Song of the Day 7/25: Aqua, “Barbie Girl”

With Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” racking up box-office records, it was only natural that this 1997 Europop earworm would make a comeback, though it’s not featured in the film in its original form.

Aqua, a Danish-Norwegian quartet, came up with “Barbie Girl” after one member saw an exhibit on kitsch culture that featured the billion-selling doll. Their interpretation of the Barbie-Ken relationship was rather risqué considering the toys famously have no gonads, and it led to a lawsuit.

Six months after its release Mattel sued MCA Records for allegedly violating their trademark, but their real complaint was about the doll’s sexualization. The suit was dismissed because the song was ruled a permissible parody, but the company fought the decision all the way to the Supreme Court. A decade later they turned around and started using the tune in advertising.

The love-hate reaction wasn’t unique to the toymaker. Voted Worst Song of the ’90s in a Rolling Stone survey, “Barbie Girl” spent four weeks at No. 1 in the UK and is still one of that nation’s best-selling singles of all time. It peaked at No. 7 in the US.

The filmmakers weren’t content to use the original track, so they got Ice Spice and Nicki Minaj to rap over a sample of the tune. They dubbed the track “Barbie World,” but it’s just the original hook with the two rhyming over it. I doubt risqué lyrics were the problem, considering that Ice Spice at one point declares, “It’s Barbie, bitch.”