Bloomsbury Aqua's Aquarium (33 1/3 Europe)

I’m a Barbie Girl, in a Barbie world," the ubiquitous refrain that dominated the airwaves in summer 1997. Aqua’s single from their debut album Aquarium spread like wildfire, topping charts across the globe. With their erotically-charged lyrics and dance beats, Aqua achieved global renown in the late 1990s resulting in a multi-platinum album and series of infectious hits. Their success put a spotlight on Danish Europop and influenced an array of aspiring acts. In contrast, in the U.S. they are an infamous "one hit wonder," remembered for their highly publicized lawsuit with Mattel. Despite their meteoric rise to stardom, Aqua’s fame quickly waned and they have not managed to replicate the success of their debut. This book unwraps a bubblegum pop, "Euro-trash" classic to offer the first in-depth examination of what lies beneath Aqua’s sticky-sweet veneer. The author weaves their own autobiographical experiences with the album together with critical musical and visual analysis, unveiling Aqua’s potential role in the development of millennial queer identities. Peeling back the layers of Aquarium reveals a confection rife with unexpected contradictions and possibilities; implicit expressions of non-normative gender and sexuality, fetishism, and adolescent lust give way to videos permeated by racial exoticism and masculinist heteronormativity."