but Ryan Gosling couldn’t have done it without Greta Gerwig, Margot Robbie and American Ferrara.
The 2023 blockbuster Barbie revived Cinema, set TikTok Trends and soundtracked our 2023 . It had us singing, dancing and crying all in one sitting.
Personally ‘I’m Just Ken’ sits pride of place in my frequent plays on Spotify, it is also one of the few songs I can proudly play on piano and I completely understand and truly believe it is deserving of the award. However not everyone shares this view and after seeing his reaction to the award perhaps Gosling himself is amongst those on TikTok that do not think it was worthy of the win. Adversity to the award choose to highlight h the cruel parallels between the meaning of the Barbie and a song about a man complaining he is not the protagonist in a woman’s story, arguing that ‘I’m just Ken’ , a song produced by a man, sung by a man, wining this award is considerably quite ironic. Perhaps they have a point and that is fine, I just don’t agree.
‘Dance the night away’ by Dua Lipa and ‘What was I Made for? ‘By Billie Ellish (Both from Barbie) were also nominated with many arguing that they should have won for the sole reason they were sung by a woman, personally the gender of the writer behind a song should not factor whether it is a success, its success should be measured by its popularity, its relevance to the film and its resonance with the audience and although what was I made for hits bulls eye, it was I’m just ken that had us bouncing, revving us up for a workday, creating kitchen dance routines and filming TikTok’s.
Fuel to this fire was poured earlier last week when host of Golden Globes Jo Koy made a pretty low-brow and rushed joke at the origin of the film comparing it to Oppenheimer which was ‘base doff a 721 paged Pulitzer prize winning book about the Manhattan project and Barbie is on a doll with big boobies” a childish and sexist reduction to what Gerwig’s creation actually depicts, its complexities too deep and expansive to cover in what is meant to be a music review… although Gerwig herself has offered a sympathetic response saying ‘well he’s not wrong she was the first doll mass produced with breasts’
‘I’m just ken’ allows Barbie’s ‘love’ interest a voice, giving him a narrative in a film that is supposed to be about female actualisation, empowerment and self discovery. It not only allows him power over his won story allowing him to just be ken rather than Barbie and Ken but also demonstrates how many men also struggle with their own identity, their own emotions rarely being taken seriously. it is his redemptive arc, allowing viewers to empathise with I’m, for that is the true definition of feminists, creating equality between men and women to better the situation,
Produced by Mark Ronson and written by Andrew Wyatt ‘I’m Just Ken’ is a modern masterpiece, with 80s influences. On the surface a fun throw away song, an excuse for a comedic choreographed dance break and for Gosling to show-off his range. The whole weight of the song is in its own inability to take itself seriously, the duo paired with visuals becomes a distracting display of thoroughly refined dance moves taking away the attention from how ken is truly feeling, detached from reality, alone in his feelings and powerless in the face of an overshadowing figurehead for his own society, it is a truly feminist anthem.
Evolve Music 