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\n Published on
\n 19\/05\/2026 – 13:44 GMT+2\n <\/p>\n
“I’m a Barbie girl, in the Barbie world \/ Life in plastic, it’s OVER.” <\/p>\n
\n ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n
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Aqua, the Danish-Norwegian dance-pop band behind the chart-topping 1997 hit song \u2018Barbie Girl\u2019, are no more. <\/p>\n
The band, composed of singers Ren\u00e9 Dif and Lene Nystr\u00f8m and keyboardist S\u00f8ren Rasted, announced in an Instagram post that they are calling it quits after being together since 1995. <\/p>\n
\u201cAfter many incredible years, we have decided to close the chapter of AQUA as a live band,\u201d read the statement. <\/p>\n
\u201cAQUA has been such a huge part of our lives, and together we\u2019ve had the chance to experience more than we ever dared to dream of,\u201d they said. \u201cWe\u2019ve traveled the world countless times, met so many wonderful people, sung together with millions of you, and shared memories that we will carry with us forever.\u201d <\/p>\n
Aqua recalled their more than three decades together and said, \u201cWhen you\u2019ve been together for this long, you also learn when it\u2019s time to protect what you\u2019ve created together.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cFor us, this feels like the right moment to say goodbye while the memories are still strong, and while the love for the music, the story, and each other remains intact.\u201d <\/p>\n
Aqua formed in Copenhagen in 1995 and their 1997 debut album \u2018Aquarium\u2019 featured their hit song \u2018Barbie Girl\u2019. <\/p>\n
The single peaked at the top position in the charts in France, Belgium, the UK, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden. Outside of Europe, it hit Number One in Australia and New Zealand, and ended up selling more than 8 million copies worldwide. <\/p>\n
In 2000, Mattel, the makers of Barbie, sued the group. The company argued that the song had damaged the reputation of the Barbie brand. However, a judge dismissed the case finding the song was fair parody and that the use of the Barbie name fell within non-commercial use exemptions. The judge wrote, rather memorably: \u201cThe parties are advised to chill\u201d.<\/p>\n
Aqua’s follow-up to \u2018Barbie Girl\u2019 were the singles \u2018Doctor Jones\u2019 and \u2018Turn Back Time\u2019, which featured on the soundtrack to the film Sliding Doors. Both songs made it to Number One in the UK.<\/p>\n
Be honest with yourselves and try telling us with a straight face that ‘Turn Back Time’ isn’t an underappreciated gem of a song. <\/p>\n
Aqua released another two albums: \u2018Aquarius\u2019 (2000) and \u2018Megalomania\u2019 (2011). They sold an estimated 33 million records. <\/p>\n
The band found renewed relevance in 2023 after \u2018Barbie Girl\u2019 was sampled in Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice\u2019s song \u2018Barbie World\u2019, which featured on the soundtrack to Greta Gerwig\u2019s blockbuster hit Barbie<\/a>.<\/p>\n RIP Aqua. You\u2019ll be missed by Europop fans worldwide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published on 19\/05\/2026 – 13:44 GMT+2 “I’m a Barbie girl, in the Barbie world \/ Life in plastic,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":457738,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[36021,3025,93,61,60,278,298,7492],"class_list":["post-457737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-barbie","tag-denmark","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music","tag-norway","tag-pop-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457737\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}