Rob Thomas Reacts to Barbie’s Cover of Matchbox Twenty

Rob Thomas approves of this Barbie world.

However, the Matchbox Twenty frontman was originally hesitant to sign off on Barbie using the band’s 1996 hit song “Push,” a favorite of director Greta Gerwig.

“I want to preface this by saying that I thought it was hilarious,” the musician told USA Today in an interview published July 23. “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. There was a whole period during the ‘90s where the more successful we got, the bigger target we were. We were an easy takedown.”

So when he got the call asking if Ryan Gosling‘s Ken could sing the song by the fireside, he didn’t exactly think it was a fantastic idea.

“I did this thinking I’d be the butt of the joke,” he shared, “and I was fine with that. I’m pretty thick-skinned.”

Of course, for Rob—who said he was later told viewers “come out of it loving Ken and loving ‘Push'”—there was a bit of a selfish perk to handing over the song.