I loved the Barbie movie. I loved the colours, the spectacle, the acting, the list goes on. But there was one scene that I felt really captured the female experience. I’m going to talk about that particular scene in this article so if you don’t want any spoilers, even teeny-tiny ones like this, please close the page now.
The scene that had me howling with laughter because of its stark reliability was when Ken whipped out an acoustic guitar to play Matchbox Twenty’s anthem “Push” while making constant, uncomfortable eye contact with Barbie.
As a gal who has sadly only dated musicians, this experience is one I know all too well.
There was that one time my bass-playing ex tried to show me a song he’d been working on about me… on bass. There was another time shortly after I broke up with my first-ever high school boyfriend. We ended up at a costume party together, both dressed as “Where’s Wally?” when his ~band~ decided to perform a song about the breakup. He made uncomfortable eye contact with me the whole time.
Ahh memories. I hope they’re doing well, wherever the fuck they are now.
Naturally, with a couple of those experiences under my belt, I was in tears of laughter in the cinema when Ken started strumming. But it turns out that I’m not the only one who related to this scene on a microbial level.
On TikTok, a bunch of gals have realised that they too have sat through this exact scenario with no idea what to do.
And if that wasn’t the icing on the cake, I decided to ask a bunch of gals in the office to see if they too related to this experience.
Overwhelmingly, the straight girlies had.
“When guys do it they think they’re unique and will sweep you off your feet with this special gesture but what they don’t realise is that most girls have had this happen to them probably four times before and we’re just waiting until they’ve finished so we can carry on to the next part of the date,” Issy told me.
“I wanted to laugh so much,” another office Izie replied.
While many of the girlie-pops, myself thought it was a bit much, some people admit that they loved it at the time.
“Yes! I thought it was sweet at the time,” Jasmine said, stating that she was 17 during the experience.
Whereas Jayme had a guy play a song he wrote about her when they were alone in a bathroom: “I hated every second of it.”
Here’s the thing: In theory, the act of being serenaded is sweet. But in most cases, it’s not coming from an authentic, vulnerable place. It’s coming from men who genuinely believe that they’re deep, emotional, and of course, talented.
While they may be those things, the experience of being serenaded by a man with an acoustic guitar certainly isn’t an original one for those who date men.
I’m glad that we can all finally come together to finally chat about this strangely universal experience.
(Image Source: Warner Bros)
