Aqua Breaks Silence On Barbie Movie’s Use Of Their Song After Mattel Lawsuit History-TGN

Summary

• Aqua members initially didn’t expect their song “Barbie Girl” to be included in the Barbie movie, but a collaboration with Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice happened quickly.

• Mattel had a complicated relationship with Aqua after past lawsuits over “Barbie Girl,” but Aqua perceive the collab as a burying of the hatchet.

• Including “Barbie Girl” in the film was a much-needed nod to Aqua, and the audience ultimately benefited from the reconciliation with Mattel.

Aqua breaks their silence on Barbie‘s creative use of their song “Barbie Girl.” The Danish Europop band first released “Barbie Girl” in 1997 on their debut album, Aquarium. It became extremely popular, and many fans were expecting it to be used in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie. Barbie ended up using a remix version of the song, adding rap stars Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice to Aqua’s ’90s classic.

Now, Aqua members speak on the Barbie movie soundtrack’s use of their song after initial uncertainty. In an interview with The Guardian, band member Lene Nystrøm explains that the collaboration with Minaj and Ice Spice “happened really quickly” after they’d initially assumed the song wouldn’t be included at all. Check out the full quote from Nystrøm below:

Fellow Aqua Band member René Dif, noting they interpreted the collab as officially making peace with Mattel, added:

Why “Barbie Girl” Being Included In Barbie Was Uncertain

Though “Barbie Girl” was eventually included in the final Barbie film via “Barbie World,” Aqua’s original song was not always expected to be heard in the film at all. In fact, Nystrøm’s manager had announced that “Barbie Girl” would not be featured in the Barbie movie, shocking many fans. Margot Robbie later said, however, that Gerwig’s film was always meant to incorporate “Barbie Girl,” because one cannot “do a Barbie movie and not have a nod to Aqua’s ‘Barbie Girl’.”

Related: 12 Barbie Movie Easter Easter Eggs & Toy References

Whether “Barbie Girl” was always going to be in Barbie or not, the uncertainty surrounding the song’s inclusion is unsurprising given Aqua’s complicated relationship with Mattel. When the song was first released in 1997, Mattel feared that “Barbie Girl” oversexualized the popular children’s toy. As a result, the company ended up filing a trademark infringement lawsuit against MCA Records, which then responded with a counterclaim. The cases were dismissed, with the song ruled on appeal to be legally protected as a parody.

Eventually, Mattel, which co-produced the Barbie movie, likely realized the same thing that Robbie did: a Barbie movie without “Barbie Girl” wouldn’t have felt right. Similarly to the cultural phenomenon that the movie has become, “Barbie Girl” became part of the zeitgeist. Thus, ostracizing Aqua and their song from the film would have ultimately seemed like a major oversight in Barbie, and audiences ultimately benefited from this reconciliation.

Source: The Guardian