I'm riding that Barbie wave, so here's the last entry in my Barbie trilogy: An AI Johnny Cash singing Aqua's "Barbie Girl." It was posted by "There I Ruined It," who describes the song as an:
(AI voice model trained by @therealmockingbird / singing by me)
On their YouTube site, "There I Ruined It" describes their work: "I lovingly destroy your favorite songs." On their website they provide more details:
Formed from the depths of musical boredom during the pandemic, There I Ruined It is the personal project of musician Dustin Ballard. With the simple goal of ruining as many beloved songs as possible before it's banned from the Internet, There I Ruined It has left a wake of confusion and disgust among those with musical taste, inexplicably earning millions of followers along the way.
If you're going to see the Barbie movie, don't expect to hear Aqua's 1997 song. The Mary Sue reports that it's not being included for a few reasons. First, Mattel sued MCA Records six months after the song was released. According to The Mary Sue, the lawsuit claimed "that the song violated copyright and threatened the Barbie brand by portraying her as a sex object." The Mary Sue further explains:
Mattel took their case all the way to the United States Supreme Court, but it was ultimately dismissed, with courts ruling that as a work of parody, the song was protected by the First Amendment and the doctrine of fair use.
Secondly, The Mary Sue states that Lene Nystrøm of the band Aqua:
told Variety that using the song in the film would be like "cheese on cheese"—that is, too obvious a choice. Nystrøm went on to say that "I totally understand why they didn't use it, but it's going to bring us a lot of attention, no matter what."
I know Aqua's Barbie Girl was a huge hit, but I actually like the AI Johnny Cash version way more than the original. So, thanks, There I Ruined It, you didn't ruin it, for me, anyway—you made it better!
