I’m Just Ken

"I'm Just Ken" is a song performed by Canadian actor Ryan Gosling for 'Barbie The Album', the soundtrack of the 2023 film Barbie. It was written and produced by Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt. The song is described as a sentimental "'80s power ballad." Ahead of the film's release, marketing and promotional materials often contained the tagline, "She's everything. He's just Ken," an allusion to the song.

Production

"I'm Just Ken" was one of the first songs written for 'Barbie The Album'. Producer Mark Ronson was inspired to write the ballad after reading the Barbie script and sympathizing with Ken's character.

I instantly had this idea for this lyric: "I'm just Ken / Anywhere else I'd be a 10." It just seemed funny. It felt a little bit emo, like, this poor guy. He’s so hot, but can’t get the time of day.
— Mark Ronson, on writing "I'm Just Ken" for Barbie: The Album

Ronson recorded a demo of "I'm Just Ken" and sent it to director Greta Gerwig, although he wasn't expecting it to be included in the film. Gerwig, however, loved the song and played it for Ryan Gosling, who plays Ken. Gosling stated that it affected him "deeply" and asked if he could perform it in the film. Gerwig had to rewrite an important scene in the film to accommodate the new addition.

Ronson's colleague and fellow producer on the soundtrack, Andrew Wyatt, wrote the rest of the song before Ronson flew to London to record the vocals with Gosling. In an interview with Vulture, Ronson noted, "In the studio with Ryan, it was really his performance that lifted the whole thing. All these lines that felt a little bit throwaway-ish, delivered by him, suddenly took on much more." Gosling only had three hours to record the track.

After Gosling recorded his vocals, Ronson sent the track to Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash, who found it "cool" and agreed to play guitar on the song. Guitarist Wolfgang Van Halen and Foo Fighters drummer Josh Freese also played on the track.