I'm Just Ken

"I'm Just Ken" is a song performed by Canadian actor Ryan Gosling for the 2023 film ''Barbie''. It was written and produced by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt and appears on the soundtrack album ''Barbie the Album''. , the song had over 100 million streams on Spotify and over 3 million views on YouTube. It won Best Song at the 29th Critics' Choice Awards and was nominated for Best Song Written for Visual Media at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards and Best Original Song at the 96th Academy Awards.

Background

"I'm Just Ken" is described as a sentimental 80s power ballad." Ahead of the film's release, marketing and promotional materials often contained the tagline, "She's everything. He's just Ken," an allusion to the song.

Production

"I'm Just Ken" was one of the first songs written for ''Barbie the Album''. Producer Mark Ronson was inspired to write the ballad after reading the ''Barbie'' script and sympathizing with Ken's character.

Ronson recorded a demo of "I'm Just Ken" and sent it to director Greta Gerwig, although he was not expecting it to be included in the film. Gerwig, however, loved the song and played it for Ryan Gosling, who plays Ken. Gosling stated that it affected him "deeply" and asked if he could perform it in the film. Gerwig had to rewrite an important scene in the film to accommodate the new addition.

Ronson's colleague and fellow producer on the soundtrack, Andrew Wyatt, wrote the rest of the song before Ronson flew to London to record the vocals with Gosling at Eastcote Studios in March 2022. In an interview with ''Vulture'', Ronson stated, "In the studio with Ryan, it was really his performance that lifted the whole thing. All these lines that felt a little bit throwaway-ish, delivered by him, suddenly took on much more." Gosling only had two to three hours to record the track.

After Gosling recorded his vocals, Ronson sent the track to Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash, who found it "cool" and agreed to play guitar on the song. Guitarist Wolfgang Van Halen and Foo Fighters drummer Josh Freese also played on the track.

Release

Ahead of ''Barbie'' release, Warner Bros. released a clip of Gosling's performance of "I'm Just Ken" on July 10, 2023. A "behind-the-scenes" music video mixing rehearsal footage with clips from the actual musical sequence in the film was released on August 21, 2023.

''Ken The EP''

On December 20, 2023, Gosling and Ronson released an extended play containing three additional versions of "I'm Just Ken" in addition to the original track. A performance video was released for the Christmas version, subtitled "Merry Kristmas Barbie", which features Gosling, Ronson, and Wyatt in the studio. The Christmas version was recorded and released within the span of a week.

Accolades

Live performance

Gosling performed the song live at the 96th Academy Awards on March 10, 2024. The performance paid homage to the "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend" sequence from the 1953 film adaptation of the stage musical '' Gentlemen Prefer Blondes'' starring Marilyn Monroe, as well as the choreography of Busby Berkeley. Gosling was joined by Ronson on bass, Wyatt on piano, and Wolfgang Van Halen and Slash on guitar, as well as his ''Barbie'' co-stars Simu Liu, Ncuti Gatwa, Kingsley Ben-Adir, and Scott Evans. The performance was choreographed by Mandy Moore, who also choreographed Gosling in ''La La Land''.

Parodies

On the October 14, 2023, episode of ''Saturday Night Live'', comedian Pete Davidson parodied the song as "I'm Just Pete" to mock his personal life.

On March 15, 2024, British comedian Lenny Henry parodied the song as "I'm Just Len" as part of his final year as host of Comic Relief's annual Red Nose Day telethon.

Personnel

All credits are adapted from the CD liner notes of ''Barbie the Album''.

* Mark Ronson – songwriter, producer, bass guitar, synths
* Andrew Wyatt – songwriter, producer, synths, background vocals, choir arrangement
* Picard Brothers – additional production
* Slash – lead guitar, rhythm guitar
* Wolfgang Van Halen – rhythm guitar
* Josh Freese – drums
* Mike Richiuti – piano
* Roger Manning – synths
* Brandon Bost – programming, engineering
* Geoff Foster – male choir recording engineer
* Peter Cobbin – scoring engineer, female choir recording engineer
* Kirsty Whalley – scoring engineer, female choir recording engineer
* Daniel Hayden – Pro Tools recordist
* Alex Venguer – orchestra recording, piano recording engineer
* Matt Dunkley – orchestral arrangement
* Ben Parry – choirmaster
* Ricky Damian – engineering
* Jake Ferguson – assistant engineering
* Mike Clink – Slash recording
* Tom Elmhirst – mixing
* Adam Hong – engineering for mix
* Abbey Road Studios Orchestra – orchestra

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

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{{Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Song

2023 songs
2020s ballads
Songs from Barbie (film)
Ken (doll)
Song recordings produced by Andrew Wyatt
Song recordings produced by Mark Ronson
Songs written by Andrew Wyatt
Songs written by Mark Ronson