Many moons ago – and we’re not just saying that due to the luminous, cosmic ball behind her in the cover art, but because Future Nostalgia came out in 2020! – Dua Lipa sat in a convertible, one of her gloved hands resting on the wooden wheel while her other trailed the collar of her pink button-up. This color would soon become associated with the entire era.
However, long before Dua sparkled pink in every fabric she could see, another household name did the same thing: Barbie. And the commonalities don’t just stop there. Instead, the doll has her own garage; she bought her first set of keys in 1962 and introduced pink into the mix a few years later with the official Barbie and Ken dune buggy. Perhaps with all of that in mind, it makes sense that the first shot that we see in Dua’s ‘Dance The Night,’ the headliner of the Barbie movie soundtrack, if you will, is that infamous pink convertible car being played with by an assistant.
Outside of that first glimpse, Barbie’s car has its moment to shine again around the 2:17 minute mark, where it appears to be split in half in the void, turning into three with Future’s Nolstgia giant disco ball placed in the middle. And this time, it isn’t an assistant giving it attention, but rather Dua herself, almost in honor of the collision of these two projects.
“This Barbie Is A…”
Sure, Margot Robbie is the perfect golden screen embodiment of Barbie, but as the promotion has projected through its fun sticker cut-out and callings of “This Barbie is a” – insert your career title or slang term here, like, for example, this Barbie is in a continuous yelling cycle ever since seeing the music video – all of our insides bleed pink! And therefore, there is no better musician than Dua Lipa to represent this world.
While the Barbie movie has gotten the bare bones down, we wanted to fully give Dua the girly treatment by striking up how three of her songs could look like as dolls: ‘Levitating,’ ‘Physical,’ and ‘Love Again.’ Yeah, it’s not just your brain working really fast, but we’ve chosen them for a certain reason. They already have such distinct aesthetics, such as diving into the galaxy, the workout instructor, and a cowgirl, so while we’re fleshing it out further, we will also have a history lesson about other similar Barbie dolls.
‘Levitating’
Even before the beat drops, we have a futuristic feeling that as soon as you hear ‘Levitating’ start to play, your hands immediately clap. It’s so simple, yet it is one of the reasons why this tune’s production value is off the charts. “If you wanna run away with me, I know a galaxy,” Dua casually comments on top of the trumpets that wrap around its melody, so flippantly that she has such confidence with the answer being a certified yes, “And I can take you for a ride.” Clap. Clap! It’s so intricately woven into Future Nostalgia’s body of work that it’d be hard not to turn this version of Dua into a Barbie.
“Glitter in the sky, glitter in my eyes / Shining just the way I like.”
However, the thing is that we won’t be directly drawing references from the music video itself, though her performance of the song for the 2021 GRAMMYs. It’s mainly because of the clothes that she’s wearing: custom-made fuchsia Atelier Versace! They scream Barbie so much that we’re surprised there wasn’t a Life-size moment with her running behind the scenes and calling the fashionable shots. So, therefore, it’s the clothes we’re going to see wrapped around this Barbie version of Dua.
It’s this 3-in-1 – transformational fashion, people! – that starts as a satin cape that you were to look closer to, you’d find it dotted in crystals, then underneath is a blazer dress, and it gets truly stunning here as it’s adorned in Swarovski crystals! Then the final look to complete it, which she undresses down to, is a co-ord set in fuchsia Medusa studs. Dua’s hair, on the other hand, is simply curled, showing off its length, but if we were to jazz it up in reference to space, then we can go with the braids and clips combo that she’s done several times throughout other performances. Whether that’s a collection of stars or the outline of a planet, it would look out of this world!
Barbie Reference: 1965 Barbie Miss Astronaut #1641
In the music video, it’s under the siren-like lights that the ‘Levitating’ lever tips all the way to the “final stop.” Upon hitting release, Dua and her dancers fall out of the raving shuttle to carry out the party on the moon. However, she’s not the only icon to visit the galaxy, and even though Valentina Tereshkova was the first real-life female to do it in 1963, Barbie did so way before the moon taping. Alongside Ken, Barbie dressed up in space gear two years after Valentina blasted off in an ode to encourage young girls to be interested in the space program!
‘Physical’
Similar to ‘Levitating,’ for ‘Physical,’ we won’t follow the music video as closely, as we believe this cheeky number with the best spellbinding intro should have the workout tick of approval. Basically, as another creative video spin on the tune, Dua released “Physical: Get Fit Under 6,” featuring some of her dancers and the pop star as their instructor in a retro-styled exercise program. This video was also referenced on the Future Nostalgia Tour as its intro.
For this edition of Dua Lipa as Barbie doll, it’s crucial from a hair standpoint to focus on the two-layer ombre with a high ponytail in blonde and then her shade that we’ve all gotten used to her having, dark brown to almost black underneath in soft waves. As for the outfit itself, there’s the golden choker, a matching yellow bodysuit with the repetition of the song title ‘Physical’ in curving font, and then the same shade leg warmers that’ll be important later!
Barbie References: 1985 Mattel Barbie Workout Center & 1999 Barbie ‘Becky‘ Paralympic Champion #24662
Barbie would be the first to join Dua’s fitness class as she made Jane Fonda’s leg warmers a beloved accessory in 1985, opting for blue that perfectly synchronized with the pink workout gear. However, it wasn’t until 1999 that a difference was made in this area, releasing Becky, the Paralympic Barbie, in conjunction with their other dolls celebrating the Sydney 2000 Olympic games.
‘Love Again’
Finally, if we were to reference one of Dua Lipa’s music videos as potential Barbie aesthetic, then ‘Love Again’ would definitely be the one to do it. With the first shot being her cowboy hat hoisted up onto the wall, in this number, she raises up her pistol to any sort of bad boy who enters her peripheral, manifesting true love into her life. In fact, Cupid really goes for it here, abandoning his arrow to fall into the ‘Levitating’ scene as the hat floats down the hallway, falling right into her hand as she puts it on top of her head. Finding love should be that easy, right? Nah, not when the next stage is riding a mechanical bull, which is representative of the dating game itself.
We could pull off a couple of looks in the video for this Dua Lipa Barbie prototype. However, we’re really going for the leopard print jacket getup that we see when she’s doing the rodeo. With the jacket fully open, we see a cow print, matching the brown shades, poking out underneath like a string bralette. There’s a pendant necklace, too! Then you have cargo pants in a different shade and the must-needed accessory to complete the Western look: that very cowboy hat.
Barbie Reference: 1980 Western Barbie Winking Mattel #1757
We have two main eras of Barbie to lasso in the wild west! The first came to be in 1980, arriving in a pink box; her outfit was completely white, topped with a cowboy hat, of course, and then streamlined black stripes. What was different, though, is that not only did they come in two hairstyles – one with curly hair and whispy bangs and then one in pigtails – but she could also wink! Timeworm to now, and we have Margot Robbie. There are already so many custom orders going around, though we bet it won’t be long until her vest and necktie combo have their own doll moment.
Dua Lipa’s Dream House Play Set
If we’re going to put the pink vibes out into the universe for Mattel to give Dua Lipa one of these Barbie dolls, it’ll also have to come with a dream house play set, and what’s a better venue than the one appearing in the ‘Dance The Night’ music video? Sure, maybe the disco ball fell from the ceiling to land in a dumpster pit on the ground, thus marking the end of the Future Nostalgia era.
But it’s also this confetti-throwing, fun-house mirroring, feminine play zone with cylinder stage lights and a massive platform shaped like the fluffy shoe we’ve seen in the Barbie trailer. Oh, and it’s getting extra cool points because it plays on the fictional and non-fictional dilemmas the narrative presents, as there’s a diorama of that very stage being pulled around by assistants. Dua even runs her fingers down its steps while on the real version’s steps. Confusing, we know, but still cool in a meta sort of way. It’s also got other Easter eggs, like the Barbie eye-shadow palette!
Which Dua Lipa-inspired Barbie would you add to your collection? Let us know through our Twitter @thehoneypop, and just maybe, with enough steam, Mattel can make it happen. Do you reckon they could make it happen just in time for the Barbie world premiere on July 21, 2023, too?
To satisfy your other dipped-in-pink fantasies, scroll through our Facebook and Instagram, where you can find articles on both the doll and the superstar, like this one!
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