Metric lead singer Emily Haines is voicing a "scrappy anti-Barbie protagonist" for feminist toy company Goldiebox's new animated web series, and her band contributed a new song, too.
"Attention all parents of kick-ass daughters!" the band wrote in a post on its official site. "It looks like some real progress is being made when it comes to giving girls more imaginative toy options than princess castles and all things pink. As a kid I was way more into my Dukes of Hazard racetrack than any doll, so as you can imagine I am beyond happy to be part of what I hope will be a lasting cultural shift."
Haines added she was approached by the start-up toy company -- which donated $1 million to charity earlier this year in a settlement over using a rewrite of the Beastie Boys' song "Girls" in an ad without permission -- and asked to portray the voice of the main character Goldieblox.
"I had always wanted to do voice-over work, so when they told me the guiding principles of the company and that the character was partially inspired by me and my music (!) the collaboration was a go," wrote Haines.
Goldieblox was created by Debra Sterling, a graduate of Mechanical Engineering/Product Design from Stanford University, with the goal of "disrupting the pink aisle" in toy stores and inspiring "future generations of female engineers." In November the company posted a YouTube clip which included Metric's "Help I'm Alive" and showed an assembly line of young girls picking up dolls before one girl decides to break the "Big Sister" machine with a hammer.
"We're here to help level the playing field in every sense of the phrase," the company's statement reads on a YouTube description. "By tapping into girls' strong verbal skills, our story + construction set bolsters confidence in spatial skills while giving young inventors the tools they need to build and create amazing things."
The song entitled "Lightning Strikes" was written by Haines and Metric bandmate James Shaw and is also available on iTunes. Since the video for the song was posted on Monday it's received over 160,000 hits. "I gotta say I really enjoyed channeling my inner 10 year old and I hope you enjoy it too! If you have a young daughter, you might want to check this thing out."
The YouTube clip features the character Haines does the voice for, Goldieblox, entering a derby race but her won't start. An animated Haines sings the new song as Goldieblox starts devising plans to create a better race car.
