Ryan Gosling released Ken The EP on Wednesday, December 20, featuring a “Kristmas” version of the Grammy-nominated song “I’m Just Ken.”
Along with “I’m Just Ken – Merry Kristmas Barbie,” the EP also features “I’m Just Ken – In My Feelings Acoustic,” “I’m Just Ken – Purple Disco Machine Remix” and the original song from the movie directed by Greta Gerwig.
Producing powerhouses Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt — who scored Barbie and previously earned an Oscar and a Grammy for writing A Star is Born’s “Shallow” in 2019 — collaborated with Gosling, 43, to revamp Ken’s ballad.
“I told [Gosling] I fantasized about us performing the song live, so we started to dream what that might sound like,” Ronson, 48, wrote on Instagram, announcing the EP.
He added: “I was also dying to show the song in a different context — [Gosling] demanded I go ‘Full Ronson’ with the arrangement (which I took to mean 2007 motown/wall of sound-obsessed me).”
Ronson also shared that the Christmas version of the song was developed organically. “I sent this version to [Gosling] last Tues and he dug it & it sounded so f–king xmas that we were like, ‘man, can we get this out in a week?!’” he wrote. “So he rerecorded the vocals and here we are, a week later serving up this version that we love with about 5 days til no one wants to hear a xmas record, but sometimes u have to do it 4 fun (& maybe a little for Barbie). Happy holidays, we hope u ❤️.”
The trio also released a music video for the Christmas song, performing it live with a full band in a decked-out Christmas dream studio.
“What do you think, do you think it’s too Christmas?” Gosling asks in the beginning of the video. “There’s just a worry that if we just do too much Christmas no one’s going to watch it after the 26th.”
Wyatt, 52, jokingly responds to Gosling: “No, I mean, I watch Die Hard 50-60 times a year and it’s filmed on Christmas and it was released at Christmas.”
Gosling then gets into character as Ken by putting on his sunglasses before beginning his performance. “The world can have Ken’s voice but only Barbie can have his eyes,” he says.
In November, Ronson told The Hollywood Reporter that “I’m Just Ken,” which Gosling performs in the movie as he questions being second to Barbie (Margot Robbie), wasn’t initially in the script.
“Originally, [Gerwig] was just looking for two songs for the film: a dance number that became ‘Dance the Night,’ and a Ken song,” he explained. “It was never in the script [that] Ryan was going to sing. It was just like, ‘If we’re going to have Barbie’s perfect day song, we need a song from Ken’s point of view.’ ”
“I’m Just Ken” is nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Song Written For Visual Media, and Barbie The Album racked up 11 nominations overall. Following the release of Barbie — the highest-grossing movie of the year and the highest grossing film directed by a woman — “I’m Just Ken” soared to the top 5 of the Billboard Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart and surpassed 100 million global streams.
As Gosling says at the end of the music video, “Merry Christmas Barbie, wherever you are.”
