'Barbie Girl' turns 25: Aqua opens up about legacy and Song's absence from the film

Helium vocals and kitsch lyrics made Aqua's "Barbie Girl" a unprecedented success for the ages, and the perky Euro-pop anthem, which took the world by storm in 1997, is still going strong 25 years later. The candy-colored video has amassed over 1.1 billion views on YouTube and any conversation about Greta Gerwig's upcoming 'Barbie' movie ultimately leads to the question: Will 'Barbie Girl' be part of the soundtrack?

The answer to this question is no. Which isn't surprising considering Mattel sued Aqua in the '90s - and lost - but it's still disappointing for many. The Danish-Norwegian group, however, is decidedly perplexed.

Lene Nystrøm theorizes that using "Barbie Girl" in the film would be too much on the nose - or, in his words, "cheese on cheese." Søren Rasted, the one who once had his hair on end, finds the whole situation amusing: “We should say that we refused. Ryan Gosling is not good enough! In the end, they are delighted with the film. "I totally understand why they haven't used it," Nystrøm continues, "but it's going to get a lot of attention for us no matter what."

And Aqua is ready for it. The band just released a 25th anniversary edition of their debut album, "Aquarium," on September 23 and plans to ramp up their touring schedule. And while some artists distance themselves from their past, Aqua is very comfortable with its place in popular culture.

Scandinavian hitmakers are proud of "Barbie Girl" and happily share an anecdote about her notoriously high pitch . "At that time, you couldn't do auto-tuning," Rasted says. "So you just had to hit him." Which didn't go too well with Nystrøm. "I don't know how many helmets I've broken," she laughs. "I was furious for months." Eventually, the singer pulled himself together, "It made the whole track magical, but it took me a while to admit it."

As much as pundits have read the lyrics to "Barbie Girl" over the years, Aqua just wanted to make a catchy song. "We had the line, 'Come on Barbie, let's party,' and we thought that was great," Rasted confesses sheepishly. "There were a lot of plastic surgery headlines at the time, which influenced us, but we really wanted to do a fun song. We didn't give it much thought. The hook really worked really well."

Early on, Aqua suspected they had a hit on their hands. They simply had no idea of ​​the size. "Something magical happened when 'Barbie Girl' came out," says Nystrøm. "The whole world exploded overnight." Rasted remembers when the song broke out in America. "Our label sent it to Z100 in New York and the phones just turned on."

But while they enjoyed the rush to world fame, there was a downside. "We weren't prepared for all the backlash," Nystrøm says, referring to the anti-feminist accusations leveled at the song. "You know in your heart what your intentions were and reading all of this was a little hard to swallow."

She also vividly remembers Mattel's lawsuit against the band, which was ultimately dismissed. "We had to be careful what we said all the time, sometimes our words were twisted."

While Aqua is remarkably candid about his brief stint at the top, they take umbrage at being labeled as such - works wonders. "In the UK, 'Doctor Jones' and 'Turn Back Time' also went No. 1," recalls Rene Dif, the band's third member. "It showed that we weren't one-hit wonders, which they were focusing on a lot at the time." However, it tends to let the description slip. "When you try to say, 'No, I'm not a blockbuster wonder', it makes you look kind of weird!" »

What was the secret to their success? Dif credits it to the duet structure of the songs, featuring him and Nystrøm, and the iconic videos, which were featured in "Aquascope." Rasted agrees, theorizing that great songs and memorable videos made them "larger than life".

That cartoonish quality combined with the fact that the 90s are hot again make Aqua simultaneously.. .