This Barbie is a popstar.
Aqua has dropped some not-so-fantastic news.
After three decades together, the Danish-Norwegian eurodance group—whose most recent lineup included René Dif, Søren Rasted and Lene Nystrøm—announced they were splitting.
“After many incredible years, we have decided to close the chapter of AQUA as a live band,” the band wrote in an Instagram post on May 19. “AQUA has been such a huge part of our lives, and together we’ve had the chance to experience more than we ever dared to dream of.”
The “Barbie Girl” artists expressed gratitude for the love and opportunities their fans have provided them over the years, adding, “We’ve traveled the world countless times, met so many wonderful people, sung together with millions of you, and shared memories that we will carry with us forever.”
However, they explained that they wanted to quit on a high, choosing to wind down the group to preserve their legacy. (The move came nearly a decade after founding member Claus Norreen left the band).
“When you’ve been together for this long, you also learn when it’s time to protect what you’ve created together,” they concluded. “For us, this feels like the right moment to say goodbye, while the memories are still strong, and while the love for the music, the story, and each other remains intact.”
And one of those major highlights includes their hit 1997 song “Barbie Girl.” But despite the commercial success, the single led to Mattel suing the group for violating the doll’s trademark, although the case was dismissed five years later. The song was later sampled in the track “Barbie World” by Ice Spice and Nicki Minaj for the 2023 Barbie movie soundtrack.
At the time of Barbie’s release, Aqua’s female vocalist Lene told Variety, “A good melody never dies, it just keeps on giving. And ‘Barbie Girl’ is a perfect example of that.”
Read on to check out some more legendary musical groups…
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Backstreet's back, alright! The Backstreet Boys released their first album in 1996, and redefined the turn of the century with 1999 record Millennium. Thankfully, Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, AJ McLean, Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson are still touring and belting our favorite hits over two decades later.
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All hail the girl group that gave us Beyoncé! Don't "Bug a Boo" when it comes to Destiny's Child because Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams are still icons in their own right to this day as well.
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Justin Timberlake, Joey Fatone, Lance Bass, JC Chasez and Chris Kirkpatrick made up the iconic boy band group, 'NSYNC. We're still holding out for another reunion performance, and we promise, no strings attached because we aren't ready to say "Bye, Bye, Bye" just yet.
If you wanna be their lover, you've gotta get with their friends...and they sure have a lot! The Spice Girls rocked the U.K. with their '90s fashion and catchy lyrics. Mel C, Victoria Beckham, Mel B, Geri Halliwell and Emma Bunton were the Brit girl group of our dreams.
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Far out, man. The Hanson brothers joined the ranks of fellow '90s boy bands with hit song, "MMMBop." Hanson released an album together in 2013 before brothers Isaac Hanson, Taylor Hanson and Zac Hanson went their separate ways for solo careers—and in Taylor's case, raising seven kids! Thankfully, our favorite bros reunited in 2018 for album String Theory and have continued touring since then.
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Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins and Rozanda "Chilli" Thomas still make up '90s rap group TLC, after original member Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes tragically died in 2002. Lil Mama performed with TLC in 2013, before the "Waterfalls" singers announced their new album in 2017.
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Since 2017, Korean boy band BTS has been writing, producing and performing most of their songs as international superstars. The K-pop groups loyal Army of fans are some of the most passionate in music history.
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B*Witched
For nearly four years, Keavy Lynch, Edele Lynch, Sinéad O’Carroll, and Lindsay Armaou were all over the airwaves with 1998 breakout hits like "C'est La Vie" and "Blame it on the Weatherman"—songs featured in everything from Smart House to Dawson's Creek. But in 2002, they parted ways after two albums... that is until reforming for 2013's The Big Reunion. And reunite they did as they've continued touring and even releasing new music, like EP Ripped Jeans in 2024.
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Yep, Nick Lachey was in a boy band and we're burning up way past 98 Degrees just thinking about it. Joined by Drew Lachey and Justin Jeffre, music producers Lachey and Jeff Timmons formed the group after leaving college to pursue music careers in the '90s.
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New Kids On the Block skyrocketed to fame in the late 1980s and the group reunited in 2011 for a throwback tour with The Backstreet Boys.
Original NKOTB members were brothers Jordan and Jonathan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg and Danny Wood. The group broke up in 1994 but then reunited several years later and went on tour with the Backstreet Boys in 2011. Not surprisingly, that tour announcement pretty much broke the Internet. They are still performing today.
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The Jonas Brothers
Thank god the JoBros are back! The Jonas Brothers gave us Nick Jonas' sweet smile, Joe Jonas' swagger and Kevin Jonas' big brother charisma. Oh, did we mention they can all sing and play instruments too? Excuse us while we're still swooning over these A-listers since their band debuted in 2006.
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One of the best bands to ever come out of a singing competition series, One Direction took over the planet in the 2010s. And, the boy band has birthed plenty of successful solo careers, with Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, Harry Styles and the late Liam Payne all solidifying their place in music (and fashion and film) history.
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The X Factor-formed group are princesses of pop and sing about body positivity, feminism, the pressures of social media and juggling it all as young moms.
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Lisa, Rosé, Jennie and Jisoo make up K-pop group BLACKPINK, who released their first album—aptly titled, THE ALBUM—in October 2020. "BLACKPINK is—we kind of felt like there's two colors that represented us the most ‘cause we're very girly but at the same time we're very savage too," Rosé explained on Jimmy Kimmel Live at the time. "We have a song called ‘Pretty Savage' and it kind of goes with ‘black pink' and so we thought it described us the best."
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Before the world experienced "Work From Home" life due to the coronavirus pandemic, Fifth Harmony gave fans an upbeat (and sexy) anthem to any WFH woes. Breakout singer Camila Cabello went on to have a successful solo career—including even playing Cinderella!—after the girl group went on hiatus in 2018 and other members have also released solo projects.
Australian rockers 5 Seconds of Summer first started on YouTube before singles "She Looks So Perfect" and "Girls Talk Boys" got radio play. Eventually 5SOS opened on tour for One Direction, and the rest is history.
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Still performing as a trio, Boyz II Men's Nathan Morris, Shawn Stockman and Wanya Morris have been rocking the charts with hits like "I'll Make Love to You" and "One Sweet Day" for over 30 years.
The bad boy counterpart to One Direction, U.K.-based The Wanted hit it big stateside with 2012 banger "Glad You Came," before starring in their own E! reality series, The Wanted Life. The group went on hiatus in 2014 before reuniting in 2021, but sadly, founding member Tom Parker died of brain cancer the following year.
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CNCO formed in 2016 with members Joel Pimentel, Richard Camacho, Erick Brian Colón, Christopher Vélez and Zabdiel De Jesús but gave their last performance as a five-some on May 14 after Pimental announced he was exiting the group.
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From Nickelodeon to national tours, Big Time Rush rocked hard for five years before parting ways in 2014. Good thing all four members—Kendall Schmidt, Logan Henderson, Carlos PenaVega and James Maslow—reunited for two new shows in Dec. 2021.
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British pop group Girls Aloud made history as one of the first bands formed from a reality competition series. The year was 2002, the show was Popstars: The Rivals and the powerhouse vocalists were Sarah Harding, Cheryl (then known as Cheryl Cole), Nadine Coyle, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh. Girls Aloud recorded 20 consecutive top 10 singles and four number ones, including "Sound of the Underground," during their reign.
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