’90s pop icons Aqua have announced they are breaking up.
In a post shared on social media this week, the Denmark-formed group announced they are calling it quits after a 30-year career.
“When you’ve been together for this long, you also learn when it’s time to protect what you’ve created together. For us, this feels like the right moment to say goodbye, while the memories are still strong, and while the love for the music, the story, and each other remains intact,” the statement reads.
“From the bottom of our hearts: thank you to everyone who has been part of this journey over the past 30 years. Thank you for the love, the energy, the support, and for all the moments we’ve shared together.
“Nothing but love and gratitude from here on.”
Read the full statement below.
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Formed in 1995, Aqua went on to achieve global success with 1997’s “Barbie Girl” which topped music charts across the world, including Australia and New Zealand, and still remains one of the top-selling singles of all time.
The music video for the track was uploaded to YouTube in 2010 and has had over one billion views by 2022.
“Most of the Scandinavian groups that broke in America were from Sweden, though A-Ha were from Norway. Not many came from Denmark,” Lene Nystrøm said in a 2022 interview with Rolling Stone.
“And so I can’t even describe the feeling [of learning the song broke in America]. I think it was one and a half or two years of information and good news. You were so overwhelmed. You changed countries every day. Everything moved so fast. We’d visit a country and then the song would hit Number One. Then it would go to Number One in another country. It was just amazing to see something you’d been working on so hard with your best friends was actually loved by other people around the world — and hated.”
Aqua went on to produce a few more hit songs, including “Doctor Jones” and “Turn Back Time”, and released three studio albums in total – 1997’s Aquarium, 2000’s Aquarius and 2011’s Megalomania.
The group last toured Australia in 2024.
“I’ve never felt like a one-hit wonder,” Søren Rasted told Rolling Stone.
“To be honest, of course, when ‘Barbie Girl’ went crazy around the world, we were afraid we’d be a one-hit wonder. Then ‘Doctor Jones,’ ‘Turn Back Time,’ and ‘My Oh My’ took off, and it was certain we weren’t a one-hit wonder. But that song is a gift. I won’t be bothered by that even though lot of people probably want to kill us.”
