penned The Graduate and Catch-22, Cross Creek and Men in Black star Rip Torn, Blade Runner star Rutger Hauer, French documentarian and Faces Places director Agnes Varda, as well as Pillow Talk actress and singer Doris Day.
But fans on Twitter weren’t shy about expressing their feelings when it seemed the Academy missed two stars who also passed away in the past year – Luke Perry, who also starred in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, one of the nominated films at the Oscars, and Descendants star Cameron Boyce, who tragically died in his sleep at the age of 20.
The Academy has since issued a statement on the issue.
“The Academy receives hundreds of requests to include loved ones and industry colleagues in the Oscars In Memoriam segment,” the statement read, via E! News. “An executive committee representing every branch considers the list and makes selections for the telecast based on limited available time. All the submissions are included on Oscar.com and will remain on the site throughout the year. Luke Perry and Cameron Boyce are remembered in the Oscar.com gallery.”
