The Barbie movie was already one of the most curious movies of 2023 after it was announced the film about the plastic doll was set to be directed by Greta Gerwig. After we saw the first trailer for Barbie it became clear this movie was going to be something quite unexpected. It seemed like the only thing the movie was missing was an excellent song, like the one that everybody knew that was all about Barbie, and was already a massive hit.
The 1997 hit “Barbie Girl” by Danish pop group Aqua was one of those songs that took over the radio, back when the radio was a thing people listened to. It could not be escaped a couple of decades ago, and it drove more than a few people crazy, but now that it’s been a while a lot of fans thought it would be perfect to hear the song again in the Barbie movie. Unfortunately, based on everything we know about the Barbie movie, we understood that “Barbie Girl” would not appear in the film. But it turns out that’s not entirely true.
The list of songs on the Barbie soundtrack has been released by Apple Music and it includes a song listing for “Barbie World (with Aqua)” from Niki Minaj and Ice Spice. A couple of seconds of the song was heard at the tail end of the newest Barbie trailer released yesterday, and what we heard there was absolutely the song we know and love or love to hate. So it certainly appears that the song will be appearing in the movie.
Of course, the title of the song is something slightly different, so rather than this being a cover of “Barbie Girl” “Barbie World” is probably something mostly new, that will use elements from the original “Barbie Girl.” So fans will hear Aqua’s “Barbie Girl” when they go to see the Barbie movie after all, even if the song technically does not appear. Aqua had previously spoken out about the song not appearing. Perhaps they were simply covering for a reveal that the movie wasn't ready to make.
Of course, it’s also possible that the song in question doesn’t technically appear in the movie. It could play over the end credits. That’s where we frequently see brand new music in movies, especially higher profile songs that the movie wants to be sure the audience pays attention to. Now that we’re all trained to sit through credits in case there is more to see, it means we’ll all hear the songs that play over them.
The newest trailer confirmed that the movie will see Barbie enter the “real world” where people know Barbie as the iconic doll. One assumes they will also know the popular song from 1997, so we could hear a reference to the tune even if it doesn’t feature in the film. We’ll find out when Barbie hits theaters on July 21.
