Ryan Gosling became Fulken at the 2024 Oscars They performed an exciting and silly live performance of “I’m Just Ken” from the original “Barbie” soundtrack. “I’m Just Ken” was one of two “Barbie” songs nominated for Best Original Song. Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?” was another one.
Before the performance, Gosling’s “Barbie” co-star Simu Liu made an announcement to the Oscar audience, asking them to turn on their cellphone lights and sing along to Gosling’s performance.
Bathed in purple lighting, wearing a sparkling pink suit and pink gloves, Gosling sat behind Margot Robbie in the audience and began singing “I’m Just Ken,” who couldn’t help but sing. I laughed. He then headed to the stage and was joined by Mark Ronson on guitar and several backup dancers. Slash also appeared on stage after contributing guitar to the song.
Gosling was joined on stage by fellow Ken actors Simu Liu, Scott Evans, Ncuti Gatwa and Kingsley Ben-Adir. At one point, Gosling returned to the audience and held the microphone up to his “Barbie” collaborators Greta Gerwig, Robbie and America Ferrera, who all sang along. He also had his La La Land co-star Emma Stone sing on it.
In the weeks leading up to the Oscars, there was much mystery as to whether Gosling would take the stage to perform “I’m Just Ken” live. He chose not to sing the song “City of Stars” from “La La Land” at the 2017 Oscars ceremony, with co-star John Legend performing the single instead. Gosling did not acknowledge his involvement in his performance at the Oscars until just weeks before the Academy Awards ceremony.
varietyMark Malkin, the Barbie soundtrack producer and co-writer of I’m Just Ken, spoke on the red carpet at the 2024 Grammy Awards, when Gosling had not yet committed to acting at the Oscars. I posed a question to Mark Ronson. Ronson said it was his “dream” to perform the song live with Gosling leading the vocals.
When asked if there was a possibility that Gosling would replace him with another singer if he didn’t want to perform “I’m Just Ken” live during the Oscars, Ronson quickly dismissed the idea.
“No. If Ryan won’t do it, I guess we won’t do it either,” the producer said.
Before “I’m Just Ken” was officially nominated for an Oscar, Gosling himself was hesitant about singing live at the awards ceremony.
“Well, I haven’t been invited. And I haven’t thought about that before, but now that’s all I’m going to think about,” Gosling said recently. W Magazine last month. “Do I get paid to sing at the Oscars? Do I have to drive myself? What injuries are involved? At least they’ll pick me up, right?”
Gosling attended the 2024 Oscars as a supporting actor nominee thanks to his role in Barbie. Overall, Greta Gerwig’s hit comedy earned her eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture.
