Fans of 1990s pop music might see this news as devastating, but the hit song “Barbie Girl” by Aqua will reportedly not be featured in the live-actionBarbiemovie. In development from director Greta Gerwig,BarbiestarsMargot Robbieas the human version of the popular plastic doll of the same name. A first look at the film was just recently unveiled at CinemaCon revealing Robbie in character as Barbie, complete with the pink convertible and all.
One would think that a movie about someone playing the real Barbie would be perfect to feature “Barbie Girl” at some point. The song is so closely associated with theBarbiebrand that some fans would say it’s a no-brainer to use that song for the end credits, if nothing else. That’s not going to be the case, however.Varietyreports that Ulrich Møller-Jørgensen, who manages Aqua lead singer Lene Nystrøm, clarified that “the song will not be used in the movie.”
No specific reason was given for why “Barbie Girl” isn’t going to be included in the Barbie movie. The Variety article speculates that it could be because of the troubled history between Aqua and Mattel, as Mattel is heavily involved in the film. This dates back to when “Barbie Girl” became a smash hit when it was released in 1997, prompting Mattel to file a lawsuit against MCA Records for trademark infringement. At the time, Mattel noted concerns about the song portraying Barbie as “promiscuous” along with a complaint how Ken can be seen “dismembering” Barbie in the music video, referring to a moment with Nystrøm getting her arm pulled off.
MCA Records counter-sued for defamation, but, ultimately, a judge tossed both complaints, as the song is protected by parody law. More than two decades later, it very well could be that Mattel wants nothing more to do with Aqua, much less pay the band money to include their song for use in theBarbiefilm. Of course, this is just speculation, and it’s just as possible that the song just didn’t fit with the vision director Greta Gerwig had in mind for thisBarbiemovie.
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Aqua’s “Barbie Girl” Has Racked Up Over One Billion Views on YouTube
Even without appearing in aBarbiemovie, Aqua’s “Barbie Girl” remains one of the all-time most memorable songs. Its official music video has garnered more than one billion views on YouTube as fans continue to play the song 25 years later. There will undoubtedly be many filmgoers expecting to hear that song playing at some point in the film, but it just wasn’t meant to be.
Greta Gerwig directsBarbieusing a screenplay co-written with Noah Baumbach. Along with Margot Robbie in the lead, the film stars Ryan Gosling as Ken with other cast members including Kate McKinnon, Alexandra Ship, Simu Liu, America Ferrera, and Will Ferrell. The project is still heavily shrouded in secrecy but will obviously take heavy inspiration from Mattel’s plastic dolls.
