From neon bikinis to chunky sneakers, track pants, sports jackets and scrunchies, 90s revival is big right now.
In honour of the legendary last decade of the 20th century—and all the brilliant, sweet and synth-heavy pop music played on CDs and Discmans and MiniDisc players—Australia and New Zealand are getting a throwback festival that’s jam-packed with pop icons from the 90s.
So Pop, which is touring Aus and NZ in January and February 2019, will feature Aqua, Vengaboys, Eifel 65, B*Witched, Blue, Lou ‘Mambo No. 5’ Bega, and Mr President—the German Eurodance trio responsible for an unforgettable tune called ‘Coco Jambo’.
Ahead of this big nostalgic pop tour, we caught up with Aqua’s very own René Dif—you know, “Come on Barbie, let’s go party”. Yup, that guy! Here, René tells us how it all began and what we can expect from the group that gave us Barbie Girl.
Did you ever think when Aqua first started that you would have the success that you did, and that you’d still be touring in 2018?
It came as a big surprise to us! In general, you should be blessed that people want to take the time to listen to your music and listen to what you are producing, that they make an effort to show up at your concerts.
When we have concerts in Denmark, we have people coming from Italy, Spain, Germany, from England, Australia, the States, just coming to see one concert in Copenhagen!
When was it that you realised people liked what you were doing?
I think it all started when we came to Australia the first time. We saw that there was a big demand for our music, and after that, we couldn’t wait to get back and play again. When we did, we were surprised that even more people turned up and that they were super young!
That’s an interesting point. Is it kind of the same fans coming to your concerts, or do you think that with streaming and things like that, your music is reaching a new audience?
We have very loyal fans, but what we experienced last time we were in Australia was that the people showing up were actually from the younger generation. The same happened here in Denmark. They were really young, like 14 and 15 years old. It seems like our music has kind of jumped down the generations!
Do you think that's because 90s is kind of having a big moment right now?
It is! Right now 90s parties are pretty big in Europe, and all around the world, it’s growing a lot.
In Denmark and the UK, 90s is massive right now. We’ve been out headlining all these festivals with other 90s bands and it’s been a great experience!
So will you be playing all your old bangers or have you been making new music?
We’ve been playing the same songs but we’ve been putting them in different productions so they sound new and fresh. We’ve also just made a new single called ‘Rookie’ that’s out now. The last one we did was seven years ago, so it’s going to be exciting to see how people receive it.
Hopefully it’ll be awesome, and it’s always good to see some of the other bands from back in the day, it kind of feels like coming home!
THE DETAILS
What: So Pop 2019
When: Perth, Wednesday 30 January 2019 | Sydney, Friday 1 February 2019 | Melbourne, Saturday 2 February 2019 | Auckland, Tuesday 5 February 2019 | Brisbane, Saturday 9 February 2019
Tickets: On sale Tuesday 16 October. Head here.
Image credit: Getty.