His song was used to “Push” the plot forward in “Barbie” — and Rob Thomas loves it.
Matchbox Twenty’s frontman weighed in on the inclusion of 1996’s “Push” in the new “Barbie” movie — admitting he was worried at first about it being a joke, but has since recognized it’s a clever callout.
Ken (Ryan Gosling) plays the track for hours on end on his guitar for Barbie (Margot Robbie) while sitting around a campfire.
The scene (and song) is a pivotal point in the film, pushing an ego-bruised Ken to embrace toxic masculinity and take over Barbie Land — which Thomas praised as a perfect choice.
“I want to preface this by saying that I thought it was hilarious. 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,” Thomas, 51, explained to USA Today.
“There was a whole period during the ‘90s where the more successful we got, the bigger target we were. We were an easy takedown.”
Thomas said when he was approached about his song being in the film, it was explained that Ken would be fireside strumming along to his favorite band — Matchbox Twenty.
“So I did this thinking I’d be the butt of the joke, and I was fine with that. I’m pretty thick-skinned,” he continued.
“But Julie Greenwald [from Atlantic Records] came to the Hollywood Bowl a month or two ago. She had just seen the movie and was like, ‘You come out of it loving Ken and loving ‘Push.’ And I was like, ‘Aww. Alright, really good!’”
“Barbie” director Greta Gerwig, 39, told USA Today that “Push” — which was inspired by an emotionally abusive relationship — was on high rotation when she was a teen.
“It wasn’t until college that I actually thought, ‘What is that song about?’” she admitted to the outlet.
“Just thinking about 13-year-old me singing along and really meaning it, I was like, ‘That is so interesting.’ I looked it up and, in a way, [Thomas] was playing a character. It’s almost like a story song.”