Margot Robbie might be a "Barbie Girl" with her role in Greta Gerwig's Barbie, but don't count on hearing the Aqua song playing at any point in the film. As previously revealed, the song will not be a part of the Barbie movie, and that news has disappointed many fans who were expecting it to be featured in some capacity. In April, Aqua lead singer Lene Nystrøm's manager, Ulrich Møller-Jørgensen, confirmed that no arrangements had been made to include the song in the film.
Now, per Variety, the group has spoken out a bit more about the song's absence in the movie. While it's easy to point to Mattel's failed lawsuit against the band over the song in the 1990s as a reason why the song's inclusion couldn't happen, Nystrøm suggests that it may not have been the best idea anyway, suggesting that to do so would be too cheesy, feeling a bit like "cheese on cheese." Keyboardist Søren Rasted also joked that it would be fun to lie and claim that they turned down the film.
"We should say we turned it down," he said. "Ryan Gosling is not good enough!”
Just grateful for the attention to the song the film will bring, Nystrøm added, “I totally understand why they didn’t use it, but it’s going to bring us a lot of attention, no matter what.”
Even without being a part of the soundtrack for the Barbie movie, "Barbie Girl" remains one of the most popular songs of all time. The official music video recently surpassed one billion views on YouTube, showing just how much people are still listening to the song 25 years later. As Aqua has suggested, the newfound attention on the Barbie brand will only help bring more attention to the band's hit song, even if it's not in the film. Chances are many filmgoers will seek out the song after watching the movie brings it to mind.
Barbie Brings the Mattel Doll to Life with Margot Robbie
The Barbie movie is directed by Greta Gerwig and co-written by Gerwig and Noah Baumbach. Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling lead the cast as Barbie and Ken with the film also starring America Ferrera, Simu Liu, Kate McKinnon, Alexandra Shipp, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Issa Rae, Hari Nef, and Ncuti Gatwa. Plot details have not yet been revealed.
“It’s one of the best scripts I’ve ever read," Simu Liu said of why he really wanted to be a part of this movie on Marc Maron's WTF podcast. "I think it’ll surprise a lot of people because I think a lot of people get cynical when they see Mattel or they see Barbie. The first thought I had after reading the script was how did the hell did they get Mattel to sign off on this, because this is not the kind of movie that corporate overlords sign off on.”
Barbie will be released in movie theaters on July 21, 2023.