Aaliyah’s brother on her new keepsake barbie and lasting legacy

“What do I miss the most? Definitely her laugh, how funny and goofy she was,” Aaliyah’s brother Rashad Haughton told Vanity Fair days before what would have been the late singer’s 46th birthday.

Aaliyah’s life was tragically cut short when she was killed in a plane crash in 2001 at the age of 22. To celebrate her lasting influence, Haughton, who partially manages the R&B sensation’s estate, has teamed up with Mattel to release a Barbie Music Series collectible doll in her likeness, available Thursday, January 16. “Throughout the two-plus decades that I’ve been preserving my sister’s legacy and doing collaborations, it was something that was always on our radar,” Haughton said. So when the team at Mattel reached out, “the timing was perfect.”

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The collection has celebrated musical icons including Gloria Estefan, Stevie Nicks, Barbara Streisand and Tina Turner.

Growing up, Haughton remembers his younger sister playing with Barbie dolls in her bedroom. “Hearing her in there and kind of imagining her life and then not too long after that, you know, my sister’s career started at such a young age. She still had Barbies when she was a pro. Seeing that magic and that power is what will really get through to little girls,” he said.

Throughout Aaliyah’s career, she wore a series of memorable looks that have continued to inspire tastemakers, designers and everyone in between. So to decide what her doll would wear, Haughton consulted Aaliyah’s longtime stylist, Derek Lee, and chose to recreate the opening ensemble from the music video for “One in a million,” Aaliyah’s hit song from 1996. At a time when stylists were unable to work directly with fashion houses, it was Lee’s genius to create the look at a moment’s notice, sourcing pieces from sex shops in New York City.

“We chose that look because it ticked all the boxes that we wanted to represent….She went through this level of maturity,” Haughton shared. As the title track from Aaliyah’s second multi-platinum album, Haughton remembers that album, and specifically that song, representing a turning point in his sister’s career. Aaliyah had changed direction to work with a then little-known writing and producing team: Timbaland and Missy Elliott. “I remember I got the demo for it and it was before we had even decided that we were going to work with Tim and Missy … and when we heard the song we were like, Wow, it’s done, we’re going to work with them,” Haughton reflected.