MOVIE MUSIC UK

Original Review by Jonathan Broxton

If you had told me a year ago that one of the most talked-about and controversial films of 2023 would be one based on a child’s toy from the 1950s I would have scarcely believed you, but here we are, and Barbie is probably going to be remembered as one of the cinematic cultural touchstones of the year. The film is, of course, inspired by the enormously popular line of dolls manufactured by American toy company Mattel, and usually something like this would not interest me in the slightest – there have been Barbie movies before, animated ones, soulless and vapid affairs – but in the hands of writer/director Greta Gerwig and her co-writer husband Noah Baumbach, this version of Barbie has become a feminist story aimed squarely at Millennials and members of Gen-Z, while also becoming a political football for both the left and right wings, with one half praising it for its progressiveness, and the other half accusing it of ruining everything with ‘wokeness’.

The film stars a perfectly-cast Margot Robbie in the title role, who lives in the overwhelmingly pink Barbieland, a matriarchal society where women are self-confident, self-sufficient, and successful, and where every day is the best day ever. She lives in perfect harmony with all the other Barbies: president Issa Rae, writer Alexandra Shipp, physicist Emma Mackey, doctor Hari Nef, and so on. Also living in Barbieland is Barbie’s vacuous boyfriend Ken, played by a brilliant Ryan Gosling, whose single talent is ‘beach,’ alongside other Kens played by Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Scott Evans, Ncuti Gatwa, and John Cena, among others. However, when Barbie suffers an existential crisis during one of her nightly dance parties, she visits the outcast Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon), and is told that in order to fix things she must travel to the ‘real world’ and find the child that is playing with her. So, with Ken in tow, Barbie makes the journey to modern day Los Angeles in order to find her owner – only for her to discover that, contrary to her beliefs, she is now seen as outdated and passé. Even worse, when Ken discovers that the ‘real world’ is a place where men are successful and respected for more than their beach talent, he vows to bring the patriarchy back to Barbieland.

I’m not going to go into any detail about the whole ‘wokeness’ thing, because this isn’t really the place for that, but I will say that from my point of view the film isn’t quite as progressive as it thinks it is, or that some more volatile commentators have claimed it is. Nevertheless, I did enjoy a lot of its social commentary and contemporary feminism, and I appreciated the fact that Mattel allowed Gerwig and Baumbach to address head-on the regular criticism about Barbie encouraging unrealistic beauty standards. It’s also very funny, packed full of references and easter eggs that Barbie fans will love, and it looks spectacular, with a color palette that pops. I also loved the way that Gerwig intentionally adopted numerous visual techniques from early cinema, especially in some of the montage sequences. I predict several Oscar nominations in the future.

Musically, Barbie is one of those films where its score and its song soundtrack are inextricably linked. Alexandre Desplat, who collaborated with Gerwig on Little Women in 2019, was originally announced as the composer for Barbie in September 2022, and I have to admit I was fascinated by the prospect of seeing what he would come up with. However, Desplat left the project shortly thereafter for reasons that have still never been fully made clear, and instead Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt were brought in to spearhead the film’s musical approach.

Ronson, for those who don’t know, is one of the world’s most successful contemporary pop songwriters and producers. He first emerged onto the scene as early as 2001, but properly broke through in 2006 when he produced the debut album for the late Amy Winehouse, which notably included her smash singles “Rehab” and “Back to Black”. He has since gone on to work with numerous major stars in the pop music world – Christina Aguilera, Robbie Williams, Adele, Duran Duran, Chance the Rapper, Miley Cyrus, dozens of others. He won a Grammy for Record of the Year in 2016 for “Uptown Funk” with Bruno Mars, and won an Oscar for Best Original Song in 2019 for “Shallow” with Lady Gaga from the soundtrack for A Star is Born. Wyatt, meanwhile, first came to prominence as the frontman of the Swedish electronic pop band Miike Snow in 2009, and has since worked as a songwriter/producer for artists including Liam Gallagher, Lady Gaga, Lorde, Charli XCX, Florence and the Machine, and Bruno Mars. He also won an Oscar for co-writing “Shallow”.

For Barbie, Ronson and Wyatt were tasked with putting together a soundtrack of original songs and score. For the songs, they essentially put together a wish-list of some of the most popular pop artists, and approached each one of them in turn. Lizzo. Dua Lipa. Billie Eilish. Charli XCX. Haim. Sam Smith. Nicki Minaj. They all said yes, and the resultant soundtrack is one of the most stacked albums in recent years in terms of high profile talent. But, here’s what makes Barbie’s soundtrack different from other song compilations: this music is intentional, and specific, and story driven, and best of all music from the songs that Ronson and Wyatt wrote with these megastars informs the score too. There is crossover, and one references the other, in intelligent ways that serve the needs of what Gerwig is trying to do dramatically. This is not the norm – usually pop soundtrack albums are just slapped together to sell units – but that is not the case with the Barbie soundtrack. Each artist was tasked with writing a song for a specific scene; the specific scene then informed the song’s tone and lyrics, so much so that in some cases they specifically comment on something that is happening on-screen in a given moment. This is not normal, and is a huge part of what makes the whole thing a success.

There are 17 songs on the soundtrack album, and most of them are very good, but I’m going to concentrate on just five of them. The first is “Pink,” written by Ronson and Wyatt with Eric Burton Frederic and Melissa Jefferson, and performed by hip-hop artist/classical flautist Lizzo. This song underscores the opening scene of Barbie waking up in her dream house, and it essentially comments on everything that she is doing as she is doing it – playing chess by the pool, choosing an outfit, and so on. But what’s clever about the song is that it’s ironic and acutely self-aware: it references the surrealness and artificiality of Barbie’s world, and does it with a funky beat, 70s brass licks, and a killer bass line.

“Dance the Night”, written by Ronson and Wyatt with Caroline Ailin and Dua Lipa, and performed by Lipa, was actually the first song written as it features in an on-camera dance sequence featuring Lipa herself singing the song, plus a fully choreographed dance number. Musically it’s a banger – a super catchy disco rhythm, satisfying double hand claps, and a string arrangement that Gloria Gaynor would have loved – but, again, it’s self-aware. Listen to the lyrics. It starts out as a fairly standard club hit, talking about dancing and having fun, but it soon morphs into talking about the existential crisis that hits Barbie and drives the plot: about how her fun and her dance moves are masking her tears, the inner turmoil that she can’t explain.

This idea is explored even further in “What Was I Made For?” written by Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas O’Connell, and performed by Eilish. This song is really the core of the film’s emotional narrative: it cleverly weaves themes about identity and purpose with some clever wordplay that acknowledges Barbie’s reality: that she is a doll, something that’s not real, something you paid for. It’s a slow, downbeat piece driven by a lovely stripped-down piano melody, delivered in Eilish’s now-familiar breathy falsetto. I enjoy pretty much everything Eilish does, but this is one of her best.

“Man I Am,” which was written by Ronson with Eric Burton Frederic and Sam Smith, and is performed by Smith, is a song from Ken’s perspective. It plays as Barbie returns to Barbieland and begins to discover how Ken changed their world via ‘the patriarchy,’ and represents the shift in power in Barbieland. It’s a disco/synthpop track, and at times comes across as unexpectedly aggressive, intentionally leaning into all those awful ‘alpha male’ stereotypes, toxic masculinity mixed with belligerent sexuality. I don’t like the song as much as the others, but it’s important in context. Finally, there’s “I’m Just Ken,” which was written by Ronson and Wyatt and is performed in-character by Ryan Gosling. As much as “What Was I Made For” represents Barbie’s inner turmoil, this one represents Ken’s. It’s a hilarious parody of classic 80s-style power ballads that sometimes feels like a lost track from a band like Foreigner (which is perhaps appropriate, considering that Ronson’s stepfather is Foreigner guitarist Mick Jones). It’s brilliant in context, and I especially love the dance break in the middle of the song that features guitars performed by Slash from Guns n Roses, and Eddie Van Halen’s son Wolfgang. Can you feel the kenergy?

I honestly think that one or more of these songs has a genuine shot at picking up an Oscar nomination next year because, not only are they a ton of fun from a musical point of view, they also fulfil the specific criteria the music branch is looking for: they are substantively rendered, clearly audible, and intelligible, and further the storyline of the motion picture.

In addition to all this, Ronson and Wyatt were also tasked with writing the film’s score, which is something neither man had attempted individually before (although Ronson did work with Geoff Zanelli on the score for Mortdecai back in 2015). Of course, they had help – mostly from conductor/orchestrator extraordinaire Matt Dunkley – but as I said what’s so great about the score is how much cross-pollination there is between it and the original songs.

It begins with “Creation of Barbie,” which is a perfect parody of the music from the ‘dawn of man’ sequence from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, and references the classical masterpiece “Also Sprach Zarathustra” by Richard Strauss, before suddenly morphing into an instrumental theme based on the melody and handclaps of the Dua Lipa song “Dance the Night”. The “Also Sprach Zarathustra” references come back later in “Ken Makes a Discovery,” which blends dramatic horns with funky bass guitar riffs and rock percussion licks. “Pink” is an instrumental rendition of the melody of the Lizzo song that ends with some references to the melody of James Sanderson’s “Hail to the Chief” for a scene involving Presidential Barbie. Then the second half of “You Failed Me!” uses some of the more dramatic percussion hits and guitar licks from “I’m Just Ken.”

Best of all, though, are “Bus Stop Billie,” “Meeting Ruth,” “I Don’t Have an Ending,” and “What Was I Made For? (Epilogue),” four cues which all feature instrumental renditions of the Billie Eilish song, and which in doing so firmly cement that idea as a recurring motif related to Barbie’s self-awareness, her explorations of her own identity, and the eventual realization that what she actually wants is to be human. Prior to the “Bus Stop Billie” scene Barbie had never seen an elderly woman before. Prior to the “Meeting Ruth” scene Barbie was never aware of her own history. These revelations initially take on a deeper sense of emotion when accompanied by Eilish’s lovely, quiet piano lines, and then have a whimsical, nostalgic, dream-like quality in the gorgeously lush Frank Skinner-like arrangements for strings and whistles heard especially in “Meeting Ruth”.

The rest of the score is essentially a series of instrumentals that are a ton of fun, but also dramatically appropriate. “Beach Off” blends the instrumental with surf-rock style vocal harmonics, a steel guitar lick, and Hammond organs. There’s a magical, almost psychedelic edge to the synths and chimes in “Stairway to Weird Barbie,” which also features the ‘existential hand claps’ from the Dua Lipa song. There’s some genuine tension and anguish in the orchestral passages that run through “Thoughts of Death,” and this continues on through “Send Me Through the Portal” and the subsequent “Deprogramming,” which again revisit the disco beats and ‘existential hand claps’ from the Dua Lipa song, but also add in layers of string lines that vary from in tone unnerving to positively optimistic.

“Mattel” is a driving, masculine piece for brass, percussion, and synths that comes across sort of like a militaristic fanfare crossed with a high school football drumline which – cleverly – is yet another variation on the Dua Lipa song “Dance the Night”, again intended to represent the physical (and overly-male) manifestation of all Barbie’s problems. “Lose These Chuckleheads” is a vibrant, rock-heavy action cue that underscores a car chase sequence, and appears to be based on the rhythms of one of the original songs I didn’t discuss earlier, “Speed Drive” by British electropop artist Charli XCX. “Alan vs Kens” is a more synth heavy action cue for the scene where Michael Cera’s Alan character unexpectedly fights – and wins – a brutal martial arts smackdown against a whole bunch of beefcake Kens trying to stop Barbie from leaving Barbieland, now renamed Kendom. The final couple of cues – “Warmth of Your Gaze” and “An Ending”– are more introspective and subtle, usually little more than guitar chords and synth lines, but which sometimes rise to warmer orchestral heights featuring prominent strings and brass.

I almost can’t believe I’ve written as much as I have about the music for a Barbie movie but, really, I can’t stress enough how much I was impressed with everything that Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt – and Dua Lipa, and Billie Eilish, and the other songwriters – have done for this film. I certainly didn’t expect to take it this seriously, or to have as many ‘deep thoughts’ about it as I have, but that’s the power of good filmmaking and good film scoring. It takes you places that you don’t anticipate, and makes you think about and feel things you couldn’t predict. The way the two musical sides of this film – the original songs, and the original score – co-operate is very impressive to me, and shows me that Gerwig, Ronson, Wyatt, and the others thought a great deal about the musical content of their film, what they wanted it to say and do. And really, that’s pretty much all you can ask for. This is a song compilation that you can just sit back and enjoy for its easy pop vibe and catchy rhythms, and that’s fine, but for me it was the exploration of the voices beyond the pink and shiny wrapper that gave me the most satisfaction.

Buy the Barbie soundtrack from the Movie Music UK Store

Track Listing:

• SCORE ALBUM
• Creation of Barbie (2:02)
• Pink (Barbie Opening Theme) (2:58)
• Beach Off (1:48)
• Ken Thinks (0:59)
• Stairway to Weird Barbie (1:48)
• Thoughts of Death (1:58)
• Send Me Through the Portal (1:30)
• Ken Makes a Discovery (1:34)
• Bus Stop Billie (1:33)
• Mattel (2:13)
• Meeting Ruth (2:23)
• Lose These Chuckleheads (2:10)
• You Failed Me! (3:38)
• Alan vs Kens (1:38)
• Deprogramming (5:13)
• Warmth of Your Gaze (3:52)
• An Ending (2:26)
• I Don’t Have an Ending (3:37)
• What Was I Made For? (Epilogue) (1:33)

• SONG ALBUM
• Pink (written by Mark Ronson, Andrew Wyatt, Eric Burton Frederic, and Melissa Jefferson, performed by Lizzo) (2:23)
• Dance the Night (written by Mark Ronson, Andrew Wyatt, Caroline Ailin, and Dua Lipa, performed by Dua Lipa) (2:56)
• Barbie World (written by Ephrem Louis Lopez Jr., Johnny Pedersen, Karsten Dahlgaard, Lene Nystrøm, Isis Gaston, Claus Norreen, Onika Maraj, René Dif, and Søren Rasted, performed by Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice with Aqua) (1:49)
• Speed Drive (written by Charlotte Aitchison, David James Parker, Finn ‘Easyfun’ Keane, Ewart Everton Brown, Fabian Peter Torsson, Joakim Frans Åhlund, Klas Frans Åhlund, Mike Chapman, Nicky Chinn, Patrik Knut Arve, Sylvia Robinson, and Troy Rami, performed by Charli XCX) (1:57)
• Watati (written by Aldo Vargas, Carolina Giraldo Navarro, and Daniel Oviedo, performed by Karol G feat. Aldo Ranks) (2:46)
• Man I Am (written by Mark Ronson, Eric Burton Frederic, and Sam Smith, performed by Sam Smith) (3:07)
• Journey to the Real World (written by Kevin Parker, performed by Tame Impala) (1:27)
• I’m Just Ken (written by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt, performed by Ryan Gosling) (3:42)
• Hey Blondie (written by Mark Ronson, Dominic Fike, Henry Kwapis, and Ryan Raymond Raines, performed by Dominic Fike) (2:21)
• Home (written by Alana Haim, Danielle Haim, Este Haim, and Rostam Batmanglij, performed by Haim) (3:46)
• What Was I Made For? (written by Billie Eilish O’Connell and Finneas O’Connell, performed by Billie Eilish) (3:42)
• Forever & Again (written by Andrew Watt, Billy Walsh, Charlton Howard, and Louis Bell, performed by The Kid Laroi) (2:19)
• Silver Platter (written by Chase Worrell, Denis Kosiak, Jason Kellner, and Khalid Robinson, performed by Khalid) (2:45)
• Angel (written by Michael ‘BloodPop’ Tucker, Tom ‘Count Baldor’ Parker, and Vicky ‘PinkPantheress’ Walker, performed by PinkPantheress) (2:03)
• Butterflies (written by Anthony Kiedis, Brett Mazur, Chad Smith, Taylor Gayle Rutherford, John Frusciante, Michael Balzary, Reed Berin, and Seth Binzer, performed by Gayle) (2:16)
• Choose Your Fighter (written by Amanda Ava Koci, Madison Love, and Michael Pollack, performed by Ava Max) (2:17)
• Barbie Dreams (written by Melissa ‘Faangs’ Storwick, James Harris, Janet Jackson, Jonathan Bach, Kaliya Ashley Ross, Marc Raymond Ernest Sibley, Mike Caren, Nathan Cunningham, Nicholaus Joseph Williams, Randall Hammers, Terry Lewis, and Tramaine Winfrey, performed by Fifty Fifty featuring Kaliii) (2:29)

Running Time: 44 minutes 44 seconds (Score Album)
Running Time: 44 minutes 05 seconds (Song Album)

Atlantic Records (2023)

Music composed by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt. Conducted by Matt Dunkley. Orchestrations by Matt Dunkley. Recorded and mixed by Peter Cobbin. Edited by Suzana Peric. Album produced by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt.