Another week, another song from Barbie the Soundtrack to get us in the pink mood. “Angel“ is the third single off the album, and follows Dua Lipa’s “Dance the Night” and Karol G and Aldo Ranks’ “Watati.” The thrilling thing about the songs that have been released so far is that they take on the musical style of their singers. For example, Latin music for Karol G and electronic pop and disco for Dua Lipa. In the same vein, “Angel” is so PinkPantheress that it might have been ripped off from her discography. The only difference is that it is slightly longer than most of PinkPantheress’s songs.
“Angel” is a song that describes a perfect lover who has gone away in a slightly confusing way. “No one is as romantic as him, I want you to know,” she sings in the opening verse, later adding, “Even if Johnny hasn’t answered in a couple days (Let’s go) / You won’t check your phone so you can’t tell me you’re okay because / Johnny, my baby, did it always have to end this way?” The track was penned by Charlie Puth, Count Baldor, Bloodpop®, and PinkPantheress.
PinkPantheress first burst on the musical scene in 2020 with a number of songs that include samples from the 1990s and 2000s. The songs span a number of genres and are usually short in length. However, her musical career truly kicked off in 2021 when she inked a deal with Parlophone and Elektra Records after several of her songs went viral on TikTok. Since then, she has graced the UK and Australia’s top five with her single “Boys A Liar” and made her first Billboard 100 debut with the remix featuring Ice Spice. She’s currently working on her debut album.
Arriving on July 21, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie sees the popular “perfect” doll (played by Margot Robbie) enjoying life with other Barbies, Kens, and all the other dolls in Barbie Land. That is, until “perfect” things in her life start to become imperfect, and she starts doing things like asking a careless existential question at a party and falling out of her dream house. She is soon tasked with venturing into the real world to discover “the truth,” but there are people who would do anything to get Barbie back where she belongs.
It’s not a wonder that the star-studded film – Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Issa Rae, Will Ferrel, Simu Liu, to name a few – should come with star-studded features on the soundtrack. I’m talking Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice, HAIM, GAYLE, Ava Max, The Kid Laroi, Tame Impala, FIFTY FIFTY, and the aforementioned names.
