Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve got pink and 90s as Aqua started things off with a performance of “Barbie Girl.” The Danish-Norwegian Europop band performed their 1997 hit to a packed Times Square. Footage of the performance was shared on Instagram.
In the comments under the Instagram post, fans were thrilled with Aqua’s rendition of their 90s hit. “They killed that,” one fan gushed. “Yasss!! So happy I was able to see Aqua perform live this year!” another fan wrote.
Not All New Year’s Rockin’ Eve Viewers Were Tickled Pink with the ‘Barbie Girl’ Performance
However, not everyone was thrilled with the throwback performance. “If you told me that Aqua will be performing Barbie Girl to bring in 2024, I’d thought you would be insane. And yet, here we are,” one bemused fan wrote on X (formerly Twitter). Another viewer was left wondering if they were back in the 90s. “Aqua is performing Barbie Girl on ABC,” they wrote on X. “What year is it guys?”
Finally, another Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve watcher was feeling their age seeing Aqua creak through their old hit. “Well, if I didn’t already feel elderly enough, watching Aqua perform Barbie Girl on Dick Clark finished the job,” they quipped.
Aqua originally released “Barbie Girl” in May 1997. The song, seemingly about the Barbie doll, actually contains sexual overtones with lyrics like “Kiss me here, touch me there, hanky-panky.” In 1997, Universal Music defied complaints and released the single worldwide.
The result was a resounding success, with the song claiming the number-one spot in the UK for four consecutive weeks and in Australia for three weeks. Additionally, it achieved the rare feat of entering the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100, a remarkable accomplishment for European pop acts at that time.
However, interest in the song was reignited this past year. In 2023, Aqua teamed up with Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice to create the soundtrack for the film Barbie. The song made its debut at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100. It marked Aqua’s second single to enter the Top 10 and their first since the iconic “Barbie Girl.”
Additionally, “Barbie World” achieved Top 5 status on the UK Singles Chart. Interestingly, this success coincided with “Barbie Girl” making a comeback on the UK Top 40 after 25 years.