It’s easy to understand and Barbie still exists today. It is difficult to determine why, but I think it’s straight-up just a good song. We had seven singles from our first album seven of them went No. LN: There was also the thing about how the largest pop bands from Scandinavia were called something with an A-a-ha, ABBA, Alban-maybe we didn’t realize this until after we chose our own name actually.ĪS: Speaking of “genius names,” there’s “Barbie Girl.” It’s still a pop classic. SR: I think it became Aquarium because of the visual universe and the pictures which look a bit like an aquarium. So, we went with that one, and I’m happy we did because I remember we had some strange ideas. It’s alive, powerful, and playful, and just to us-visually good, too. RD: We were four in the band, it has four letters. René Dif: I think I was on a train on my way to Norway, and then I called you on one of those huge cell phones you had at the time which cost around 10 Euro per second because I had thought a lot about the idea and the poster and then I suggested the name Aqua. I don’t even remember why we then called the album Aquarium. We thought it was a well fit for us as a band. SR: We had a poster in our studio for the Danish aquarium, and then one day Rene suggested that we should be named Aqua. Lene Nystrøm: We got the best A&R ever at Universal Music, Niclas Anker, who really guided us to do what we wanted to do and what we felt like doing instead of doing what everybody else did.ĪS: Aquarium was the perfect title and complement to the band name-and vice versa. We developed our sound and way to write music, which was a bit more radio-friendly than what it was before. Søren Rasted: To be completely honest, we had written a lot of songs around ’95 but it wasn’t before January ’96 that the songs, which are on Aquarium, were made. Prior to recording the album, how many of the songs were already written and part of the band’s repertoire in the Joyspeed days? For Aqua, there’s deep pride in the timelessness of “Barbie Girl,” and in their music, which stretches beyond the iconic hit, spanning three albums, including their most recent release, Megalomania, in 2011.Īqua’s Nystrøm, Dif, and Rasted recently went back in time with American Songwriter, to their pre-Aqua days, the making of their 1997 debut-which was recently reissued on vinyl with stickers and tattoos, and an extensive booklet featuring previously unpublished photos-and the unending confusion around what “Barbie Girl” is really about.Īmerican Songwriter: It seems as if 25 years have flashed by since Aquarium was released. The earworm that never got old, “Barbie Girl” still stands, and retains its pop legacy, 25 years on. The doll maker claimed the song violated the trademark of the Barbie brand and that the lyrics turned the wholesome doll into a sex object- I’m a blond bimbo girl in a fantasy world / Dress me up, make it tight / I’m your dolly. Unfortunately, the single didn’t give a sweet, bubblegum aftertaste to everyone, and the band was pulled into a series of lawsuits issued by Barbie creator, Mattel, which were later dismissed. Aquarium also sold more than 17 million copies worldwide. 1 in the U.K., where it remained for several weeks and peaked at No. Written by the group, then consisting of Nystrøm, Dif, keyboardist Søren Rasted, and former founding member Claus Norreen, “Barbie Girl” hit No. I’m a Barbie girl, in the Barbie world, Life in plastic, it’s fantastic sings Lene Nystrøm to her “Ken,” René Dif, in one of the most unforgettable loops in pop. Writing and producing around their collection of mostly kitschy dance-pop tunes, Aquarium yielded several hit singles, including “Doctor Jones” and “Turn Back Time,” and one flirtatious pop ditty about an iconic American doll.
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