While Ken might be “just Ken,” Ryan Gosling is so much more, and he’s proving as much with his release of Ken The EP, featuring a holiday version of his Barbie soundtrack hit, “I’m Just Ken.”
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After the undeniable success of Barbie and its accompanying Barbie The Album, the project's producer, Mark Ronson, reconnected with Gosling and the two teamed up with Andrew Wyatt to conceptualized a new version of Ken’s big song.
“I told him I fantasized about us performing the song live, so we started to dream what that might sound like,” Ronson explained on Instagram. “I was also dying to show the song in a different context,” noting Ryan “demanded I go ‘Full Ronson’ with the arrangement (which i took to mean 2007 motown/ wall of sound-obsessed me).” After recording, they realized how Christmas-y the song sounded and got together to get it out just in time for the holiday season.
So now, along with the original and new Kristmas version, additional Ken The EP renditions of “I’m Just Ken” include the stripped "In My Feelings Acoustic," and electric "Purple Disco Machine Remix." Along with Pete Davidson’s rendition on SNL, that makes 4 versions of the same song. Which actually kinda tracks, because just like in Barbieland, there’s plenty of Kens to go around.
Listen to the new festive version below.