“Suddenly we became a one-hit band,” Nystrom tells news about Barbie Girl’s success in the United States.
It’s been 25 years since Danish dance-pop group Aqua made it big with their hit ‘Barbie Girl’ and lead singer Lene Nystrom still has mixed feelings about the song, which continues to be a phenomenon.
“I’m always being compared to ‘Barbie Girl’,” explains Nyström, 48. While sitting next to bandmates René Diff and Søren Rasted in a Zoom interview with news. “It literally turned me into the darkest drug girl in the world with skulls everywhere because I had to do the opposite of that!” He laughed. “So yeah, that time must have had its hard points.”
In fact, in 1997, just three years after the band’s formation. Aqua took center stage with the release of their debut album, Aquarium! But while singles like “Turn Back Time” and “Doctor Jones” have enjoyed worldwide success, and the album itself has hawked over 17 million copies worldwide. Only “Barbie Girl” has managed to make waves here in America.
And it still hurts.
“It’s hard to come up with something and have your own truth about it and put it out there and get so many interpretations,” Nystrom said. “That can be difficult.”
“‘Barbie Girl’ sold better than any other hit we’ve had,” added Rusted, 53. “We didn’t have another hit in America. We released “Lollipop (Candyman)” as our second single and it never did. suddenly became a one-hit band in America. Did we expect things to be different in America? Really.”
Of course, understanding comes with time.
“We were pulled from so many countries around the world at the time. And the fact of the matter was we had to go to a lot of other places to promote,” Nystrom admits to the chaos that followed the smash hit May 1997 release. Have to live, live and work in America that long to make the whole country work. We have to do a concert in America, but you can’t do a show with one song.”
But even after all these years, it’s a song that continues to sink deep into the American psyche. Today’s music lovers are captivated by the addictive melodies of old hits and slightly seductive lyrics.
“They do it with guitar or bass or buckets or make it into a dance everything. Which will eventually go viral. I think that’s their primary goal, but you never know what might go viral! We’re just sitting here as spectators.”