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In one of Barbie's more inspired set pieces, an emblematic song is needed to reflect the final stage of the Kens' devolution into shallow fratty bros who have embraced patriarchy at the expense of feminism and Barbie Land. The song choice? None other than that 90s douche-rock classic — Push by Matchbox Twenty! The anthem is sung “at” the Barbies, rather than to them, in excruciatingly long and cringe fashion, with particular attention drawn to the lyrics, which suddenly come across as undeniably sus by today's standards. The Matchbox Twenty song is clearly the butt of the joke, but shockingly, lead singer Rob Thomas said he's “fine with that,” according to an interview in USA Today.
Thomas told the news outlet, “When I got the call for ‘Barbie,' they told me, ‘Ken’s by the fireside, he’s playing the song and it’s his favorite band.' So I did this thinking I’d be the butt of the joke, and I was fine with that. I’m pretty thick-skinned. But Julie Greenwald (from Atlantic Records) came to the Hollywood Bowl a month or two ago. She had just seen the movie and was like, ‘You come out of it loving Ken and loving ‘Push.’' And I was like, ‘Aww. Alright, really good!'”
Um… fans certainly came out loving the scene but you may have fallen prey to some executive spin there, Rob.
Thomas added, “Also, Greta Gerwig has been one of my crushes forever, to the point where I was on a plane one time and I called my wife, like, ‘Baby, Greta Gerwig just came on the plane, oh my god.' So just the fact that it didn’t diminish my crush of Greta, that’s even better.” Again, you might want to read the room, Rob. Letting the filmmaker expose your problematic lyrics and song because you have a big crush on her might not be the best rationale to offer for being included in a decidedly feminist film.
Director Greta Gerwig also commented to USA Today on the song's inclusion in the film. “Growing up, I loved that song,” she admitted. “I was like, ‘This is my rock ‘n’ roll, Dad. Enjoy The Who, but these are my guys.' And it wasn’t until college that I actually thought, ‘What is that song about?' Just thinking about 13-year-old me singing along and really meaning it, I was like, ‘That is so interesting.' I looked it up and, in a way, (Thomas) was playing a character. It’s almost like a story song.”
The puzzling story Gerwig is referring to is Thomas' chorus of Push in which he sings “I wanna push you around. Well, I will, well, I will. I wanna push you down. Well, I will, well, I will. I wanna take you for granted.” None of which sounds that great out of context.
Thomas stressed to USA Today that the situation he's describing was about the emotional manipulation he felt he was enduring from an ex-girlfriend at the time, but it was in no way intended to sound like physical abuse (though critics also raised that concern when the song was released).
Thomas responded to this as well, admitting that the song is “problematic” when judged by today's standards. He explained, “Honestly, our management put out to the press about the outrage. We came from the George Michael, David Bowie world of ‘let’s get somebody talking about something.' So there wasn’t that much outrage. We also lived in a different climate. A song like that without an asterisk next to it is more problematic now because we’re all much more aware of things. But at the time, ‘90s music was pretty problematic. And in a way, (the song) was very tame next to a bunch of other things. Also, look at me – I’m not going to push anybody around.”
Ah, the tried and true everybody was doing it chestnut of an excuse. Regardless of Rob Thomas' and Matchbox Twenty's intensions when they wrote and released Push, at the very least I think it's safe to call the anthem a staple of bro rock, and therefore fits perfectly into the Barbie scene it's immortalized in and helps accentuate the film's warnings against toxic masculinity. Whether Thomas is in on the joke or just happy to be back in the news is up for debate.
@hannahcroteau “i’d like to dedicate this next song to ryan gosling” – rob thomas #matchbox20 #matchboxtwenty #robthomas #ryangosling #barbie #barbiemovie #push #fyp ♬ original sound – hannah croteau
