Barbie Girl

"Barbie Girl"
Single by Aqua
from the album Aquarium
B-side	Remix
Released	June 1997 (See release history)
Format	12" vinyl, CD single, CD maxi, Cassette
Recorded	1997
Genre	Bubblegum pop, Happy House, Eurodance
Length	3:16
Label	MCA
Writer(s)	Claus Norreen, Søren Nystrøm Rasted
Producer	Søren Rasted, Claus Norreen, Johnny Jam, Delgado
Aqua singles chronology
"My Oh My" (1997) "Barbie Girl" (1997) "Didn't I" (1997)
Music sample Barbie Girl

"Barbie Girl" is a song in the bubblegum pop genre by the Danish dance-pop group Aqua, who released it in 1997 as their third single overall, and the first United Kingdom release. The song is included on the album Aquarium and was written by Claus Norreen and Søren Nystrøm Rasted after the group saw an exhibit on kitsch culture. The song topped the charts worldwide, particularly in European countries such as the UK, where it was a number-one hit for three weeks; it was also on top of the charts in Australia for the same length of time, and debuted and peaked at #7 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 on 6 September 1997.

History

The lyrics of the song are about Barbie and Ken, the dolls made by Mattel. Both the song and its music video feature Lene Nystrøm Rasted as Barbie and René Dif as Ken. As such, the lyrics drew the ire of Barbie's corporate owners.

The song was voted the fourth "Best Number One of All Time" in a VH1 poll, and was featured in spot #32 on VH1's "Most Awesomely Bad Songs... Ever" countdown. In an unrelated VH1 countdown, VH1's 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders, it was featured at #88. In 2007, Rolling Stone named "Barbie Girl" as one of the 20 Most Annoying Songs.^[1] Also in 2007, MuchMoreMusic featured the song at #27 on the list of the 50 Guilty Pleasures. In 2008, it was featured as "one of the worst songs ever played" on The Morning Wrap, the premiere talk show of the Florida Panhandle. In 2009, Same Difference voted it #2 in their Ultimate Cheese-Fest Top 20 on 4Music. Blender magazine also voted it at #33, as one of the 50 Worst Songs Ever.^[2] Despite the criticism, "Barbie Girl" has sold more than 8 million copies worldwide.

Music video

The music video played repeatedly on MTV and helped launch the career of Danish director Peder Pedersen, who designed its cartoon-inspired visuals.

As of September 2009, the video has over 31,825,361 views on YouTube, being one of the most viewed in the history of the website.

Mattel's lawsuit

Mattel sued the band, saying they violated the Barbie trademark and turned Barbie into a sex object, referring to her as a "Blonde Bimbo."^[3] They alleged the song had violated their copyrights and trademarks of Barbie, and that its lyrics had tarnished the reputation of their trademark and impinged on their marketing plan. Aqua claimed that Mattel injected their own meanings into the song's lyrics and MCA Records was not about to let their hit single be suppressed without a fight. They contested Mattel's claims and countersued for defamation after Mattel had likened MCA to a bank robber.^[4]

The lawsuit filed by Mattel was dismissed by the lower courts, and this dismissal was upheld, though Mattel took their case up to the Supreme Court of the United States (Mattel's appeal was later rejected). In 2002, Judge Alex Kozinski ruled the song was protected as a parody under the trademark doctrine of nominative use and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. He also threw out the defamation lawsuit that Aqua's record company filed against Mattel. Kozinski concluded his ruling by saying, "The parties are advised to chill."^[5] The case was dismissed, and in the process, it garnered lots of media attention for the song and the band.

This controversy was used by journalist Naomi Klein to make a political point in her book No Logo, where she stated that the monopolies created by copyrights and trademarks are unfairly and differently enforced based on the legal budgets of the conflicting parties and their ability to defend their expressions by hiring lawyers.

Despite the lawsuit, Mattel has since released a promotional music video of the song (with modified lyrics) on the official Barbie web site.^[6] In addition, recent Barbie product commercials have used modified lyrics to the tune of the original song.

Cover versions and parodies

The song has been covered by several artists throughout years, including U.S. electric duo Velva Blu,^[7] Brazilian singer Kelly Key (in Portuguese, titled "Sou a Barbie Girl" ["I'm the Barbie Girl"] as her tenth single on 15 April 2005 ; the CD maxi contains four version of the song : radio edit, extended version, DJ Malboro mix and club remix), Samanda (2007, peaked at #26 in the UK singles Chart), Rob Mayth (2006, released as single ;^[8] in summer 2006, German Euro house project Bangbros played live the remix of this version in an DJ set), Andrea featuring Sergio (Eurobeat cover for Super Eurobeat Vol. 199 ~Collaboration of Eurobeat~), Electric Chairs (2001, melancholy and down-tempo version). Other covers have been performed by bands Home Grown, MxPx, Zebrahead, Simple Plan, My Favorite Band (MFB) and Tsunami Bomb. The song has also been covered by Jessica Jung, A Korean-American singer from the popular girl group Girls' Generation in their 1st Asia Tour.

The are also many parodies of the song, notable made by The Dog House (a "gay" version in which Barbie is insulted behind her back by Garrett and Raoul with gratuitous words because they pine for Ken, however the conclusion of the song sees Barbie approach the pair who proceed to assault her and run off. This song is featured on their 2000 album, How Many People Must Get Dissed?), German duo Lynne & Tessa (a lip-synched internet video of the song, May 2006), British Indian comedy sketch show Goodness Gracious Me (titled "Punjabi Girl" both in the radio series and later on television), Ome Henk (Dutch song "Neem Een Ander in de Maling (Barbie Girl)" , sometimes been mistaken for being sung in German by Rammstein), WPLJ (entitled "Jersey Girl", using stereotypes of Jersey girls as the basis for the whole song).

In the Family Guy episode, Bill and Peter's Bogus Journey, president Bill Clinton is seen singing and dancing to Barbie Girl while playing Dance Dance Revolution.

HBO comedy series Mr. Show with Bob and David did a parody of the song called "Party Girl" in the episode "Life is Precious and God and the Bible".

Track listings

These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "Barbie Girl".^[9]

Credits

• Written by Norreen, Nystrøm, Dif, Rasted
• Performed by Norreen, Rasted
• Vocals by G. Nystrøm, Dif
• Hair and make-up by Fjodor Øxenhave
• Styling by Aqua, Bjarne Lindgreen
• Artwork by Peter Stenbæk
• Photo by Robin Skoldborg
• Produced, arranged and mixed by Norreen, Jam, Delgado, Rasted

Release history

Charts and certifications

Chart positions

Successions

References

External links

• Text of Mattel, Inc. v. MCA Records, Inc., the verdict that favored MCA (PDF file)