Rob Thomas approves of this Barbie world.
However, the Matchbox Twenty frontman was originally hesitant to sign off on Barbie using the band's 1996 hit song "Push," a favorite of director Greta Gerwig.
"I want to preface this by saying that I thought it was hilarious," the musician told USA Today in an interview published July 23. "But in Bring It On, Kirsten Dunst's character has this douchey boyfriend. And there's a scene where he was in his dorm room with a Matchbox Twenty poster in the background. There was a whole period during the ‘90s where the more successful we got, the bigger target we were. We were an easy takedown."
So when he got the call asking if Ryan Gosling's Ken could sing the song by the fireside, he didn't exactly think it was a fantastic idea.
"I did this thinking I'd be the butt of the joke," he shared, "and I was fine with that. I'm pretty thick-skinned."
Of course, for Rob—who said he was later told viewers "come out of it loving Ken and loving ‘Push'"—there was a bit of a selfish perk to handing over the song.
"Greta Gerwig has been one of my crushes forever, to the point where I was on a plane one time and I called my wife [Marisol Maldonado], like, ‘Baby, Greta Gerwig just came on the plane, oh my god,'" the 51-year-old gushed. "So just the fact that it didn't diminish my crush of Greta, that's even better."
Needless to say, he's excited for Ryan and Margot Robbie to take him for a ride.
"I'm excited to see two of the most beautiful people on the planet while I listen to my own song," he shared. "That's pretty amazing, in and of itself."
For her part, Greta is amazed the hit made its way into her film, also starring Issa Rae, Kate McKinnon, Simu Liu and Dua Lipa.
"Just thinking about 13-year-old me singing along and really meaning it, I was like, 'That is so interesting,'" she told USA Today. "I looked it up and, in a way, [Thomas] was playing a character. It's almost like a story song."
Now for more secrets from the Barbie movie, keep reading.