By Chris Willman
If you came into the “Barbie” film cold, expecting that if any song was going to get the most play, it might be Aqua’s “Barbie World,” you had a surprise coming. Turns out Barbie is a huge Indigo Girls fan — or, at least like a million women and some men before her, she likes to belt along with the 1989 folk-rock smash “Closer to Fine” in the car. The song pops up three times over the course of the blockbuster film, guaranteeing that there is going to be a huge resurgence in the real world of people singing about going “to see the doctor of philosophy,” even if they’re actually on their way to the beach.
Emily Saliers, who is half of Indigo Girls along with Amy Ray (and who wrote “Closer to Fine”), got on the phone with Variety from her vacation spot to talk about a licensing sync of anyone’s dreams. (“If you haven’t been to Iceland, I highly recommend it,” she said. “It’s mind-blowingly beautiful here, like nothing I’ve ever seen. Talking about ‘Barbie’ and getting to be in Iceland at the same time — no complaints.”)