Those technicolour classics capitalised on their cast’s wondrous performances that range from pitch-perfect singing to hypnotic dancing. The stories they unfolded depended on their musical portrayal of youthful romance – each character sprung to life with the tuneful notes they sang. Barbie, however, isn’t a full-blown musical epic rich with gripping performances; it earns the title by inviting trending artists of the moment to its diverse soundtrack. Their job is to attach the musical strings to the marionettes of this film, each song providing movements that’ll drive them forward in their journey of self-discovery. With this approach, the unsophisticated plot of Barbie doesn’t depend on the music; the characters do.
Mark Ronson, who’s collaborated with the biggest living popstars (Adele, Dua Lipa, Lady Gaga), joins as the executive producer. His decades-long residency in the music industry gives him the close-up panorama of the hottest artists right now: a superb fit for Gerwig, who wishes to bring in as many huge names as possible. Immediately after the offer, he noticed the parallel between the fall of disco and the rising controversy of Barbie in the 70s, thus setting the genre as the touchstone for the film’s musical marathon. Lizzo’s opener, “Pink”, offers sun-lit, languid dance grooves to greet our new company with theatrical vivacity. In their pastel-painted world, big waves and smiles are always requisites.
The most pleasant surprise is an original song called “I’m Just Ken”. Performed by Ryan Gosling, it’s among the very few on the soundtrack that genuinely lives in the film, trekking through balladry and power rock with Ken’s serene honesty and comical hardship. “I’m just Ken and I’m enough / And I’m great at doing stuff,” he proclaims. When songs succinctly carve out a character’s motives, the visual and musical collide in harmony and become an exemplar of divine cinema: the screen blasts into a fantasy realm that beckons the audience to dive into for a while. Tame Impala’s “Journey Into the Real World” and Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For” can be classified as such, but for a 17-track companion piece, they’re not enough.
Like the soundtrack of Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse, Barbie doesn’t spotlight every song on the accompanying all-star album. It might be because Gerwig prefers to raise the subject matters of patriarchy, gender equality, capitalism and identity without being too deflected by the musical aspects; but after seeing how immersive and arresting the scene of “I’m Just Ken” is, the film really missed the opportunity to use its potent musicality to the fullest extent. Gosling’s song and “Pink” work so wonderfully because they interact with their respective scenes, not just simply fill in the silence. Other tracks, such as “Angel” and “WATATI”, do the contrary, which makes their existence almost pointless.
Barbie also translates nearly none of its cinematic intertextuality (2001: A Space Odyssey, Playtime, Singin’ in the Rain) to the music. The last party-playlist fillers on Barbie the Album – the Kid LAROI’s “Forever & Again”, Khalid’s “Silver Platter”, and GAYLE’s “butterflies” – barely reference anything about the doll or the film, their many interpolations and samples largely feeble and futile, proving further that these unobtrusive songs are merely there for the ambience. It’s a little disappointing, because isn’t the soundtrack for the biggest summer film of the year supposed to be reminiscent of its plastic-pink paradise? Barbie the Album dashes headfirst for airy joy and low-key festivity, all hyperbolic and glittery when its primary focus should be on elucidating the film’s feminist thesis.
