Ryan Gosling is singing his heart out as Ken in “Barbie.” Warner Bros. has debuted an official music video from the upcoming Greta Gerwig-directed tentpole in which Gosling belts out “I’m Just Ken.” The song finds Gosling’s lovelorn doll wrestling with always being second to Barbie (Margot Robbie) and contemplating what his life means without her. The accompanying clip includes Gosling’s Ken shirtless, crying and incredibly emotional.
“I’m Just Ken” is the latest original song released from the official “Barbie” soundtrack, which also includes artists such as Grammy winners Dua Lipa and Billie Eilish. Soundtrack producer Mark Ronson told Variety’s Angelique Jackson on the “Barbie” world premiere pink carpet that Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash even played on Gosling’s record after being sent the track and finding it cool.
“It was so crazy,” Ronson added about the song’s production. “[Ryan Gosling is] a huge star of this movie and only has three hours on a Tuesday afternoon to cut the vocals. He just went in and as he started to get warmed up I was like, ‘This guy is going to murder this song!’ Of course he would.”
Ronson continued, “I’m so psyched. We worked on it for about a year after he did the vocals. After I sent him the final version, with Slash on it, he was psyched and satisfied, which is what you want to do when you’re making a sound for someone.”
Gosling is not the only Ken actor in “Barbie,” as Simu Liu, Scott Evans, John Cena, Ncuti Gatwa and Kingsley Ben-Adir also appear as different iterations of the doll. Although some younger “Barbie” fans have complained on social media that 42-year-old Gosling is too old to play Ken, the actor has humorously defended his casting to the press.
“I would say, you know, if people don’t want to play with my Ken, there are many other Kens to play with,” Gosling told GQ magazine. “It is funny, this kind of clutching-your-pearls idea of, like, #notmyken. Like you ever thought about Ken before this?…suddenly, it’s like, ‘No, we’ve cared about Ken this whole time.’ No, you didn’t. You never did. You never cared. Barbie never fucked with Ken. That’s the point. If you ever really cared about Ken, you would know that nobody cared about Ken. So your hypocrisy is exposed. This is why his story must be told.”
“Barbie” opens in theaters nationwide July 21 from Warner Bros. Watch the “I’m Just Ken” music video in the clip below.
