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C’mon, Barbie, let’s go celebration! Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling will introduce the live-action variations of Barbie and Ken in a blockbuster that guarantees to carry all shades of pink and an increase in toy gross sales. In two teaser trailers, Barbie (2022) hasn’t shared plot secrets and techniques, however whereas spoilers are lacking, one thing else is just too. The place within the holy plastic is the “Barbie Lady” music!? The upcoming film guarantees to be for each younger and older audiences, it will make sense to incorporate the ‘90s pop music. The unique music hasn’t been heard, not even a somber cowl from a contemporary music artist like many different trailers for motion pictures have tried out. And that’s as a result of the music gained’t be featured within the film itself, and certainly not one of the promoting. This absence of the music isn’t too shocking, it may be traced again to risqué lyrics and a lawsuit that attempted to make the music go away.
“Barbie Lady” May Be Too Mature for ‘Barbie’
Aqua, the Danish-Norwegian band, didn’t know “Barbie Lady” could be as beloved because it has been in any case these years. The band nonetheless has a love for it, and credit score must be given to singer Lene Nystrøm, who couldn’t depend on auto-tune to hit the high-pitched notes. She needed to do it herself. As for the music’s music video, filmed in “Aqua-scope,” a bit animatronic fowl that isn’t attempting to idiot anybody, caws out to begin the day. From that time onward, every part is so extremely stylized, you’ll be able to’t assist however hit replay, many times. From an oral historical past revealed by Rolling Stone, Aqua member Søren Nystrøm talked in regards to the music’s origins, “I went to an artwork exhibition at a retailer in Copenhagen. They’d taken a bunch of Barbie dolls and made a planet out of them. It seemed like an enormous, spherical ball. It made me consider, ‘Life in plastic, it’s implausible.’ I assumed that was a fantastic line. Then I wrote, ‘Come on, Barbie, let’s go celebration.’” The kitsch and camp aesthetic from Nystrøm’s inspiration are within the video, and with the playfulness from the music, “Barbie Lady” ought to make excellent sense to be in director Greta Gerwig’s live-action film.
One challenge on why it is not, might be attributed to the euphemisms within the lyrics, that are maturer than followers may bear in mind. It’s extra mature than the Kens, performed by Gosling, Simu Liu, and Michael Cera, yelling at one another about how they’ll “seaside one another off!” Or when Barbie and Ken stare at one another, empty ideas of their head as they don’t have any clue what an evening alone entails. None of that is as adult-specific because the lyrics, “You possibly can brush my hair, undress me all over the place,” or, “I am a blond bimbo lady in a fantasy world,” and don’t overlook, “Kiss me right here, contact me there.” The band themselves additionally shared why they don’t assume their music works for the film.
In a Selection article highlighting the music’s twenty fifth anniversary, Lene Nystrøm thinks the film’s inclusion of the music could be, “cheese on cheese,” whereas Søren Rasted joked, “We should always say we turned it down. Ryan Gosling will not be ok!” These feedback put apart, the music’s inspiration from cosmetic surgery and what the film hints to be about, each go collectively fairly effectively. Within the piece from Rolling Stone, Aqua’s different member René Dif defined, “The message is that it’s OK to be the individual you might be and look the best way you look and be assured in that. You don’t essentially should have plastic surgical procedures to be a greater individual. All these metaphors within the music had been taboo to speak about, however we got here out with a tongue-in-cheek option to current our music. It’s a pop music, however it’s additionally a music about the way it’s OK to be who you might be, love who you might be, and be your self.” This message sounds prefer it might work for what the easy plot synopsis for Gerwig’s Barbie affords, “To reside in Barbie Land is to be an ideal being in an ideal place. Except you’ve got a full-on existential disaster. Otherwise you’re a Ken.”
Mattel Made Life in Plastic, Not So Incredible
What may need had a robust hand in stopping Aqua’s music from getting used, goes again to a lawsuit Mattel, Inc. filed. Launched in 1997, the music turned a worldwide hit, one thing the band didn’t anticipate. Which may have been on account of excessively listening to it on the radio, watching the music video on MTV, and the involuntary urge to sing out key strains. Who was totally unamused, could be Mattel, the toy firm that launched the Barbie doll model again in 1959. The lyrics which particularly infuriated them had their petite, fabulous doll known as a “blonde bimbo.” On the Aquarium CD booklet, Aqua tried to quash any backlash with the assertion, “The music ‘Barbie Lady’ is a social remark and was not created or authorized by the makers of the doll.” It wasn’t sufficient.
Mattel sued MCA Data, the American report label Aqua was signed underneath, claiming the music tarnished the Barbie model by sexualizing her picture. In whole, Mattel filed eleven claims in a lawsuit, a authorized battle that will go till 2002. Aqua’s music video may need been vibrant and enjoyable, however this lawsuit bought ugly between the businesses. Mattel claimed the hit music violated copyrights and logos, whereas MCA filed a defamation counterclaim in opposition to them. Russell Frackman, the lawyer for MCA, believed the case was weak early on.
Within the Rolling Stone story, Frackman acknowledged, “My view was strengthened after I realized extra about Barbie’s background. Barbie started her life as a German doll referred to as Lilli. And Lilli was a plaything for grownup males, so her background was not pristine. It additionally turned very clear that Barbie had been represented in books and different media, even in recordings previous to “Barbie Lady,” as representing a sure sort of individual. She turned an icon standing for a sure sort of individual. That led to the key defenses within the case, which had been primarily First Modification defenses.” After Mattel’s lawsuit bought dismissed by the Central District of California, they didn’t let it go so simply. They took the case to the Ninth Circuit, the place their attraction was once more dismissed. The music was protected as a parody, and when Mattel tried to ship a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court docket, it was denied. That may be the tip of the story, besides — there’s a plot twist.
“Barbie Lady” and the Barbie Doll Make Amends
In 2009, Mattel needed to revive gross sales and promote a brand new product, Barbie Fashionistas. They turned to the music which gave them a headache to spice up promoting. The corporate had a brand new model of “Barbie Lady” made, with KIDZ BOP-esque lyrics to suit the corporate’s model. A music video with a title named after the choreographed dance, “The Barbie,” has people and dolls dance and sing collectively, the place they’ve new strains, “You could be a star, regardless of who you might be.” The concept for the dance was about how the Barbie Fashionista dolls have 12 factors of motion, permitting them a brand new degree of flexibility. Merging these two popular culture icons may very well be pure magic, it’s simply unlucky it gained’t be taking place in Barbie.
“Hello, Ken! Hello, Barbie!” is as near the music we will get with Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, for now. Aqua has stated, whereas the music gained’t be within the film, “It’s going to carry us a number of consideration, it doesn’t matter what.” Little doubt it’ll, and everybody must be making ready for that now. Bear in mind how lengthy “Working Up That Hill” performed on the radio and throughout social media, continuous, due to Stranger Issues? Social media response may simply make one thing related occur once more, as a result of if followers can’t hear it on the massive display screen, they’ll flip elsewhere to take heed to it.
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