Matchbox Twenty’s Rob Thomas responds to ‘Barbie’ reference

nme.com:

Matchbox Twenty’s Rob Thomas has responded to one of his tracks being featured in the Barbie movie.The American singer-songwriter reflected on Matchbox Twenty’s song ‘Push’ being featured in the Greta Gerwig film, and confirmed that he was fine with the movie poking fun at the 1997 hit.The moment in film comes after Ken – played by Ryan Gosling – returns to the Barbie world after paying a visit to the human world and discovering the patriarchy.

From there, he transforms the female-dominated Barbie world into a hyper-masculine “Kendom”, rife with everything associated with toxic masculinity.‘Push’ is then the song that he, as well as all the other Kens, serenade the Barbies with on the beach – with the rendition lasting for literal hours.While the moment is meant to poke fun at the ’90s band for being ‘the ultimate bro band’, as it turns out, the frontman is completely fine with his song being used as the butt of the joke.“I want to preface this by saying that I thought it was hilarious,” he said while speaking to USA Today, also referencing another time his band was used as a joke in a Hollywood blockbuster. “But in Bring It On, [Kirsten Dunst’s character] has this douche-y boyfriend.

And there’s a scene where he was in his dorm room with a Matchbox Twenty poster in the background. There was a whole period during the ‘90s where the more successful we got, the bigger target we were.

We were an easy takedown.”He continued, recalling how he was told in advance about the song’s inclusion in Barbie, and how he was OK with it – particularly because of his fondness for director Greta Gerwig.“When I got the call for Barbie, they told me, ‘Ken’s by the fireside, he’s playing the song and it’s his favourite band.’ So I did this.