“If you were alive and anywhere near a radio or MTV in the late ’90s, you heard ‘Barbie Girl,'” (Slate). “Its mercilessly chirpy Europop lyrics (‘I’m a Barbie girl in the Barbie world / Life in plastic, it’s fantastic’) were set against a relentless post–Spice Girls beat. Norwegian lead singer Lene Nystrøm playacted as Barbie and Danish singer-rapper René Dif played Ken. Dif’s gruff ‘Come on, Barbie, let’s go party’ is one of the song’s most unkillable earworms.
… whatever rock snobs think of ‘Barbie Girl,’ the song is now so durable that, earlier this week, no less a rock star than (Coldplay’s) Chris Martin was asked by two fans to sing it live onstage. Though it’s been 26 years since Aqua’s infamous anthem was first unleashed, Martin still remembered the melody.”
Against this backdrop of pop ubiquity and this summer’s cinematic extension of the Barbie franchise, cellist Josep Castanyer Alonso has produced his take on how six different classical composers might have approached the “Barbie” theme. Belying his top-drawer resumé, Alonso’s YouTube bio simply reads, “I am a cellist in the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. I also play the piano a bit …” There are key changes between the various variations, but also a few modulations within a given variation (each carefully labeled); 1:16 is just one example.
Staying within just one era/style, here’s a shorter fugue by Alonso as well:
modulationoftheday.home.blog 