If there’s one thing that is absolutely not up for debate, it’s the fact that Barbie completely took over the summer of 2023. The doll, the film, and the entire franchise has been on the minds of billions of people worldwide. Almost two months after the release of the film, the hype surrounding our bestie in pink seems to be all but dying down.
The multi-talented Charlie Dane totally wants to keep the hype going with her latest single “Malibu Barbie,” although the story behind its release is rather ironic.
“It’s funny because me and my friends wrote this song in October of last year, hardly anyone knew about the Barbie movie coming out,” Charlie tells me over the phone. “We were literally just like, let’s write a song dedicated to Trisha Paytas’ daughter, Malibu Barbie. Once the Barbie movie was posted about, we were like omg, we need to finish the song and do a music video and put it out right as the movie comes out.”
Originally, Charlie only had a verse and chorus for the song prepared. The song was created purely for fun, and there wasn’t a serious intention to release the song. But a golden opportunity was approaching, and Charlie decided it would be great to have the release of “Malibu Barbie” coincide with the film’s release.
“Malibu Barbie” is a vibrant pop song that finds Charlie Dane teaming up with fellow artists/college friends IDALIS and Thalia Kabbani. “Obviously, if you listen to the song, you’ll know this is NOT giving Trisha Paytas’ daughter,” Charlie spills. “I feel like I was making the beat, Thalia and IDALIS were listening to it, and one of them was just like, ‘This feels like Malibu Barbie. We were talking about how Trisha Paytas has a daughter named Malibu Barbie. Usually I just start making a beat, and once it’s kinda starting to sound like a song, I’m like, let me click save before anything happens. I was wondering what to name it, and someone recommended ‘Malibu Barbie.'”
On a shared Google Doc, Charlie, IDALIS, and Thalia all started brainstorming ideas and concepts of anything and everything Barbie related. Those ideas naturally turned into lyrics, and everything began falling into place rather quickly.
Charlie says, “The themes of Barbie are so ingrained in every girl, I feel like. We were kinda like, ‘Let’s talk about being bad b*tch Barbies that don’t need a Ken and are getting money and living in Malibu.”
The music video for “Malibu Barbie” helps viewers visualize the song’s theme of being an independent baddie. All three artists can be seen lounging by a pool and shopping in Beverly Hills.
“I’ve done a few music videos for myself and other people, but it’s so different doing it with three girls,” Charlie tells me about directing the “Malibu Barbie” music video. “We’re all so different, we have different skin tones, and we have different styles. To film and do promo and edit the coloring of everything… it was honestly such a challenge to make all the girls look exactly how we wanted to. But we had so much fun!”
Whether she’s in front or behind the camera, Charlie loves to let her creativity run free. This has been the case since Charlie was a toddler, when she picked up singing and playing the guitar. At the age of eight, Charlie started to take the stage and perform covers, and slowly started to pivot towards writing her own songs.
“Everyone was telling me I needed to write my own music,” Charlie says. “My parents have a few friends who make music, and one of them helped me write my first song.”
Creating one song turned into creating an album as a teen, which laid down the foundation for a future of creativity for Charlie.
“I’m from a small town in Long Island called Oyster Bay,” she shares. “Each grade had about 100 people in it, so everyone kind of knew everyone, and everyone was all up in their cliques since Kindergarten. Everyone had the same groups of friends until graduating high school. There were some musical people, but I felt like it was mostly people in band and people in theater. I wasn’t really into drama and plays and all that, I was born to do music. I remember being known as the kid in school who performed.”
After performing countless gigs, Charlie went on to study music production and engineering at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. She graduated in 2019, and moved to LA not long after.
“Malibu Barbie” is just one of many fun songs Charlie has lined up for listeners, and Charlie hopes the song will empower everyone to embrace their inner bad b*tch. Check it out below!
