BARBIE GIRL

Saweetie Revealed Why She Never Released Her Highly Anticipated ‘Barbie Girl’-Sampling Song, ‘Icy Girl, Icy World’

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saweetie
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One of the biggest songs of 2023 was Ice Spice and Nicki Minaj’s song “Barbie World,” which interpolated Aqua’s 1997 hit “Barbie Girl.” However, it wasn’t the only song to sample that song. In 2022, Saweetie previewed a clip of her own song, “Icy Girl, Icy World,” generating some impressive buzz months before “Barbie World” was tapped to feature on the Barbie film’s soundtrack. Unfortunately, her song was never released and fans awaiting the Bay Area rapper’s big comeback were left disappointed. While one of her collaborators on the song offered his own take on the situation, Saweetie never addressed why she shelved “Icy Girl”… until now.

When a fan on Twitter (never calling it “X”) posted a clip of Saweetie previewing the song during a livestream and asked, “What happened to this?” Saweetie’s response was short and simple. “Warner wouldn’t clear it,” she explained.

Although it appears Saweetie is still signed to the label, she hasn’t been shy about calling out Warner in the past. Earlier this month, she called on the label to approve the budget for the rollout of her single “Nani,” which she’s been teasing for weeks. And in 2020, she vented her frustrations with the label for flubbing the release of her song “Best Friend” with Doja Cat.

Meanwhile, although Saweetie said she didn’t mind Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice “borrowing” her idea for the Barbie soundtrack, her co-writer on the song, Jason Martin (fka Problem), censured the bigger star for what he saw as dirty business. “I can confirm this song and idea was sent to her last year to submit for the Barbie movie,” he posted on Twitter. “It’s sad to see that the original artist has been pushed off a song that was her idea and was meant for both of them.”

After Coco Gauff’s Historic 2023 US Open Victory, She Embraced Her Inner ‘Barbie’ With Help From Nicki Minaj & Ice Spice

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ice spice and nicki 2023
Alex ‘Grizz’ Loucas

On Saturday, September 9, Coco Gauff made tennis history after she beat Aryna Sabalenka to win the 2023 US Open title. According to CBS, the 19-year-old player became the youngest American woman to win the tournament since Serena Williams. After the landmark victory, Gauff took to TikTok to bask in the moment with a very fitting soundtrack.

In a video captioned “This Barbie is the US Open Champion 💞,” Gauff is seen lipsynching along to Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice’s song “Barbie World.” The track, which appears on the Barbie movie’s official soundtrack, is all about confidence, of which Gauff has plenty.

@cocogauff

this barbie is the us open champion 💞

♬ Barbie World – <3

During Gauff’s victory speech, she let her confidence shine bright as she clapped back at those who doubted she would come out on top.

Honestly, thank you to the people who didn’t believe in me. Like a month ago, I won a 500 title, and people said I would stop at that. Two weeks ago, I won a 1,000 title, and people were saying that was the biggest I was going to get. So three weeks later, I’m here with this trophy right now. I tried my best to carry this with grace, and I’ve been doing my best. So honestly, to those who thought [they] were putting water on my fire, you’re really adding gas to it. And now I’m really burning so bright right now.

Sports stars such as Angel Reese have appeared alongside their favorite musical acts. For Reese, that was Cardi B and Latto, when she made a cameo in their video for “Put It On Da Floor Again.” Maybe Coco Gauff will link up with Nicki Minaj or Ice Spice in the future.
Barbie: The Album is out now via Atlantic. Find more information here.

The Barbie soundtrack is a Warner Music release. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Margot Robbie’s Begging Helped Bring Nicki Minaj And Ice Spice’s ‘Barbie’ Movie Song To Life

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warner bros.

Last week saw the release of Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice’s “Barbie World,” a new take on Aqua’s classic “Barbie Girl” recorded for the Barbie movie. It turns out that fans have star Margot Robbie to thank in part for the song’s existence.

In a new feature about the music of the Barbie movie, Rolling Stone notes how outraged fans were when Aqua said last year that their song wouldn’t be in the movie. The publication continued, “Even though it wasn’t in the script, Gerwig’s plan all along was to find a place for it, especially since Robbie and others were begging for it.”

Margot Robbie said, “I was like, ‘Greta, how are we going to incorporate this song? We can’t do a Barbie movie and not have a nod to Aqua’s ‘Barbie Girl.’ It has to be in there.’ And [Greta] was like, ‘Don’t worry, we’re going to find a cool way to incorporate it.’ And then, when she was like, ‘Guess who’s going to do the remix of Aqua’s “Barbie Girl”? Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice.’ I was like, ‘Together? Are you joking?!’ I just knew immediately that all my girlfriends were going to lose their minds.”

Mark Ronson also made note how how natural a fit Minaj was for the song, saying, “I feel like people have been asking Nicki to rhyme over some version of ‘Barbie Girl’ for 15 years now.”

Check out the full feature here.

Saweetie May Have Her Next Big Hit With The Aqua-Sampling ‘Icy Girl, Icy World’

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Saweetie Icy Girl
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Some songs are what you might call “infuriatingly catchy.” You know the ones. You don’t want to like them. You resist them for as long as possible. Then, one day, out of the blue, you find yourself humming the chorus or quoting the intro and the song has evolved into a full-blown guilty pleasure. (Here’s some old head advice: Skip the process. Like the thing. No one can judge you, and if they do, who cares? They’re miserable, you’re having fun. You win.)

Aqua’s 1997 Europop hit “Barbie Girl” was one of those songs. It dominated MTV and radio, it drove music snobs crazy. But it was fun and a little dumb but irresistible in the way so many things were in the late ’90s. I still like it a lot. Saweetie — whose music has been subject to the above-mentioned phenomenon in its own way — knows a thing or two about repurposing the inescapable hits of yesteryear in her own music. In fact, that’s when she’s at her best, according to many fans, and it’s the thing that’s been missing from recent attempts to recapture the public’s imagination.

Well, Sample Saweetie just might be back with her next big swing for the top of the Hot 100. During an Instagram Live “cyber party” stream with fans, she debuted a striking new look and previewed a potential hit called, fittingly, “Icy Girl, Icy World” which samples “Barbie Girl” and might just be her next infuriatingly catchy smash. Fans are already expressing approval and — provided we can all follow the old head advice from above — “Icy Girl, Icy World” might just bypass all the negativity that has been swirling around Saweetie’s long-delayed debut album and return her to rap fans’ good graces — or at least skip their nonsense and find a pop audience ready and willing to give something new a try.

Saweetie is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.