Why Barbie's Ryan Gosling Almost Didn't Sing 'I'm Just Ken' At The 2024 Oscars
There's no question that during the 96th Academy Awards in March, one major highlight of the ceremony was Ryan Gosling's live performance of "I'm Just Ken." Even though the "Barbie" showstopper ultimately lost the Oscar for best song to another tune from Greta Gerwig's film — "What Was I Made For?" by Billie Eilish — the smashing performance led by Gosling was one of the most charming things the Oscars has aired in recent memory. It also almost didn't happen.
During an interview on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Oscar nominee Gosling told Fallon that he originally said "100% no" when asked to perform "I'm Just Ken" during the ceremony. "There's a lot of ways that could go wrong," he said. As it turns out, Gosling was wrong about that; he garnered rave reviews for the performance (many of which Fallon read aloud during the interview). They also discussed Gosling's two daughters with Eva Mendes watching one of the dance rehearsals with Gosling and his fellow Kens, including Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, and Scott Evans. (When asked what they thought, Gosling simply waved a hand and said, "'Dad's Kennin' again.'")
As it turns out, not only did Gosling rock the stage on Oscars night, but he also had a huge hand in the performance. Here's how Gosling made "I'm Just Ken" an Oscar sensation — with very little time to prepare.
Ryan Gosling ended up coming up with most of the ideas for I'm Just Ken on his own
After Ryan Gosling crushed his "I'm Just Ken" performance at the Oscars, producer Molly McNearney (wife of Jimmy Kimmel, who hosted the ceremony) spoke to Variety about the process. "Ryan Gosling is a true professional ... we met with him on Zooms months ago, talking about that performance," she said. "Greta Gerwig weighed in creatively as well. He was so committed to it."
McNearney went on to say that Gosling himself concocted the performance's overall vibe — including the references to classic films like "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" (specifically the track "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend") and Busby Berkeley dance numbers ... and the actor also decided to include his collaborators Mark Ronson and Slash (the famous guitarist plays guitar on the original track). Not only that, but the rehearsal period was extremely brief. Speaking to The New York Times, choreographer Mandy Moore — who worked on "La La Land" with Gosling and created the dance numbers for Taylor Swift's Eras Tour — said they only had a handful of rehearsals to make the number happen. When the outlet asked where it ranked amongst her biggest career challenges, Moore said, "It was definitely up there with 'La La Land' and the Eras Tour" — which is shocking when you consider that "I'm Just Ken" is under five minutes long.
Ken's dream ballet in Barbie was one of the film's best moments
"I'm Just Ken" was one of the best Oscar moments in years, and the truth is that it's also a major highlight of Greta Gerwig's wildly successful, critically adored "Barbie." Though the film is centered around Margot Robbie's Stereotypical Barbie, who goes on a journey of self-actualization and chooses to become a real woman rather than a "perfect" doll, Ryan Gosling's Ken steals every scene he's in. He begins the movie desperately trying to impress Barbie — as narrator Helen Mirren tells us, "Barbie has a great day every day, but Ken only has a great day if Barbie looks at him" — but when the two take a trip to the real world, Ken finds himself utterly fascinated by the patriarchy. From there, he returns to the matriarchal Barbie Land without Barbie, transforming it into a shoddy, messy patriarchy (complete with "brewski beers" and lots of horse imagery), destroying the life Barbie built for herself.
It's at this point where Ken starts singing "I'm Just Ken" and wonders who he is without Barbie — "'Cause I'm just Ken, anywhere else I'd be a 10 / Is it my destiny to live and die a life of blonde fragility?" — and performs a spectacular dream ballet with his fellow Kens as they ultimately discover that they are "Kenough." With this in mind, it's no surprise that any performance of "I'm Just Ken" ends up being incredible ... and it's lucky for everyone that Gosling eventually agreed to do it live.
To read more about Gerwig's film, check out the untold truth of "Barbie."