It truly is a “Barbie World”. Not only does the Greta Gerwig-directed live-action movie Barbie hit theaters July 2023, it has been 25 years since Danish band Aqua debuted their album Aquarium, featuring the world-beating single “Barbie Girl”. To celebrate, the trio Rene Dif, Lene Nystrøm, and producer Søren Rastedis are issuing an exclusive re-release of the album out on September 9 on digital and vinyl.
“Barbie Girl” hit the charts at 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 where it spent 16 weeks. Aquarium sold 33 million copies worldwide. The single hit YouTube’s Billion Views Club earlier this year.
We know the toy company, Mattel, may not have approved of the lyrics: the US court of appeals in San Francisco dismissed a defamation suit in 1997 and in a footnote opined: “the parties are advised to chill”. Even the court could not help but appreciate the kitsch.
As Lene Nystrøm puts it herself: “With the release of our debut album, we had six major hit singles and experienced great success around the world”. Not only did Aqua gain attention for their iconic songs, but their cartoonish universe, which often consisted of blue hair, spikes, and wild outfits, also gained attention.”
Re-released digitally and on vinyl, the iconic album is out September 9. With an earworm like this, it looks like we will all be seeing pink. /Let’s go party/ with Aqua this fall.
Pre-order the 25th anniversary edition of Aquarium here. You can find Aqua on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
