Warning: This article contains mild spoilers for “Barbie”!
Rocker Rob Thomas loves being part of the “Barbie” world.
The lead singer of Matchbox Twenty spoke to USA Today about the group’s song “Push” and its special place in the summer blockbuster, which broke multiple box-office records when it came out last Friday.
Theater audiences roared when Ryan Gosling and his fellow Kens tried to serenade Margot Robbie and the Barbies with an acoustic version of the angsty hit, which becomes an anthem for the male dolls after they take control of Barbieland.
Thomas said he found the Kens’ campfire scene “hilarious” after years of seeing his band be the “butt of the joke” in movies and on TV.
“There was a whole period during the ’90s where the more successful we got, the bigger target we were,” the singer explained. “We were an easy takedown.”
Thomas assumed that Matchbox Twenty would be the heel once again when “Barbie” filmmakers asked for permission to use “Push.”
“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,’” he said. “So I did this thinking I’d be the butt of the joke, and I was fine with that. I’m pretty thick-skinned.”
Jim Spellman via Getty Images
Thomas said he was pleasantly surprised — and relieved — that director Greta Gerwig didn’t majorly mock the band, saying the filmmaker “has been one of my crushes forever.”
Gerwig told USA Today why she thought “Push” was the perfect song for Ken after he haplessly brings the patriarchy, toxic masculinity and mansplaining to Barbieland.
The track, which Thomas said was about an emotionally abusive ex-girlfriend, is still controversial because of lyrics like, “I wanna push you around / Well, I will, well, I will,” and “I wanna take you for granted.”
Gerwig remembered the song going over her head at first, saying, “It wasn’t until college that I actually thought, ‘What is that song about?’”
While Thomas acknowledged that parts of “Push” can read as “problematic,” he said the song was written from a place of “innocence.”
“It was just about this idea that it’s so much easier to find someone you can take advantage of than it is to actually put work into a relationship,” he told USA Today.
“At the time I was in my early 20s. I didn’t even know what I was writing about,” he admitted. “It takes being in my 50s now, and being married for 24 years, to look back and go, “Oh, man, I was going through some (stuff).”
Film fans can see “Barbie” and Ken’s rendition of “Push” in theaters now.