Aqua talks about ‘Barbie Girl’ legacy, absence from film as music turns 25

By IANS

LOS ANGELES: High-pitched vocals, shiny visuals and kitschy lyrics made pop band Aqua’s ‘Barbie Girl’ a novelty hit for the ages, and the perky euro-pop anthem, which took the world by storm in 1997, continues to be going robust 25 years later.

The video has amassed greater than 1.1 billion views on YouTube however the primary query is will the music make it to Greta Gerwig’s upcoming ‘Barbie’ film? The reply to that query isn’t any, experiences ‘Variety’, which is not shocking on condition that Mattel sued Aqua within the ’90s and misplaced but it surely’s nonetheless disappointing for a lot of.

The Danish-Norwegian group, nevertheless, is decidedly confused. Lene Nystrom theorises that utilizing ‘Barbie Girl’ within the film can be too on-the-nose or, in her phrases, “cheese on cheese”.

Soren Rasted finds the entire state of affairs amusing: “We should say we turned it down. Ryan Gosling is not good enough!”
 However, they’re excited for the movie.

“I totally understand why they didn’t use it,” Nystrom added, “but it’s going to bring us a lot of attention, no matter what”.

Aqua is prepared for it. The band simply launched a Twenty fifth-anniversary version of their debut album, ‘Aquarium’, on September 23 and plans to ramp up their touring schedule.

And whereas some artists distance themselves from their previous, Aqua could be very comfy with their area of interest in standard tradition.

The Scandinavian hitmakers are pleased with ‘Barbie Girl’ and fortunately share an anecdote about its notoriously excessive pitch. “At that time you couldn’t do autotune,” Rasted explains.

“So you just had to hit it.” Which did not go down too properly with Nystrom. “I don’t know how many headsets I smashed,” she laughs.

“I was furious for months.” Eventually, the singer got here round: “It made the whole track magical, but it took me a long time to admit it.”

As a lot as pundits have learn into the lyrics of ‘Barbie Girl’ over time, Aqua simply needed to make a catchy music. “We had the line, ‘C’mon Barbie, let’s go party’, and thought it was great,” Rasted stated

“There were a lot of headlines about plastic surgery at the time, which influenced us, but we really just wanted to make a fun song. We didn’t put that much thought into it. The hook just worked really, really well.”

From the start, Aqua suspected they’d successful on their palms. They simply had no thought how massive. “Something magical happened when Barbie Girl’ came out,” Nystrom says.

“The whole world exploded overnight.” Rasted remembers when the music broke in America. “Our label sent it to Z100 in New York and the phones just lit up.”

But as a lot as they loved the frenzy of world fame, there was a draw back. “We weren’t prepared for all the negative reactions,” Nystrom says, referring to the anti-feminist accusations levelled on the music. “You know in your heart what your intentions were and reading all that was a little bit tough to swallow.”

She additionally vividly remembers the lawsuit Mattel introduced towards the band, which was ultimately dismissed. “You had to watch what you were saying all the time, sometimes our words were twisted.”

While Aqua is remarkably candid about their temporary stint on the high, they do take umbrage at being labeled one-hit wonders. “In the UK, ‘Doctor Jones’ and ‘Turn Back Time’ also went No. 1,” Rene Dif, the band’s third member, recollects.

“It showed that we were not one-hit wonders, which they were focusing on a lot back then.” However, he tends to let the outline slide. “When you try to say, ‘No, I’m not a one-hit wonder’, it makes you sound pretty weird!”

What was the key of their success? Dif places it right down to the duet construction of the songs, with him and Nystrom buying and selling strains, and the long-lasting movies, which had been offered in ‘Aquascope’. Rasted agrees, theorising that good songs and memorable movies made them “larger than life”.

Rasted says that releasing an album merely is not a precedence for the group.

“The main thing for us is live gigs,” he says. “Releasing a track here and there would just be icing on the cake.”

LOS ANGELES: High-pitched vocals, shiny visuals and kitschy lyrics made pop band Aqua’s ‘Barbie Girl’ a novelty hit for the ages, and the perky euro-pop anthem, which took the world by storm in 1997, continues to be going robust 25 years later.
The video has amassed greater than 1.1 billion views on YouTube however the primary query is will the music make it to Greta Gerwig’s upcoming ‘Barbie’ film? The reply to that query isn’t any, experiences ‘Variety’, which is not shocking on condition that Mattel sued Aqua within the ’90s and misplaced but it surely’s nonetheless disappointing for a lot of.
The Danish-Norwegian group, nevertheless, is decidedly confused. Lene Nystrom theorises that utilizing ‘Barbie Girl’ within the film can be too on-the-nose or, in her phrases, “cheese on cheese”.
Soren Rasted finds the entire state of affairs amusing: “We should say we turned it down. Ryan Gosling is not good enough!”
 However, they’re excited for the movie.
“I totally understand why they didn’t use it,” Nystrom added, “but it’s going to bring us a lot of attention, no matter what”.
Aqua is prepared for it. The band simply launched a Twenty fifth-anniversary version of their debut album, ‘Aquarium’, on September 23 and plans to ramp up their touring schedule.
And whereas some artists distance themselves from their previous, Aqua could be very comfy with their area of interest in standard tradition.
The Scandinavian hitmakers are pleased with ‘Barbie Girl’ and fortunately share an anecdote about its notoriously excessive pitch. “At that time you couldn’t do autotune,” Rasted explains.
“So you just had to hit it.” Which did not go down too properly with Nystrom. “I don’t know how many headsets I smashed,” she laughs.
“I was furious for months.” Eventually, the singer got here round: “It made the whole track magical, but it took me a long time to admit it.”
As a lot as pundits have learn into the lyrics of ‘Barbie Girl’ over time, Aqua simply needed to make a catchy music. “We had the line, ‘C’mon Barbie, let’s go party’, and thought it was great,” Rasted stated
“There were a lot of headlines about plastic surgery at the time, which influenced us, but we really just wanted to make a fun song. We didn’t put that much thought into it. The hook just worked really, really well.”
From the start, Aqua suspected they’d successful on their palms. They simply had no thought how massive. “Something magical happened when Barbie Girl’ came out,” Nystrom says.
“The whole world exploded overnight.” Rasted remembers when the music broke in America. “Our label sent it to Z100 in New York and the phones just lit up.”
But as a lot as they loved the frenzy of world fame, there was a draw back. “We weren’t prepared for all the negative reactions,” Nystrom says, referring to the anti-feminist accusations levelled on the music. “You know in your heart what your intentions were and reading all that was a little bit tough to swallow.”
She additionally vividly remembers the lawsuit Mattel introduced towards the band, which was ultimately dismissed. “You had to watch what you were saying all the time, sometimes our words were twisted.”
While Aqua is remarkably candid about their temporary stint on the high, they do take umbrage at being labeled one-hit wonders. “In the UK, ‘Doctor Jones’ and ‘Turn Back Time’ also went No. 1,” Rene Dif, the band’s third member, recollects.
“It showed that we were not one-hit wonders, which they were focusing on a lot back then.” However, he tends to let the outline slide. “When you try to say, ‘No, I’m not a one-hit wonder’, it makes you sound pretty weird!”
What was the key of their success? Dif places it right down to the duet construction of the songs, with him and Nystrom buying and selling strains, and the long-lasting movies, which had been offered in ‘Aquascope’. Rasted agrees, theorising that good songs and memorable movies made them “larger than life”.
Rasted says that releasing an album merely is not a precedence for the group.
“The main thing for us is live gigs,” he says. “Releasing a track here and there would just be icing on the cake.”