90s Pop Group Aqua Trades in Barbie for Jesus
It seems to be a new era for Aqua, the Danish-Norwegian pop music group whose global claim to fame is their 1997 hit “Barbie Girl.” The video for their recently-released single, “Playmate to Jesus,” shows a slower-pace and much darker side of the band than what most people are accustomed to.
The music video for the new single shows band members in an eerie, empty house that is reminiscent of a horror film. A cloud of black smoke deliberately makes its way through the halls of the house, and is followed by band members eventually exiting the house through the roof and transforming into a beam of light shooting into the sky.
The song opens somewhat softly, with only a piano and violins playing, before the pop beat kicks in and the song takes off. Everyone in the video is wearing black or gray clothing, adding to its overall darkness.
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In one scene, female lead singer Lene Nystrm, who goes through a number of costume changes throughout the video, is seen sitting with her arms stretched across the base of a black cross while wearing a corset, zebra print stockings and high-heeled boots.
There are two parts to the chorus of the song, both of which end in the refrain, “Everywhere I go, I pray for universal love.”
“Playmate to Jesus” is the second single recently released by the pop group. The song and the track “Like A Robot” were both released in Norway and Denmark Sept. 12, according to aquafanpage.com. Both songs will appear on the group's new album, Megalomania, which will be their first new album-release in 11 years.
The 11-track album will come out Oct. 3 and will feature songs with titles like, “Viva Las Vegas,” “Be my Saviour Tonight” and “If The World Didn't Suck (We Would All Fall Off).”
With the help of “Barbie Girl,” Aqua has become the bestselling Danish band ever and has sold about 33 million albums and singles, according to the group's website. Aqua's former albums include Aquarium (1997) and Aquarius (2000).
The band is made up of vocalists Lene Nystrm and Rene Dif, keyboardist Soren Rasted and guitarist Claus Norreen. The group broke up in 2001, but announced that they were getting back together for a reunion tour in 2007.
Despite the group's tremendous success, “Barbie Girl” was recently voted to be the worst song of the 1990s by readers of "Rolling Stone" magazine. The runner-up was Los del Rio's “Macarena,” followed Billy Ray Cyrus' “Achy Breaky Heart” in third.
