Barbie’s Summer has its own soundtrack and is finally here! “Barbie: The Album” is released in full on July 21, along with the highly anticipated “Barbie” movie. Atlantic Records first announced the album news on May 25, and the album features all-star artists like Nicki Minaj, Ice Spice, Haim, Lizzo, and K-pop group Fifty Fifty. Dua Lipa — who plays the mermaid Barbie in the film — also features her song “Barbie”, “Dance the Night”. And Ryan Gosling, who plays Ken in the film, sings his own ode to Ken-dom, titled “I’m Just Ken.”
Quite a few “Barbie” songs were released before the full album, including Minaj and Spice’s “Barbie World”. The sample song is perhaps the most iconic Barbie song of all time: Aqua’s 1997 hit “Barbie Girl.” The songs “Barbie” by Karol G, Dua Lipa and PinkPantheress were also released prior to the film’s release.
Then, on July 6, Billie Eilish made the surprise announcement that she also had a song on the soundtrack, titled “What Was I Made For?” She wrote on Instagram, “WE HAVE CREATE THIS SONG FOR BARBIE AND IT MEANS ABSOLUTELY TO ME. THIS FILM WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE AND HOPE TO SONG LIVE.” She then released the somber song and video on July 13. In the video, Eilish – wearing a blonde dress and Barbie-style ponytail – pulls doll-sized versions of some of her own most iconic outfits and tries to solemnly try to stuff them all on a doll clothes rack, despite the wind and rain.
On July 10, the final special artist of the soundtrack was revealed to be Sam Smith. Their song, “Man I Am,” is from Ken’s perspective, Smith said on Instagram. Smith wrote: “I cannot begin to express how excited I am to be part of the soundtrack of this already iconic film. I was invited by the incredible @iammarkronson and Greta Gerwig to write a song from Ken’s perspective for one of those scenes and honestly, we had so much fun with this. I can’t wait to hear what you create together.”
Fans can order the album “Barbie” on the film’s website right now, along with many special edition vinyls and cassettes. Most of the album covers feature Margot Robbie as Barbie, lounging around in her iconic bathing suit and sunglasses, although there’s also a special Ken edition. In addition, on the day of its release, the film also released a special edition “Best Weekend Ever” which included another song performed by Gosling and a cover of “Closer to Fine” featured in the film.
The movie “Barbie” stars Robbie and Gosling along with a whole bunch of other Barbies and Kens. The massive cast includes Issa Rae, Simu Liu, Helen Mirren, Nicola Coughlan, and more. At first, you can listen to every track from “Barbie: The Album” — but we’ll warn you that some of them contain key spoilers for the movie.
