Greta Gerwig’s hotly anticipated “Barbie” movie really is the gift that keeps on giving.
Not only will the film bring the nostalgia of the popular Mattel doll to life, but it will also arrive with an all-star soundtrack, featuring some of the biggest current names in music including Dua Lipa, Ice Spice and Haim.
Gerwig’s comedy stars Margot Robbie as the eponymous Barbie who, after getting booted from Barbieland, sets off to the human world to find true happiness.
On Thursday (25 May), the Barbie: The Album lineup was revealed to fans.
As well as the acts mentioned above, headlining the record are Ava Max, Charli XCX, Dominic Fike, Fifty Fifty, Gayle, Kali, Karol G, Khalid and Lizzo.
Nicki Minaj, PinkPantheress, Ryan Gosling, Tame Impala and The Kid Laroi will also feature, with more to be announced.
Gosling co-leads the movie as Ken, Barbie’s boyfriend. This is not the first time his vocal skills will be immortalised in a film; he sang in Damien Chazelle’s 2016 hit musical La La Land, as well as in Derek Cianfrance’s 2010 drama Blue Valentine.
Dua Lipa will also serve double duty with both a singing and an acting role as mermaid Barbie, opposite former WWE superstar John Cena who was “accidentally” cast as her character’s love interest, merman Ken.
Following the news, several fans responded in excitement, with one anticipating, “This is gonna be incredible”.
“The only soundtrack ever,” a second declared. Someone simply called it “iconic”.
“This is the soundtrack of my life,” one exclaimed, while another petitioned: “Grammy for Album of the Year NOW.”
Last month, Barbie debuted its first “bonkers” trailer, which led fans to predict it was hiding a huge twist. It later made fans go wild with a “genius” shot in its second teaser.
In a new interview, Robbie said she was left speechless by the risqué nature of a joke that was cut from the first page of the Barbie script.
Both the movie and the soundtrack will be released on 21 July.
The Independent