Ryan Gosling’s Ken is a paragon of pop.
The actor’s hilarious ballad “I’m Just Ken” from the Barbie movie has officially entered the Billboard Hot 100, at No. 87. It marks the first-ever chart entry for Gosling, 42.
“I’m Just Ken” joins songs from artists like Dua Lipa, Sam Smith and Billie Eilish on the Barbie soundtrack, which debuted at No. 2 this week on the Billboard 200 albums chart.
The song isn’t Gosling’s only tune for the film. He also recorded a cover of Matchbox Twenty’s 1997 song “Push,” which he plays on the guitar during a hilarious moment in the film alongside other Kens, like Simu Liu and Kingsley Ben-Adir.
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Ryan Gosling in Barbie (2023).
Warner Bros. Pictures/YouTube
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The music producer behind “I’m Just Ken,” Mark Ronson, told Vanity Fair last month that he immediately connected with Barbie’s right-hand man — or at least the version Gosling plays opposite Margot Robbie in the blockbuster.
“You really fall in love with this hapless but immediately sympathetic figure,” Ronson, 47, told the magazine.
That instant Ken-ection, combined with his inability to locate a Ken in the sea of Barbies at the toy store (“nobody gives a s— about buying a Ken doll”), is what inspired the Grammy winner to pen the power ballad “I’m Just Ken.”
The executive producer for the Barbie: The Album told Vanity Fair that one of the track’s lyrics, “I’m just Ken / Anywhere else I’d be a 10,” came to him “instantly.”
“It just seemed funny,” Ronson said. “It felt a little bit emo, like, ‘This poor guy. He’s so hot, but can’t get the time of day.’ “
After Gosling first heard the demo of the “I’m Just Ken,” he was such a big fan that he not only agreed to sing the track but also requested to perform it in the movie.
Ronson worried how Barbie director Greta Gerwig would react to the song, explaining that he didn’t want her to think he was “trying to provide the funny,” but she agreed with Gosling. In fact, she liked the ballad so much she rewrote a pivotal scene to ensure Gosling could belt it in the film.
After recording the vocals, Ronson said he realized Gosling (whose musical résumé includes his Oscar-nominated La La Land performance, an album with his rock duo Dead Man’s Bones, and a stint as a Mouseketeer) was a “vocal powerhouse.”
“He really got [that] it had to walk this line of not being funny or parody,” the producer told Vanity Fair. “But obviously, the song is also kind of ridiculous at times. So he was really amazing.”
Barbie is in theaters now.
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education