Barbie Girl Song - Music with a message
“Hi Barbie
Hi Ken!
Do you wanna go for a ride?
Sure Ken!
Jump In…”
Those lyrics make the beginning of the infamous Barbie Girl song by Danish music artists Aqua. The single pokes fun at blond haired, blue eyed doll by Mattel, while the video features the happy go lucky band members as real life Barbie dolls. The four band members first joined together as “Joyspeed.” When their singles stayed on the Swedish charts less than a week, they reconsidered their music styles and signed with Universal Music in Denmark. There they came back with Aqua and their smash hit, the Barbie Girl song.
The Barbie Girl song became famous around the world and soon after, Aqua released their album “Aquarium”, which went gold and straight to the top after only two days. Not everybody was in love with the single however. The Mattel Company in America files a suit, claiming that the Barbie Girl song slanders the famous blonde doll. The Aquarium album basically has a claim stating that the Barbie Girl song is a social comment, and wasn’t created or approved by the doll’s makers. Mattel charged that the Barbie Girl song portrayed women as a sex object. Apparently, they don’t believe their own toy, she of the perfect hair, impossible figure and often skimpy outfits, portray women as sex objects at all. Mattel lost the claim, and Aqua’s hit single remained on the airwaves.
There’s no denying that the lyrics to the Barbie Girl song are suggestive with lyrics such as: “You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere; imagination, life is your creation” or “you can touch, you can play, if you say I’m always yours,” crooned by Norwegian singer Lene. Then there’s Ken’s line, sung by Rene, who is on rap/vocals: “You’re my doll, rock’n'roll, feel the glamour in pink, kiss me here, touch me there, hanky panky….” While some of the lyrics are undeniably suggestive, the overall feel of the song is simply a catchy pop tune to sing along with. If Aqua can make some kind of social commentary at the same time, making fun of today’s standards of feminine beauty, then more power to them.
No matter what the real meaning behind the Barbie Girl song is, the facts stand out: it sold over 4 million copies, became one of the most requested songs ever and in America went straight to number seven on the Billboard Hot 100, which is unheard of for an artist’s first single.
To view free song lyrics to the Barbie Girl song and other hits, click on the link: www.azlyrics.com.