BARBIE MOVIE SOUNDTRACK REVIEW

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Greta Gerwig’s Barbie is the film of the year. Killing it at the box office, and with a worldwide marketing campaign that turned most of the globe pink, it’s proved that movie-goers still want to go to the cinema with their friends and family. Not only that, but the friendly rivalry with Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, which launched on the same day, has created a true phenomenon: ‘Barbenheimer’ mania saw hordes of fans determined to see both films, with the only argument being which to see first.

Barbie has, after months of eager anticipation, claimed its place at the top of the charts, becoming the biggest debut ever for a female-directed film, and netting over $500 million worldwide in its first week. But what about the Barbie soundtrack? Who are the featured artists, what needs to go on your own Barbie movie soundtrack playlist, and - the all-important question - is ‘Barbie Girl’ by Aqua somewhere in the film? We’ve got everything you need to know.

The Full Barbie Track List

• ‘Pink’ – Lizzo
• ‘Dance the Night’ – Dua Lipa
• ‘Barbie World (with Aqua)’ – Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice
• ‘Speed Drive’ – Charli XCX
• ‘Watati’ – Karol G feat. Aldo Ranks
• ‘What Was I Made For’ – Billie Eilish
• ‘Journey to the Real World’ – Tame Impala
• ‘I’m Just Ken’ – Ryan Gosling
• ‘Hey Blondie’ – Dominic Fike
• ‘Home’ – Haim
• ‘Man I Am’ – Sam Smith
• ‘Forever & Again’ – The Kid Laroi
• ‘Silver Platter’ – Khalid
• ‘Angel’ – Pink Pantheress
• ‘Butterflies’ – Gayle
• ‘Choose Your Fighter’ – Ava Max
• ‘Barbie Dreams’ – Fifty Fifty feat. Kaliii

It Is the Best Day Ever!

The trailer showcases just how brilliant Barbie is going to be, with a mashup of very eclectic songs on its soundtrack: there’s Dua Lipa’s ‘Dance the Night’ (a new track from the soundtrack)  plus a singalong to the Indigo Girls’ ‘Closer to Fine’, Cass Elliott’s ‘Make Your Own Kind of Music’ and – pop cheese fans rejoice! – a snippet of Aqua’s ‘Barbie Girl’ to finish.

Some things have been happening to Barbie: her shower’s gone cold, she’s fallen off her roof and most calamitous of all, her feet have fallen flat to the ground. Margot Robbie’s Barbie has to set off to the Real World to get to the bottom of what’s going on, accompanied by Ken (Ryan Gosling). She’ll face off against Mattel CEO Will Ferrell, who’s determined to put her back in her box.

Dua Lipa also plays one of the film’s myriad Barbies (Mermaid Barbie), together with Issa Rae and Kate McKinnon. Plus, there’s Emerald Fennell as Midge, Michael Cera as Alan and a slew of complimentary Kens, including Simu Liu and the new Doctor Who, Ncuti Gatwa, while America Ferrera plays one of the key Real World characters.

Life in Plastic, It’s Fantastic

Barbie the Album has been produced by super-producer Mark Ronson and is being released through Atlantic Records. Who are the artists on the Barbie movie soundtrack? Naturally, it’s a who’s who of fantastic female artists, including Lizzo, Nicki Minaj, Karol G, Ice Spice, Charli XCX, Haim, Ava Max and Billie Eilish. Plus, there’s Sam Smith, Tame Impala and Khalid. It’s got dancefloor bangers, ballads and melancholic tunes: in short, something for every Barbie and Ken.

Oh, and if you’re a vinyl fan, there’s – of course – an amazing hot pink version of the album available.

Mark Ronson was originally brought on board to produce two songs for the film, but his role expanded to executive-producing the whole soundtrack and scoring the movie alongside collaborator Andrew Wyatt. Together with director Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird, Little Women), the music team wanted to cover the whole pop landscape – from dancefloor to drill, summery reggaeton to glossy K-pop and a tear-jerking Billie Eilish ballad.

Gerwig sent Ronson a playlist of music she loves, including songs from Xanadu, as well as what Ronson referred to as ‘guilty pleasure music’ or ‘Peloton pop’. The pair assembled a dream list of artists they wanted to be on the Barbie album. Each of the artists who signed on to the project were shown the scene they were going to write for and were given free rein to approach the songs with their own distinct music style.

Music plays a pivotal part in the film, as Margot Robbie told Rolling Stone: ‘You’re hearing lyrics that are responding to what’s happening onscreen, so the music became more than just music — it became a device to enhance what the audience was watching and experiencing, and got to be the voice of the audience.’

‘Dance the Night’ – Dua Lipa

The first single on the Barbie soundtrack is another Dua Lipa pop disco banger. On a first listen, you’ll find yourself bopping away to its carefree energy – perfect for Barbie Land – but give the lyrics a closer listen and you’ll find some of the anxiety that permeates the movie, such as maintaining a perfect appearance even when you don’t feel perfect on the inside.

‘Barbie World’ – Nicki Minaj & Ice Spice

Aqua’s ‘Barbie Girl’ might not be in the movie in its entirety (complicated bad blood still exists with them and Mattel), but Mark Ronson’s found a way to sneak it in, with samples on this collab with Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice.

‘I’m Just Ken’ – Ryan Gosling

Simple Ken, feeling angst-ridden? (‘There is no “just Ken”’) Say it ain’t so! But, as one of the taglines for the film says, ‘To live in Barbie Land is to be a perfect being in a perfect place. Unless you have a full-on existential crisis. Or you’re a Ken.’ It’s the kind of soaring power ballad that’ll make you want to either grab your surfboard and head into the Malibu sea, or gaze wistfully at a gorgeous sunset before punching the air when the chorus kicks in.

Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt wrote and produced the song, and surely deserve some sort of special award for the lyrics, particularly the couplet, ‘Is it my destiny to live and die/A life of blonde fragility?’ When Ronson read the script, he ‘instantly had this idea for this lyric: “I’m just Ken/Anywhere else I’d be a 10”. It just seemed funny. It felt a little bit emo, like, this poor guy. He’s so hot, but can’t get the time of day. It’s about this guy that just can’t get out of his own way. We all have these masks that we put on to impress people and all we really want to be is ourselves.’

And because he’s Mark Ronson, once Ryan Gosling had laid down his vocals, the producer just happened to send the track to Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash. Not only did he find it cool enough to play guitar on, but Wolfgang Van Halen and Josh Freese of Foo Fighters also added their talents to the mix. So, whilst it might sound like a throwaway 80s number, it’s not lacking in heavyweights (and as Ken himself says at the end of the song, ‘I’m just Ken and I’m enough/And I’m great at doing stuff’). Channel that Ken-ergy next time you need a boost

If you haven’t seen the film yet, then prep yourself, as Ronson had to, for the two-and-a-half-minute song he wrote turning into ‘an eight-minute, giant sequence’ with all the Kens doing battle and another brilliant, epic choreography moment.

Who Is Singing in the New Barbie Movie?

Other notable names on the soundtrack include Lizzo, with ‘Pink’, which runs over the opening credits. Mark Ronson revealed to Vulture that he’d originally written it as an instrumental. There were 80s influences, such as Working Girl and Tootsie – ‘there’s this thing when the movie starts, she’s marching into her day and everything’s fucking great’. The song wasn’t really working until Lizzo took matters into her own hands and ‘just starts narrating what’s going on on the screen’.

With the credit sequence still rolling over an instrumental, Greta Gerwig told Lizzo, ‘to do whatever she wants. She can keep singing. She can tell Helen Mirren, “Stop talking, I’m singing here” – whatever.’ Which, as Ronson points out, ‘set a nice bar of how meta we could get, without making every word of every song “Barbie”. We could have some of these songs almost feel like a reverse-engineered musical.’

‘What Was I Made For?’ – Billie Eilish

When it comes to Barbie having to confront an existential crisis, there’s only one artist to turn to: Billie Eilish (‘Looked so alive, turns out I’m not real/Just somethin’ you paid for/What was I made for?’) The singer-songwriter even directed the accompanying video, which features super-cute, Barbie-sized versions of some of her most iconic outfits.

The beautiful, piano-led ballad is one for when you want to wallow, but also to see a more hopeful tinge of pink-toned joy on the horizon (‘Think I forgot how to be happy/Somethin’ I’m not, but somethin’ I can be’).

Mark Ronson rates Eilish’s performance as ‘one of my favourite vocals of just, hands down, the last 10 years of pop music’ and also praised it as, ‘the song that says all that Barbie’s heart and soul wants to say, and maybe doesn’t even fully get to say in the film.’

Find out how Eilish and her songwriting brother Finneas were inspired by Barbie in this interview:

What Do Critics Think?

Critics and fans alike are loving the movie, with the Guardian hailing it as ‘a riotously entertaining candy-coloured feminist fable’, the Independent proclaiming it, ‘one of the most inventive, immaculately crafted and surprising mainstream films in recent memory’ and Empire boldly declaring that, ‘Life after Barbie will never be the same again.’

The magazine’s only criticism was that ‘blink, and you’ll miss some of the vast and vibrant ensemble cast’. So, if you haven’t already seen it, what are you waiting for? And if you have, let’s all go again!

And definitely let Barbie music be the perfect soundtrack to the rest of your summer, whether you’re in Barbie Land or the Real World.

Girl Power

Read about more trailblazing women in film, music and art and the best female directors (including Greta Gerwig) in our deep dives. Or find out what makes the Suicide Squad soundtracks so great, for more from Margot Robbie and the best-selling movie soundtracks of all time (we’ve got a feeling we’ll be updating it to include Barbie…)

Plus, if you need music to license for a movie project, look no further than our hand-picked kick-ass women playlist, or the kind of music that gives you an instant ‘Hollywood sound’, courtesy of composer Lorne Balfe’s collection.