In 1997, for almost no reason at all, Danish pop group Aqua released the song “Barbie Girl,” a work of bubblegum perfection that went on to become a worldwide sensation, a chart-topping single that is impossible to forget the moment you hear it. Endlessly covered and parodied, the song was a pop culture meme before internet memes were a thing, and it’s unthinkable that Greta Gerwig’s Barbie would premiere without some sort of homage to it.
Fortunately, the legendary track is getting its due in the form of “Barbie World,” a new track by rappers Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice that both samples Aqua’s song and features a video that closely resembles the Europop band’s original attempt to emulate the Barbie dollhouse aesthetic.
There’s also a fascinating bit of history here. Mattel, the owner of Barbie, sued Aqua’s label MCA Records in 1997, claiming that “Barbie Girl” violated the Barbie trademark with its sexual lyrics — Mattel argued that the song damaged the Barbie brand, among other things. The case, Mattel v. MCA Records, was ultimately dismissed, with a federal appeals court declaring in 2002 that “Barbie Girl” was protected as parody.
Eventually, Mattel chilled out, using a reworked version of “Barbie Girl” for a 2009 ad campaign — and now once more, as part of the marketing blitz for its highly anticipated film Barbie, with the help of two of the most popular women in hip-hop.
Funny how times change.