This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the film being covered here wouldn’t exist.
One of the many joys of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie is the montage of Ryan Gosling’s Ken emotively belting out a ballad about how he struggles with his blond fragility while he battles his fellow Kens with tennis rackets, noogies, and killer dance moves.
A great video is only as good as the team behind it, however, and Atlantic Records has now put out a behind-the-scenes video set to “I’m Just Ken” that reveals Gosling and his fellow Kens—not to mention the musicians and choreographers behind them—work on putting the song and dance number together.
One of the best things about the clip—besides getting “I’m Just Ken” stuck in my head for another day, of course—is seeing Gerwig, Gosling and other Kens like Simu Liu, Ncuti Gatwa, Kingsley Ben-Adir, and Scott Evans embrace the serious silliness that encompasses the song. We see it in shots of Gerwig putting her hands over her mouth with glee as Gosling majestically rides a plastic pony, and we see it in Gosling once cut is yelled after he bellows the words, “I’ll see you on Malibu Beach!”
What a song. And what a film. Barbie is still playing in theaters if you want to see it (again), and the full soundtrack to the movie is now available on a music platform near you.
