Ryan Gosling’s “I’m Just Ken” Video Has Slash, Wolfgang Van Halen, & Barbie Behind-The-Scenes Footage Galore
“I’m Just Ken,” the knowingly cheesy power ballad sung by Ryan Gosling in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, at first struck me as a pale facsimile of “Lost In The Woods,” a similar ’80s pastiche from the Frozen 2 soundtrack with a more generous serving of electric piano. But as my children have listened to the Barbie soundtrack over and over (and over… and over…), the song has held up. Surfing that fine line between satire and pathos, it’s easily among the album’s best songs along with the tracks from Charli XCX, Billie Eilish, PinkPantheress, and I guess Dua Lipa? Early this month “I’m Just Ken” became the first Hot 100 hit for Gosling, a former member of the experimental indie band Dead Man’s Bones. And today, it gets an official music video.
Because Gosling sings “I’m Just Ken” in character in the movie, it already has a definitive visual accompaniment. The video takes us behind the scenes, with lots of Gerwig reaction shots plus a look at some of the famous musicians executive producer Mark Ronson called in to play on the track (Slash, Wolfgang Van Halen, Josh Freese). You also get to see people offscreen throwing tennis balls at an encroaching army of Kens. Watch below.