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Aqua music fans -- and there are thousands out there bopping around to their monster, if controversial, hit song Barbie Girl -- breathe a collective sigh of relief.
Lene's alive, okay? And she's in good spirits.
That would be Lene Grawford Nystrom, the cutie frontwoman for the Danish dance sensations who are following in the footsteps of fellow frothy Scandinavian popsters ABBA, Ace Of Base and A-Ha.
Aqua made their first Toronto appearance yesterday, quashing those nasty rumors that Nystrom recently died from a heroin overdose or with her bandmates in a car or plane crash.
"A friend of ours in Asia, he called us up one day and said, 'Oh, you're still alive!' " said Nystrom, 24, with a laugh as she sat beside fluorescent orange-haired bandmate Claus Norreen, 27.
"I died three times," she added.
"Car crash. Plane crash. And a heroin overdose," said Norreen.
"That's me," said Nystrom with a smile. "Some people are bored when they do stuff like that. They have to make something up. I've got seven more lives to go."
The death knell was further fueled after Nystrom collapsed from "exhaustion" in New York in September following a hectic four week promotional trip in Asia.
"It doesn't matter what actually happened because that's rather personal, but I did collapse, yeah," said Nystrom. "I've never been so depressed in my life."
Part of the pressure came from a U.S. lawsuit launched by Mattel, the makers of Barbie, over Barbie Girl's sexually suggestive lyrics -- the popular refrain goes "C'mon, Barbie. Let's go party" -- which they felt improperly portrayed the world's most famous doll.
"It's no big deal actually," said Nystrom. "I think it's cooled down now. We don't focus on it so much because it's not us they're suing, it's (record company) MCA in America."
It's also possible that the controversy has helped the group. Their debut album, Aquarium, released in North America in September, has remained in the Top 10 for over two months alongside other teen-friendly acts like Spice Girls, Hanson and Backstreet Boys.
Aquarium has sold five million copies -- including 500,000 in Canada -- and is currently selling at the staggering rate of 400,000 copies a week around the world.
"We never expected it to happen on this scale," admitted Norreen. "Not even the record company. I think people's general music taste has changed. Not only kids but also teenagers and grownups. I think people were a bit fed up with all this depressing grunge and Britpop and rap music. People wanted happy pop songs."
But do Mattel, who are now being countersued by MCA, have a point about Barbie Girl?
During one verse Nystrom sings: "You can brush my hair, undress me everywhere, imagination, life is your creation," while male singer Rene Dif answers: "You're my doll, rock and roll, feel the glamor in pink, kiss me here, touch me there, hanky panky."
"It's not a sexual song," insisted Nystrom. "You can make it into one, if you twist it around of course. Some said 'It's a bad song for children.' They don't think like that. They take it for what it is. And it's awful when you think about the grownups making the children aware of what you can actually twist it into. It's a healthy, family pop song. It's not deep."