Ryan Gosling to Perform “I’m Just Ken” at 2024 Oscars
Can you feel the Kenergy? Ryan Gosling will, in fact, perform “I’m Just Ken” at the 2024 Academy Awards, according to Variety.
The Barbie hit was written by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt, and features guitarists Slash and Wolfgang Van Halen and drummer Josh Freese. Presumably, some of those artists will join Gosling on stage for his performance at the Oscars.
Speaking to Consequence in a recent interview, Ronson explained that having Slash, Van Halen, and Freese play on the track was an idea they came up with at the “11th hour.”
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“We wrote it as this ballad and it was pretty earnest, just piano — it was really lovely, because Ryan’s vocal over it was really vulnerable. But then we started playing it against the film and there’s this battle scene happening — Saving Private Ryan, but on, like, pedal boats,” Ronson said. “It needed to get bigger and bigger and bigger. So we just started building it up with the arrangement.”
The end result is an epic ’80s power ballad performed by Gosling and the other Kens in a scene-stealing moment in Barbie. The song went on to peak at No. 87 on the Billboard Hot 100, while also reaching No. 5 on the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart. Gosling, Ronson, and Wyatt also released Ken the EP, which featured several versions of the song including a reworked Christmas rendition.
“I’m Just Ken” received a number of awards show accolades, including a nomination for Best Original Song at the 2024 Academy Awards alongside fellow Barbie hit “What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish and Finneas.
Other contenders in the Best Original Song category include Diane Warren’s “The Fire Inside” from Flamin’ Hot; “Jon Batiste’s “It Never Went Away” from American Symphony; and Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)” from Killers of the Flower Moon.
The 2024 Academy Awards go down on Sunday, March 10th.
