Discover the reasons why the hit group Aqua released in 1997 will not be part of the Barbie soundtrack
Launched on March 9, 1959, Barbie, is the doll created by Ruth It is Elliot Handler, the co-founders of the Mattel toy factory, which ceased to be just part of children’s games to have their image included in t-shirts, collectibles, films, drawings and even songs, the most popular among them being “Barbie Girl”, the quartet’s hit Danish Aqua.
The song, which was released in 1997, is part of the group’s debut album, “Aquarium”, which according to G1, had more than 15 million copies sold. In addition, “Barbie Girl” became one of the most played songs in Brazil, even winning a Portuguese version by the voice of singer Kelly Key, entitled “Sou a Barbie Girl” in 2005.
Despite the song’s popularity, “Barbie Girl” will not appear in Barbie’s live-action, a production that premieres on July 20th of this month and brings Margot Robbie as the traditional version of the most popular doll in the world and Ryan Gosling like her boyfriend, the Ken doll — but why is that?
Following the timeline of facts, with confirmation of the film that would bring the doll in a human version, fans began to question whether the famous song would be in the feature, receiving the answer in April 2022, when Ulrich Møller-Jørgensenmanager of Aqua’s vocalist, Lene Nystrom, told Variety magazine that the track would not be part of the soundtrack used in the plot. At the time, the film’s production company, Warner Bros., had no comment on the claim.
The choice not to include “Barbie Girl” in Barbieland in theaters may be related to the dispute between Mattel and the Aqua group. As explained by Variety, when the song was released, the company filed a lawsuit against MCA Records (now part of Universal Music), which distributed the song in the US, claiming trademark infringement.
Legal action was prompted as, at the time, the track sold over 1.4 million copies in the US and topped the UK singles charts for four weeks raising Mattel’s concern over the doll’s image and reputation. due to the suggestive lyrics of the song.
The company’s apprehension and dissatisfaction can be noted in the lawsuit file, where Mattel described the song as featuring “a promiscuous Barbie doll singing in a flirtatious tone” and a “licentious Ken doll responding ‘kiss me here, touch me there'”, in addition to having reservations about the clip, as “The video shows the Ken doll dismembering the Barbie doll by pulling his arm”.
With that, MCA Records defended the allegations by stating that the song was a parody protected by the First Amendment, in addition to having filed their own defamation lawsuit over statements made by a spokesperson for Mattel during the lawsuit.
Even if we found the lyrics acceptable, we would be filing this lawsuit because the song was published and distributed without our permission and certainly without our notice,” the spokesperson said. “They are referring to this song as upbeat and fun, and we truly believe that illegally exploiting another company’s property for one’s own commercial gain is neither upbeat nor fun. It is theft.”
The mutual claims were denied by the United States District Court in California, which declared that “Mattel’s statements were non-actionable hyperbole” and that the song is a parody, “mocking her and the plastic values she represents”.
Still, on social media, fans did not fully accept the decision not to include the track in the film and insisted on the song’s presence in the film. In addition to them, Barbie’s own interpreter, Margot Robbiealso saw the need for music in the soundtrack, as revealed by the actress in an interview with Rolling Stone (via Screenrant).
I was like, ‘Greta, how are we going to incorporate this song? We can’t make a Barbie movie and not have a reference to Aqua’s Barbie Girl. It has to be there,'” Robbie said.
Shortly thereafter, Magot clarified that Greta Gerwig, the plot director, was also willing to include the song. “AND [Greta] said, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll find a legal way to embed it.’ And then when she said, ‘Guess who’s going to do Aqua’s “Barbie Girl” remix? Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice’, I was like, ‘Together? You are kidding?!’ I knew right away that all my friends were going to freak out,” she finished.
With that, despite the original song not being included, a remix of “Barbie Girl” by Aqua was released on June 23, where Nicki Minaj It is ice spice voice “Barbie World”. Remember!
Source: Recreio
