Aqua Are Back

OK, folks. The apocalypse isn't coming anymore. It's here.

Aqua, the cheesy mid-'90s Danish pop group known for hits like "Barbie Girl" and "Lollipop (Candyman)," have released their first single in nine years, "Back To The '80s."

Singers Lene Nystrom and Rene Dif, keyboardist/guitarist Soren Rasted and keyboardist Claus Norreen broke up in 2001, but reunited in 2007. They'll release a Greatest Hits compilation on June 15. It'll include 16 of their hits (they had 16?), "Back To The '80s" (which is streaming on their MySpace page) and two new songs.

"Barbie Girl" is on it, so you can annoy your roommates, parents, siblings or any other sensible human with decent musical taste by replaying the part where Ken requests Barbie to "let's go party" in a funny voice over and over.

Aqua rose to fame with in 1997 with their Aquarium debut album, which featured "Barbie Girl," "My Oh My," "Doctor Jones" and "Lollipop (Candyman)." It has sold 15 million copies worldwide and a million in Canada, where it was certified diamond. Canadians should be ashamed of themselves.

Aquarius followed in 2000 and included the hits "Around The World," "Cartoon Heroes" and "We Belong To The Sea," but it failed to sell as well as Aquarium.

Aqua released their first hits compilation, Cartoon Heroes: The Best Of Aqua, in Japan in 2002.

Mattel, the makers of the legendary Barbie doll, filed a lawsuit against Aqua for "Barbie Girl" and claimed the song's double entendres hurt its product's reputation. The suit was dismissed in 2002 and a judge told the parties involved to "chill."

In case you forgot how annoying Aqua are, here's the "Barbie Girl" video:

Aqua will play these dates:

June 6 Skive, Denmark @ Skive Beachparty
June 20 Holstebro, Denmark @ Rock I Holstebro
June 27 Brondby, Denmark @ Brondby Rocker
July 3 Nibe, Denmark @ Nibe Festival
July 10 Vig, Denmark @ Vig Festival
July 11 Lokken, Denmark @ Lokken Koncert
Aug. 7 Copenhagen, Denmark @ Tivoli
Aug. 9 Skanderborg, Denmark @ Skanderborg Festival
Aug. 29 Koge, Denmark @ Koge Festuge

Here are the songs on Greatest Hits:

"Back To The '80s"
"My Mamma Said"
"Live Fast — Die Young"
"Happy Boys & Girls"
"Barbie Girl"
"Around The World"
"Doctor Jones"
"Aquarius"
"Cuba Libre"
"Lollipop (Candyman)"
"Cartoon Heroes" (radio edit)
"Be A Man"
"My Oh My"
"Freaky Friday"
"We Belong To The Sea"
"Roses Are Red" (original version)
"Halloween"
"Turn Back Time"
"Goodbye To The Circus"