Aqua’s ‘Barbie Girl’ turns 25: Band talks song’s backlash, Margot Robbie film

nypost.com:

in the highly anticipated “Barbie” film starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, reported Variety. According to Aqua singer Lene Nystrøm, using the song would be “too on-the-nose.” “I totally understand why they didn’t use it,” said Nystrøm, adding that its inclusion would be “cheese on cheese.” She also saw a silver lining to the situation: “It’s going to bring us a lot of attention, no matter what.”“We should say we turned it down,” joked bandmate Søren Rasted. “Ryan Gosling is not good enough!” Soon after the song’s release, it became the subject of a lawsuit brought by Barbie’s parent company, Mattel — which the toy brand lost.

After YouTube’s launch in 2004, the music video has gone on to snag more than 1 billion views across online platforms.The Scandinavian band recently released a 25th anniversary edition of their debut album, “Aquarium,” and are now planning to ramp up their tour dates.“Something magical happened when ‘Barbie Girl’ came out,” says the 48-year-old Nystrøm. “The whole world exploded overnight.”Rasted recalled the group’s rapid launch into stardom. “Our label sent it to Z100 in New York, and the phones just lit up,” he explained.However, like most instant successes, there is always a downside. “We weren’t prepared for all the negative reactions,” Nystrøm said of those who protested the song for alleged anti-feminist themes at the time of its release.“You know in your heart what your intentions were and reading all that was a little bit tough to swallow,” she added.Rasted also recalled the trouble the group had recording the hit song due to the technology at the time. “At that time you couldn’t do Auto-Tune — so you just had to hit it,” he said.Joked Nystrøm, “I don’t know how many headsets I.