Aqua [Denmark]. "I'm a Barbie Girl." 3:16 minutes. Copyright BPI Communications Inc., 30 August 1997. Written by Soren Rasted, René Dif (Ken), Lene Graford Nystrom (Barbie), and Claus Noreen. Produced by Johnny Mosegaard Pederson, Karsten Delgado, Soren Rasted, and Claus Noreen. Available in the album Aquarium and in video by Universal Records.

[Although the song makes no mention of Cinderella, it plays upon the same issues that critics complain of in the Americanized, Disney version of Cinderella, where the plastic girl becomes an object of desire in a love-game. On the juxtaposition of Barbie and Cinderella types or antitypes see Denise Duhamel, under Modern Poetry. A bubble-gum rock celebration of permissive gratification:

-Hi Barbie!
-Hi Ken!
-You wanna go for a ride?
-Sure, Ken!
-Jump in!
-Ha ha ha ha!

I'm a Barbie girl in the Barbie world,
Life in plastic, it's fantastic!
You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere.
Imagination, life is your creation.

Come on, Barbie, let's go party

I'm a Barbie Girl, in a Barbie world," etc.
I'm a blonde single girl in the fantasy world
Dress me up, take your time, I'm your dollie.
You're my doll, rock and roll, feel the glamour and pain,
Kiss me here, touch me there, Hanky-panky.

You can touch, you can play,
You can say I'm always yours, oooh whoa.

I'm a Barbie girl, in the Barbie world
Life in plastic, it's fantastic
You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere
Imagination, life is your creation

Come on, Barbie, let's go party, ha ha ha, yeah
Come on, Barbie, let's go party, oooh, oooh

[repeat]

Make me walk, make me talk, do whatever you please
I can act like a star, I can beg on my knees
Come jump in, be my friend, let us do it again
Hit the town, fool around, let's go party

You can touch, you can play
[If] You can say I'm always yours

[repeat]

Come on, Barbie, let's go party, ha ha ha yeah
Come on Barbie, let's go party, oooh, oooh

[repeat]

I'm a Barbie girl in the Barbie world
Life in plastic, it's fantastic
You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere
Imagination, life is your creation

[repeat]

Come on, Barbie, let's go party, ha ha ha, yeah
Come on, Barbie, let's go party, oooh, oooh

[repeat]

-Oh, I'm having so much fun!
-Well, Barbie, we're just getting started!
-Oh, I love you Ken!

The success of the song depends on its juxtaposition of the innocence of child's play and the eroticism of teen play, as each looks on the other as her/his plastic fairy tale dollie.]

Bareilles, Sara. “Fairytale.” 2004. Official Video available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgSeF9IBc1M.

[Bareilles rejects the idea of fairy tale romances while showing what happens to several of the classic fairy tale princesses who struggling after the weddings. Cinderella appears as the song opens. She has a crush on someone else as she copes with a loveless marriage.] [Annotation by Martha Johnson-Olin]

Bogguss, Suzy. "Hey Cinderella." By Suzy Bogguss, Matraca Berg, and Gary Harrison. 4:06 minutes. From Suzy Bogguss, Something Up My Sleeve. Produced by Jimmy Bowen. Famous Music Corporation. Liberty Records, 1993.

[Verse I recalls the marriage day; Verse II, on being older and compromised. The Refrain: "Hey, hey Cinderella! / What's the story all about? / I got a funny feeling / We missed a page or two somehow; / Oh, Cinderella, / Maybe you could help us out: / Does the shoe fit you now?"]

Carys. “Princesses Don’t Cry.” Oct. 2020. Lyric video available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-I_G1CC4bFc.

[Carys does not directly reference Cinderella, but her song refers to women as princesses in the same way as most Princess Culture materials. Those teaching courses with such themes or wishing to discuss how weeping is a central component of most Cinderella stories may wish to consider the song. The song has also been covered by Aviva.] [Annotation by Martha Johnson-Olin]

Emeline. “Cinderella’s Dead.” April 2022. Lyric video available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf7qp1CwanI.

[Emeline explores the loss of personal agency in a relationship. The protagonist marries at 19 and then loses her voice to prevent discord. Her partner wanted a princess, but she seeks freedom, having forgotten her true nature. The song’s title comes from her decision to reclaim herself as she returns to having fun with her friends. Clean and explicit versions of the song exist for purchase.] [Annotation by Martha Johnson-Olin]

Cinderella [heavy metal]. Tales from the Gypsy Road. Interview tape (a Cinderella story in itself). Directed by Bill Bowman. PolyGram Records Inc. New York, New York. Video tape. 60 minutes.

Jax. “Cinderella Snapped.” March 2023. Lyric video available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRfEqCap1I8.

[Jax offers a feminist take on Cinderella with a song that explores agency in three parts. In the first section, Cinderella, who is already a princess, refuses to remain property after finding out that her prince shares her stepsister’s bed. In the next section, her decision inspires other women to transform their lives with multiple Disney princesses named as they cut their hair, earn degrees, and leave their tales. In the final section, the prince wants to control Cinderella again, but she has read his legal codes that cite cheating as treason. The chorus and final section suggest Cinderella will destroy and rebuild the kingdom. Specific references to the Disney Cinderella including the blue dress and its glass slipper appear. Clean and explicit versions of the song exist for purchase.] [Annotation by Martha Johnson-Olin]

Rush [rock group]. "Cinderella Man." In Hemispheres. Core Music Publishing, 1978. Music by Lee and Lifeson; lyrics by Peart.

Swift, Taylor. “Bejeweled.” Midnights. 2022. Official Music video available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7QlX3yR2xs.

[The song itself does not relate to Cinderella, but the music video includes stepsisters, a fairy godmother, and a transformation as a woman in exile and forced to clean transforms her life. She wins a talent show and a castle but rejects the prince’s marriage proposal. The themes in the video pair nicely with other Cinderella songs if creating a larger assignment or unit.] [Annotation by Martha Johnson-Olin]

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