Aqua on Barbie Girl, break-ups and their upcoming Australian tour

27 years on from Barbie Girl, the Europop masters are still going strong - despite some surprising personal dramas over the years.

Danish Europop band Aqua have been such loyal - albeit unofficial - ambassadors for Barbie since their breakthrough hit topped the charts in 1997, it’s easy to forget the toy’s manufacturer Mattel was initially furious with them.

Barbie Girl was a day-glo, tongue in cheek ode to the cultural icon that became an instant global smash – but Mattel soon sued Aqua’s US label for trademark violations, alleging the song’s “sexually suggestive nature” (sample lyric: “You can touch / You can play / If you say, I’m always yours”) had sullied the brand’s good reputation.

Time heals all wounds, though, and by 2023 all was forgiven, with a sizeable sample of Aqua’s song forming the bedrock for a new hit by Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice, Barbie World, from the soundtrack of Greta Gerwig’s world-conquering Barbie movie.

90s pop legends Aqua (L=R: Rene, Lene and Soren) are touring Australia.

Speaking to news.com.au via Zoom ahead of an upcoming Australian visit to headline the inaugural Mixtape Festival, the three members of Aqua – Lene Nystrøm, René Dif and Søren Rasted (fourth member Claus Norreen left the group in 2016) – confess they haven’t actually noticed a “Barbie bump” as they’ve toured the US in recent months.

“We couldn’t have asked for a better year, really. The Barbie movie and the Nicki Minaj song and all that, it’s been great,” says Soren.

“But [fans of the movie] are not the people that come: We don’t have new people coming to our concerts. It’s still [original] Aqua fans that turn up to our shows.”

“And their children,” Lene adds. “And you can hear that they are actual truly Aqua fans, not just Barbie Girl fans.”

Barbie Girl was a massive global hit – but Mattel weren’t happy.

For the more casual observer, the huge success of Barbie Girl can somewhat obscure the band’s string of other 90s hits: Next came Doctor Jones, which lodged itself atop the Australian singles chart for seven whole weeks in late 1997. Further hits followed with the gorgeous Sliding Doors ballad Turn Back Time, and absolute banger Lollipop (Candyman) – a top-three Australian hit that was bigger here than, well, anywhere.

“Of course Barbie has always taken a little bit more attention than the other songs. But I think we’re all very proud of that,” says Soren.

“In the beginning it was because we were very afraid that we were just going to be a one-hit wonder. But when Turn Back Time and Doctor Jones, and other songs went number one as well … and we weren’t,” he says with a laugh.

Aqua circa 2024: “We’re good to each other.”

Before the 2023 Barbie renaissance, there was another topic that occasionally put Aqua back in the press: Just how good they all look, some 27 years on from their 1997 heyday.

I ask the trio, now all in their 50s (Lene, the baby of the group, turned 50 in October): Is a lifetime spent singing joyous pop songs the secret to eternal youth?

“My recipe is lots of coconut water and vodka,” Lene reveals.

“A big part of it is we’re doing what we are happy to do the most. We are very lucky people. We are super grateful, and we laugh a lot … We have a lot of fun.”

The band are momentarily taken aback when I ask about their famous mingling of business with pleasure.

Make no mistake, Aqua are the Fleetwood Mac of Europop.

Singer Lene finds herself in an unusual position: She tours the world in a trio with both her ex-boyfriend (she and Rene dated for three years in the 1990s) and her ex-husband (she and Soren married in 2001 and had two children together before divorcing in 2017).

There are awkward giggles when I broach this sensitive topic, but the group gamely press on to explain why life in Aqua works for them.

"Best friends thru everything," Lene captioned this recent pic with Soren.

Aqua in the 90s (member Claus, second from right, left in 2016).

“We have so many passions together,” Lene says of working with her exes. “And things are not always easy … but nothing is.”

Rene offers that he and Soren’s relationship to Lene is “more like a brother and sister,” to which Soren counters “a mother and a father.”

Lene has the last word on this topic: “I’m definitely the father,” she says with a laugh. “No, look, it’s a good question, but I think we’re OK. We’re good to each other.”

Aqua are headlining Mixtape Festival Volume 1 along with 2 Unlimited, East 17, Phats & Small, Big Brovaz, BootyLuv, and Urban Cookie Collective. Presaletickets on sale January 23, general relase tickets January 25.

March 21 – Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane

March 22 – John Cain Arena, Melbourne

March 24 – Qudos Bank Arena, Sydney

March 26 – Adelaide Entertainment Centre, Adelaide

March 28 – RAC Arena, Perth

Originally published as Aqua on Barbie Girl, break-ups and their upcoming Australian tour