Barbie’s World

Barbie’s World is a medley of four songs from the blockbuster 2023 movie. This arrangement was written in 2024 by Michael Brown (see below).

The film Barbie is based on the fashion dolls by Mattel. It is the first live-action Barbie film after numerous animated films and specials. The film follows them on a journey of self-discovery through Barbieland and the real world following an existential crisis. Named one of the top ten films of 2023 by the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute, Barbie received critical acclaim and other accolades, including eight Academy Award nominations (among them Best Picture), winning Best Original Song for “What Was I Made For?”; the song also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song while the film received the inaugural Golden Globe Award for Cinematic and Box Office Achievement.

The first song in the medley, “Barbie Dreams” is a song by South Korean girl group Fifty Fifty featuring American rapper Kaliii. It was released on July 6, 2023, through Atlantic Records and Warner Records as the second promotional single from Barbie the Album (2023), the soundtrack to the film Barbie.

The second song in the medley, “Barbie Girl” is a song by Danish dance-pop group Aqua. It was released in April 1997 by Universal and MCA as the third single from the group’s debut album, Aquarium. The song was written by band members Søren Rasted, Claus Norreen, René Dif, and Lene Nystrøm, and was produced by the former two alongside Johnny Jam and Delgado. It was written after Rasted saw an exhibit on kitsch in Denmark that featured Barbie dolls.

The song topped the charts worldwide, particularly in European countries such as the United Kingdom, where it was a number-one hit for four weeks and remains one of the best-selling singles of all time. It also reached number two in the group's homeland and peaked at number seven on the US Billboard Hot 100. It is Aqua's most popular work and was also performed as the interval act in the Eurovision Song Contest 2001. Mattel accused Aqua's label of diluting the image of Barbie, leading to the controversial lawsuit Mattel, Inc. v. MCA Records, Inc.. Twenty-five years later, Mattel licensed the song in the film Barbie and additionally sampled it for a new song, Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice’s “Barbie World” for Barbie the Album.

The third song in the medley, “Dance the Night’ is a song by English and Albanian singer Dua Lipa. Lipa co-wrote the song with songwriter Caroline Ailin and the film’s producers Andrew Wyatt and Mark Ronson. A disco, disco-pop, and synth-pop song, it was inspired by a dance sequence in the film and is about always appearing flawless.

It was nominated for several awards, including Song of the Year and Best Song Written for Visual Media at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards. “Dance the Night” reached number one in several countries, including the UK, and received multi-platinum certifications in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Poland, and the UK, as well as diamond in France. It also reached number six on the Billboard Hot 100.

The fourth and final song in the medley, “What Was I Made For?” is a ballad by American singer Billie Eilish. It was released through Atlantic, Darkroom, and Interscope Records on July 13, 2023, as the fifth single from the soundtrack of the film.

“What Was I Made For?” was commercially successful worldwide and reached number-one in Australia, Ireland, Malaysia, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, as well as peaking at No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States.

It received five nominations at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards, including Record of the Year, and won for Song of the Year (becoming the first song from a film since Celine Dion's “My Heart Will Go On” from Titanic to win in this category) and Best Song Written for Visual Media. It won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song at the 81st Golden Globe Awards and it also won the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 96th Academy Awards.

Arranger Michael Brown is currently staff arranger for the United States Army Band in Washington, D.C., having served previously as staff arranger for the United States Military Academy Band at West Point, New York. His arrangements have been heard on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and the Opening Ceremonies of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah, and with the National Symphony Orchestra and Kennedy Center Honors in Washington, D.C. He has over 200 arrangements published by Hal Leonard Corporation and the FJH Music Company. Prior to enlisting in the Army, he worked as a freelance arranger and trumpeter, having performed with Natalie Cole, Gladys Knight, Robert Goulet, Lou Rawls, Sam & Dave, the Temptations, and others. He earned a Bachelor’s in Music degree from Furman University and a Master’s in Music degree from The University of Texas at Austin. Brown draws upon his former experience as a high school band director, church orchestra director, and freelance trumpeter in his writing.

The music for Barbie’s World was provided for the band by

Barbara and Ron Huffman.