In mid-April, Ice Spice welcomed Nicki Minaj onto the remix of her January song “Princess Diana,” marking the first collaboration between the two New York natives. After seeing the remix hit No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, Spice’s second Top 5 hit, the duo decided to get back together for another bop.
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Minaj and Spice put out their second collaboration “Barbie World” at midnight ET on Friday (June 23), as part of the upcoming live-action Barbie movie soundtrack slated for July 21.
To put it frankly, “Barbie World” is a match made in heaven, particularly since Minaj notably calls her cult fanbase “the Barbz.“ Also credited on the new song is Aqua, the Norweigan/Danish 1990s pop band who crafted “Barbie Girl” in 1997, which has become the unofficial theme song of the Barbie doll collection.
Although Variety reported that “Barbie Girl” would not be used in the new film last year, Minaj and Spice found a way to include it in some capacity, sampling the song’s hook on the beat of “Barbie World.”
Along with going back and forth on their I’m bad like the Barbie / I’m a doll, but I still wanna party hook, Minaj and Spice both deliver thematically-attentive verses over the aforementioned looked sample and added hip-hop drums.
Barbie ain’t nothin’ to play ’bout
He wanna play in the Playhouse
The fuck they gon’ say now?
I’m washin’ these bitches, I’m rubbin’ the stain out
Like I’m ready to bend
All the fake Barbies just wanna pretend
The release of “Barbie World” comes on the same day Ice Spice announced she will be joining Doja Cat on tour this fall. Additionally, the song adds to a busy year for Minaj, who is planning to release her impending, long-awaited studio album in October.
In recent weeks, Dua Lipa, Karol G, and PinkPantheress all released their contributions to the Barbie soundtrack as well. When it is made fully available next month on the same day as the movie, the project will include appearances from HAIM, Dominic Fike, Lizzo, and more.
Check out “Barbie World” below.
Photo by Alex “Grizz” Loucas / Warner Music Group
