"Barbie Girl" is a song by Danish-Norwegian

dance-pop Dance-pop is a popular music subgenre that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Developing from a ...

group Aqua. It was released in April 1997 as the third single from the group's debut studio album, ''

Aquarium An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...

'' (1997). The song was written by Søren Rasted,

Claus Norreen Claus Norreen (born 5 June 1970) is a Danish musician, songwriter and record producer known for being a part of the band Aqua, which sold around 33 million records. He left the band in September 2016 to take on other musical ventures. Biograph ...

René Dif René Dif (born 17 October 1967) is a Danish musician, singer-songwriter, DJ and actor, best known as the male lead vocalist of the Danish-Norwegian eurodance group Aqua. Biography 1967–1994: Early years and private life Dif was born in Co ...

, and Lene Nystrøm, and was produced by Johnny Jam, Delgado, Rasted, and Norreen. It was written after Rasted saw an exhibit on

kitsch Kitsch ( ; loanword from German) is a term applied to art and design that is perceived as naïve imitation, overly-eccentric, gratuitous, or of banal taste. The avant-garde opposed kitsch as melodramatic and superficial affiliation wi ...

culture in Denmark that featured

Barbie Barbie is a fashion doll manufactured by American toy company Mattel, Inc. and launched on March 9, 1959. American businesswoman Ruth Handler is credited with the creation of the doll using a German doll called Bild Lilli as her inspiration. ...

dolls. The song topped the charts worldwide, particularly in European countries such as the United Kingdom, where it was a number-one hit for four weeks and remains one of the best-selling singles of all time. It also reached number two in the group's homeland and peaked at number seven on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, where it remains Aqua's biggest hit single and their only one to reach the top 10 of the Hot 100. It is Aqua's most popular work and was also performed as the interval act in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2001 The Eurovision Song Contest 2001 was the 46th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, following the country's victory at the with the song "Fly on the Wings of Love" by Olsen Brothers. Organised by the E ...

. It also became the subject of the controversial lawsuit '' Mattel, Inc. v. MCA Records, Inc.''

Background and composition

The lyrics of the song are about

and

Ken Ken or KEN may refer to: Entertainment * ''Ken'' (album), a 2017 album by Canadian indie rock band Destroyer. * ''Ken'' (film), 1964 Japanese film. * ''Ken'' (magazine), a large-format political magazine. * Ken Masters, a main character in ...

, the dolls made by

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in mor ...

. Both the song and its music video feature Lene Nystrøm as Barbie and

as Ken. As such, the lyrics drew the ire of Barbie's corporate owners, and a lawsuit was filed by Mattel. A footnote on the back of the ''Aquarium'' CD case precisely stated that "The song 'Barbie Girl' is a social comment and was not created or approved by the makers of the doll." "Barbie Girl" is written in the key of C-sharp minor and has a tempo of 130 beats per minute.

Reception

Critical reception

"Barbie Girl" received critical acclaim.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, oc ...

from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...

called it "one of those inexplicable

pop culture Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' ...

phenomena" and "insanely

catchy Catchiness is how easy it is for a song, tune, or phrase to be recalled. It is often taken into account when writing songs, catchphrases, advertising slogans, jingles etc. Alternatively, it can be defined as how difficult it is for one to forget i ...

", describing it as a "bouncy, slightly warped

Euro-dance Euro-Dance (sometimes referred to as Euro-NRG, Euro-electronica or Euro) is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s in Europe. It combines many elements of hip hop, techno, Hi-NRG, house music, and Euro-Disco. This ...

song that simultaneously sends up

femininity Femininity (also called womanliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with women and girls. Femininity can be understood as socially constructed, and there is also some evidence that some behaviors considered f ...

and Barbie dolls."

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the music ...

from ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

'' wrote that "with her squeaky, high-pitched delivery, Lene Grawford Nystrøm fronts this giddy pop/dance ditty as if she were Barbie, gleefully verbalizing many of the twisted things people secretly do with the doll." He noted that "at the same time, she effectively rants about the inherent

misogyny Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against women. It is a form of sexism that is used to keep women at a lower social status than men, thus maintaining the societal roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been widely practice ...

of Barbie with a subversive hand", adding that René Dif is an "equally playful and biting presence, as he embodies male counterpart Ken with an amusing leer." Scottish newspaper '' Daily Record'' stated, "Love them or hate them, you have to admit Aqua's silly doll song is pure pop and the video is great, too". David Browne from ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular ...

'' described it as a "dance-floor novelty that alludes to the secret, less-than-wholesome life of every little girl's fave doll." Another editor, Jeremy Helligar commented, "There must be something in that

Northern Europe The northern region of Europe has several definitions. A restrictive definition may describe Northern Europe as being roughly north of the southern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is about 54°N, or may be based on other geographical factors ...

an water. Like recent tunes by their Swedish-pop counterparts Ace of Base and

the Cardigans The Cardigans is a Swedish rock band formed in Jönköping, Sweden, in 1992 by guitarist Peter Svensson, bassist Magnus Sveningsson, drummer Bengt Lagerberg, keyboardist Lars-Olof Johansson and lead singer Nina Persson. Post-hiatus shows sin ...

, these Danish newcomers' frothy debut is fun, fun, fun — but oh so disposable."

Insider ''Insider'', previously named ''Business Insider'' (''BI''), is an American financial and business news website founded in 2007. Since 2015, a majority stake in ''Business Insider''s parent company Insider Inc. has been owned by the German publ ...

stated that the song is "sugary sweet" and "totally catchy". British magazine ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' rated "Barbie Girl" five out of five, picking it as Single of the Week. They concluded, "Bleached and blonde this bouncy

Europop Europop (also spelled Euro pop) is a style of pop music that originated in Europe during the mid-to-late 1960s and developed to today's form throughout the late 1970s. Europop topped the charts throughout the 1980s and 1990s, with revivals and ...

tune may be, but dumb it isn't. Its mix of perky vocals, barbed lyrics and infectious energy has already brought it success in Scandinavia and the US. The video is irresistible."

James Hyman James Hyman (born 1970), is the owner and founder of HyMag, a radio and television presenter, music supervisor and DJ. Hyman put aside his university to work at MTV Europe despite his parents' misgivings (partly because of his father's glimp ...

from their ''RM'' Dance Update gave the song top score, declaring it as "a Balearic-tinged Euro pop smash hit. The hooks are various Lene G squeaks, mainly "l'm a Barbie Girl, In the Barbie world, Life in plastic, its fantastic", while Rene Difs' frisky retorts act out the part of Ken." He added, "My niece refuses to go to bed unless the video is played several times over; I think that speaks for itself with regard to ongoing single success." A reviewer from ''

People Magazine ''People'' is an American weekly magazine that specializes in celebrity news and human-interest stories. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC. With a readership of 46.6 million adults in 2009, ''People'' had the lar ...

'' called it "the year's best novelty record, a cartoonish anthem you'll need surgery to remove from your head." Also Pop Rescue wrote that "this song is fun, undoubtedly catchy, and bouncy, with the personas of Barbie and Ken fitting perfectly with the vocal contrast."

Commercial performance

"Barbie Girl" has sold more than eight million copies worldwide. It went on becoming a huge hit on several continents, remaining the most successful song by the band. It reached number one in more than 10 countries. In Europe, the single peaked at the top position in Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, as well as on the

Eurochart Hot 100 The European Hot 100 Singles was compiled by '' Billboard'' and ''Music & Media'' magazine from March 1984 until December 2010. The chart was based on national singles sales charts in 17 European countries: Austria, Belgium (two charts separately ...

. In the band's native Denmark, the song debuted and peaked at number two. In the United Kingdom, it debuted on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

at number two and reached number one the next week, on 26 October 1997. It stayed at that position for four weeks and has sold 1.84 million copies in the United Kingdom as of April 2017, making it the thirteenth best-selling single in the UK. Outside Europe, "Barbie Girl" peaked at number-one in Australia and New Zealand, number four in Canada and number seven on the US ''Billboard''

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

. On the latter, it debuted at that position. It sold 82,000 copies in its first week and debuted at number five on the ''Billboard''

Hot Singles Sales This is a compendium of the best-selling music singles. The criterion for inclusion is to sell at least ten million copies worldwide. The singles listed here were cited by reliable sources from various media, such as digital journalism, news ...

chart.

Music video

The accompanying

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

for "Barbie Girl" was directed by Danish directors Peder Pedersen and Peter Stenbæk, and depicts the band members in different scenes that a Barbie doll would be in. It has Nystrøm dressed as various Barbie dolls skulking around her swimming pool at home after Dif, dressed as Barbie's love interest Ken, accidentally pulls her arm off. The video was also the number one most requested video in the US, having shot from 30 to number one on '' The Box''. Uploaded to

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

in August 2010, as of February 2022, the video has more than 1 billion views.

Impact and legacy

The song ranked number 88 in a VH1 countdown, "VH1's 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders". In 2017, ''

BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III to focus on tracking viral content. Ke ...

'' listed the song at number 76 in their list of "The 101 Greatest Dance Songs Of the '90s".

Controversies

Mattel lawsuit

In September 1997, six months after the release of the song by Aqua, Mattel, the manufacturer of the Barbie doll, sued

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 w ...

, Aqua's North American record label. Mattel claimed that "Barbie Girl" violated their trademark and turned her into a sex object, referring to her as a "

blonde Blond (male) or blonde (female), also referred to as fair hair, is a hair color characterized by low levels of the dark pigment eumelanin. The resultant visible hue depends on various factors, but always has some yellowish color. The color can ...

bimbo". It alleged that the song infringed its

copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educatio ...

s and trademarks on the Barbie doll and that the song's lyrics had ruined the longtime popularity and reputation of their trademark and impinged on their marketing plan. Aqua and MCA Records claimed that Mattel injected their own meanings into the song's lyrics. They contested Mattel's claims and countersued for defamation after Mattel had likened MCA to a bank robber. 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 The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. Federal tribunals in the United States, federal court cases, and over Stat ...

, but that appeal was later rejected. In 2002, a Court of Appeals ruled the song was protected as a

parody A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its sub ...

under the trademark doctrine of nominative use and the

First Amendment to the United States Constitution The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution prevents the government from making laws that regulate an establishment of religion, or that prohibit the free exercise of religion, or abridge the freedom of speech, the ...

; the judge

Alex Kozinski Alex Kozinski (; born July 23, 1950) is a Romanian-American jurist and lawyer who was a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 1985 to 2017. He was a prominent and influential judge, and many of his law clerks went on to ...

also threw out the defamation lawsuit that Aqua's record company filed against Mattel, concluding his ruling thus: "The parties are advised to chill." The case was dismissed. In 2009, Mattel released a series of advertisements and a promotional music video of the song, with modified lyrics, as part of a new marketing strategy brought in to revive sales. Despite this, the upcoming Mattel-produced film ''

'' will not feature the Aqua song, as stated by Ulrich Møller-Jørgensen, who manages lead singer Lene Nystrøm.

Eurovision Song Contest 2001

As the interval act during the

, Aqua performed a

medley Medley or Medleys may refer to: Sports *Medley swimming, races requiring multiple swimming styles * Medley relay races at track meets Music * Medley (music), multiple pieces strung together People * Medley (surname), list of people with this n ...

of their singles along with

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

ensemble

Safri Duo Safri Duo is a Danish electronic percussion duo composed of Uffe Savery (born 5 April 1966) and Morten Friis (born 21 August 1968). Initially classically oriented, they later made a track mixing both tribal sound and modern electronica. Released ...

. There were several complaints due to the profanity used during the performance, both at the beginning and end of "Barbie Girl".

Track listings

* Danish and European CD and cassette single # "Barbie Girl" (radio edit) – 3:16 # "Barbie Girl" (extended version) – 5:14 * UK CD1 # "Barbie Girl" (radio edit) – 3:16 # "Barbie Girl" (extended version) – 5:14 # "Barbie Girl" (Perky Park club mix) – 6:13 # "Barbie Girl" (Spikes Anatomically Correct dub) – 7:55 * UK CD2 # "Barbie Girl" (CD-ROM video) # "Barbie Girl" (radio edit) # "Barbie Girl" (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels 12-inch G-String mix) # "Barbie Girl" (Dirty Rotten Peroxide radio mix) * US CD and cassette single # "Barbie Girl" (radio edit) – 3:16 * US, Canadian, and Australian maxi-CD single # "Barbie Girl" (radio edit) – 3:16 # "Barbie Girl" (Spike's Plastic mix) – 8:44 # "Barbie Girl" (Spike's Anatomically Correct dub) – 7:55 # "Barbie Girl" (extended version) – 5:14 * US 12-inch single :A1. "Barbie Girl" (Spike's Plastic mix) – 8:44 :A2. "Barbie Girl" (radio edit) – 3:16 :B1. "Barbie Girl" (Spike's Anatomically Correct dub) – 7:55 :B2. "Barbie Girl" (extended version) – 5:14

Credits

Credits are adapted from liner notes of the "Barbie Girl" CD single and ''Aquarium''. * Written by Norreen, Nystrøm, Dif, Rasted * Performed by Norreen, Rasted * Vocals by 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

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications and sales

Release history

Cover versions and parodies

The song has been covered by several artists over the years.

Alternative metal Alternative metal (also known as alt-metal) is a genre of heavy metal music that combines heavy metal with influences from alternative rock and other genres not normally associated with metal. Alternative metal bands are often characterized by ...

band

Faith No More Faith No More is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1979. Before settling on the current name in July 1983, the band performed under the names Sharp Young Men and later Faith No Man. Bassist Billy Gould, keyboardist ...

covered the song live in 1997 during their ''

Album of the Year Album of the Year, often abbreviated to AOTY, may refer to: Awards * ARIA Award for Album of the Year, Australia * Brit Award for British Album of the Year, UK * Grammy Award for Album of the Year, US * Juno Award for Album of the Year, CA * Lati ...

'' tour. Identical twin sisters Amanda and Samantha Marchant, better known as Samanda, released their cover of the song on 8 October 2007, and it entered the UK Singles Chart at number 26.

Girls' Generation Girls' Generation (), also known as SNSD, is a South Korean girl group formed by SM Entertainment. The group is composed of eight members: Taeyeon, Sunny, Tiffany, Hyoyeon, Yuri, Sooyoung, Yoona, and Seohyun. Originally a nine-piece ens ...

Jessica Jung Jessica Jung (born Jessica Sooyoun Jung; April 18, 1989), also known by the mononym Jessica, is a South Korean-American singer, songwriter, actress, author, fashion designer and businesswoman known for her work as a former member of South Ko ...

covered this song as her solo performance during the first Asian concert tour '' Girls' Generation 1st Asia Tour: Into the New World''. The Swedish artist Loke Nyberg did a new version of this song for the Swedish radio show ''Morgonpasset''. He interprets the song as criticism of today's beauty ideals. In 2013,

Ludacris Christopher Brian Bridges (born September 11, 1977), known professionally as Ludacris (, homophonous with 'ludicrous' in American English), is an American rapper, actor, record producer and record executive. Born in Champaign, Illinois, Ludac ...

sampled the song in his single " Party Girls" featuring

Wiz Khalifa Cameron Jibril Thomaz (born September 8, 1987), better known by his stage name Wiz Khalifa, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor. He released his debut album, ''Show and Prove'', in 2006 and signed to Warner Bros. Records in 20 ...

Jeremih Jeremy Phillip Felton (born July 17, 1987), known professionally as Jeremih ( ), is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. In 2009, he signed a record deal with Def Jam Recordings. Jeremih's commercial debut single, "Birthday Sex", ...

and

Cashmere Cat Magnus August Høiberg (born 29 November 1987), known professionally as Cashmere Cat, is a Norwegian DJ, record producer, songwriter and musician. He is best known for producing songs for artists including Kanye West, The Kid Laroi, Selena Gomez ...

. In 2016,

Caramell Caramell was a Swedish music group, formed by singers Katia Löfgren and Malin Sundström, and producers Jorge "Vasco" Vasconcelo and Juha "Millboy" Myllylä. They are best known for their 2001 single "Caramelldansen." The group released two a ...

a Girls released a version called "Candy Girl" on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mu ...

, as well as a YouTube music video. There are also many parodies of the song, including a parody called "Ugly Girl", with an unverified author (often wrongly credited to

"Weird Al" Yankovic Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American singer, musician, songwriter, record producer, actor and author. He is best known for creating comedy songs that make light of pop culture and often parody specific ...

, Adam Henderson, or Jack Off Jill). German duo Lynne & Tessa made a lip-synched Internet video of the song in 2006, and on British Indian

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and ...

show '' Goodness Gracious Me'', where a version titled "Punjabi Girl" was featured in the

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a tr ...

series and later on

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

. In 2012, the song was parodied in an Australian lamb

advertising campaign An advertising campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication (IMC). An IMC is a platform in which a group of people can group their ideas, beliefs, and conc ...

, relying on the Australian use of the term "barbie" to refer to the outdoor

barbecue Barbecue or barbeque (informally BBQ in the UK, US, and Canada, barbie in Australia and braai in South Africa) is a term used with significant regional and national variations to describe various cooking methods that use live fire and smoke ...

popularly held in Australia. The advertisement starred

Melissa Tkautz Melissa Natalie Tkautz (born 24 January 1974) is an Australian actress, singer, model, and presenter. She played the role of Nikki Spencer on the popular Australian TV soap opera '' E Street'', from September 1990 to May 1993. During the early ...

and Sam Kekovich. In 2014, the song was used in the ''

South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boysStan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand ...

'' episode "

Cock Magic "Cock Magic" is the eighth episode in the eighteenth season of the American animated television series ''South Park''. The 255th overall episode, it was written and directed by series co-creator and co-star Trey Parker. The episode premiered on ...

". Ava Max recorded a version with new lyrics, titled "Not Your Barbie Girl", in 2018. In 1999, released an Indonesian version of this song with the title "Boneka Barbie".

Kelly Key version

In 2005, Brazilian recording artist

Kelly Key Kelly de Almeida Afonso Freitas (born March 3, 1983), known for her stage name Kelly Key, is a Brazilian pop singer, songwriter and TV hostess. Biography 2001–04: Debut album, ''Do Meu Jeito'' and live album Key released her first, sel ...

recorded a version in Portuguese for her third studio album ''

''. The version was released as second single on 15 August 2005. Key said she loved the song and wanted to do a version for honor: "I really like this song since I heard. I wanted to record without thinking about whether my fans will like it or not". The song received generally negative reviews from music critics. Vinícius Versiani Durães of IMHO said that that version was funny and a future success. Marcos Paulo Bin of Universo Musical commented that the song was really different from previous releases – known for explicit lyrics – but was positive and said the version was good. Rodrigo Ortega of Pilula Pop said "Barbie Girl" was sensational, funny, and chose it as the best song of the album. He also said that Key was wrong to have released "Escuta Aqui Rapaz" as her first single, because "the song was boring", but "Barbie Girl" saved the era. Carlos Eduardo Lima of Scream & Yell was negative and said the song was "childish, silly, boring" and killed Kelly Key as a sex-symbol. The music video for "Barbie Girl" was recorded on 17 and 18 August 2005. It was directed by Ricardo Vereza, Bidu Madio, Rentz and Mauricio Eça. In the video, released on 30 August, Kelly plays a determined and

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

woman. This song is internationally notable to be wrongly attributed to Czech model Dominika Myslivcová as she uploaded a video in YouTube lip-synching to this song and, later, it became a

viral video A viral video is a video that becomes popular through a viral process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhong Lan, Alexander H ...

Track listing

# "Barbie Girl" – 3:20 # "Barbie Girl" (Cuca Mix) – 5:12 # "Barbie Girl" (Music video) – 3:23

Release history

References in media

Environmental movements, like ''

Fridays for Future School Strike for Climate ( sv, Skolstrejk för klimatet), also known variously as Fridays for Future (FFF), Youth for Climate, Climate Strike or Youth Strike for Climate, is an international movement of school students who skip Friday ...

'', when trying to bring attention to the heavy amounts of plastic thrown by humans into the seas, have referred the song lyrics in their slogans with the words "Life in plastic is not fantastic". In 2022, British singer

Tom Aspaul Thomas Paul Frederick Dutton, known professionally as Tom Aspaul is a British singer and songwriter from Wolverhampton. He released his debut album, '' Black Country Disco'' in 2020 to critical acclaim. His songwriting credits include Kylie Mi ...

named his album ''Life In Plastic'' after a line from the song.

References

External links

*
Text of Mattel, Inc. v. MCA Records, Inc., the verdict that favored MCA
(PDF file) {{Authority control 1997 singles 1997 songs Aqua (band) songs

Girl A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. When a girl becomes an adult, she is accurately described as a ''woman''. However, the term ''girl'' is also used for other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionary.c ...