Back in 1997, A Danish-Norwegian pop band finally got the success its members had been dreaming about when the third song from their debut album burst on to the charts.
That song was Barbie Girl, and it propelled Aqua to the top of the charts, including here in Australia, where they remained in the number one spot for three weeks.
The global success of the song was a precursor of things to come, with more hit songs from three albums. But it wasn’t all good news, with toy giant Mattel suing the band over the suggestive lyrics of their hit song.
The band ultimately broke up more than once before getting back together.
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Today, the band is enjoying renewed interest on the back of the success of the Barbie movie.
Barbie Girl, is a mainstay on the radio, with few having escaped its catchy tune and distinctive Europop sound, while almost every end-of-year children’s dance concert features the track.
The official video has been viewed more than 1.4 billion times on YouTube.
So who are Aqua and what happened to them?
The Copenhagen-based band was formed by Søren Rasted and Claus Norreen, who were producing a soundtrack for a film in 1989 and hired club DJ René Dif to work on some songs.
After the film was complete, they decided to keep working together, before Dif spotted Lene Nystrøm singing on the Norway–Denmark.
He asked her to be lead singer of their new band, which at the time was named Joyspeed.
The group was signed by a small Swedish record label in 1995, and their first single, Itzy Bitzy Spider, was released in Sweden.
After it flopped, they cancelled their contract with the record label and started over, writing and producing songs with a different style, before attracting the attention of major label Universal Music Denmark.
They renamed themselves Aqua, based on a poster in their dressing room, and in 1996, released their first song, Roses Are Red, a bubblegum pop dance track.
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It stayed in the Danish charts for more than two months. Their follow-up single My Oh My, went straight to number one in Denmark.
Their debut album Aquarium was released in 1997, and contained 11 tracks, including the third single, Barbie Girl, which featured the lyrics, “You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere” and “Kiss me here, touch me there, hanky-panky.”
The single was released around the world and went to number one in the UK and Australia.
Their next song, Doctor Jones, was also a hit, as was Turn Back Time, from the movie Sliding Doors.
The group released a second album, Aquarius, in 2000. The first single, Cartoon Heroes, sold well across Europe and Australia. It was followed by Around the World.
In December 2000, Mattel filed a lawsuit against the group’s record label claiming that Barbie Girl had damaged the reputation of the Barbie brand.
But after a drawn-out case, a US Court of Appeals judge upheld a district court finding the song fell within non-commercial use exemptions and concluded, “The parties are advised to chill.”
More singles followed, before the band split in 2001. They reunited in 2008, and released a greatest hits album a year later.
New singles and a new album, Megalomania, followed. A reunion tour brought them to Australia in 2012, where extra concerts had to be added to keep up with demand.
The band split again, only to reform to tour Australia and New Zealand in 2014.
Further tours followed, before Norreen announced he was leaving the group. The remaining trio has continued to tour the world.
In 2023, Aqua collaborated with Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice for the Barbie World song from the Barbie movie soundtrack, which included a sample of Barbie Girl.
The single became a global hit and Aqua received their first Grammy nomination.
Today, the band is enjoying a resurgence off the back of the success of Barbie. They were even part of the line-up at the famed New Year’s Eve live broadcast from Times Square in New York.
They are currently on a world tour that will bring them to Australia in March.