Ryan Gosling & Slash Stun Oscars with Epic ‘I’m Just Ken’ Singalong – You Won’t Believe What Happens Next!

“Can you sense the Ken vibe?”

That was the phrase echoed from the Dolby Theatre platform on Sunday evening when Ryan Gosling and a squad of Kens dominated the 2024 Oscars with a grand rendition of the “Barbie” sensation “I’m Just Ken.”

Gosling, reliving his Oscar-recognized portrayal of Ken, Barbie’s stress-filled, over-achieving, beta boyfriend, wore a striking pink suit, harmonizing gloves and shaded glasses to head the live performance of the song where Ken melodically reassess the male gender roles society imposes.

He opened the performance from the audience, positioned between a chuckling Billie Eilish and Margot Robbie, and then proceeded to the stage to expressively dance with his fellow cowboy-hatted Kens (a group of 65 male dancers) in a visual nod to Marilyn Monroe’s “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.” Yes, karate moves, hip actions and huge Barbie heads were included.

Gosling was also accompanied on stage by the song’s co-creator Mark Ronson, Guns N’ Roses’ Slash and Wolfgang Van Halen, along with his co-actors Kingsley Ben-Adir, Simu Liu, Ncuti Gatwa, and Scott Evans.

Inside the Dolby Theatre, brilliant pink screens showcased the words to the last verse, inviting the audience to engage in some unexpected Barbie-oke for the final original song contenders. The crowd was on their feet, applauding, cheering, and dancing, with Greta Gerwig, America Ferrera, and Emma Stone vocalizing into Gosling’s mic as he danced past them.

The tune transitions from a rock anthem to ’80s synthpop and also includes a musical cameo by Foo Fighters’ Josh Freese. As the film shattered various box-office records last summer, “I’m Just Ken” reached No. 87 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and led to three consequent versions, including a holiday rendition.

A live variant of the track was pre-announced as “an absolutely wild spectacle” by Ronson, who co-penned the song with Andrew Wyatt, on the E! red carpet. “We’re only gonna have the chance to perform this song maybe once with Ryan, and he’s carried all of us on his shoulders — or rather Ken’s shoulders.”

The film’s bold musical scene — featuring striking choreography by Jennifer White and Lisa Welham — is filled with witty jokes, movie references, and cultural critiques about the pressures on men to exhibit their masculinity.

Part power anthem, part combat scene, and part fantasy ballet, the sequence starts with Gosling’s Ken mourning his lack of purpose beyond Barbie, then transitions into a “beach-off” with his adversary (Liu) and concludes with a mutual acceptance with his fellow Kens of a less-toxic camaraderie in Barbieland.

“One thing that Ryan brought to it was a degree of empathy,” “Barbie” director and co-writer Greta Gerwig recently informed The Times about Gosling’s performance. “Yes, it’s humorous. Yes, there are complex elements and plenty of uncomfortable moments, but there’s no antagonist in the movie, and there’s no one who is undeserving of our empathy or sympathy.”

The event, which was aired live on ABC, included performances of the other nominated original songs: Jon Batiste’s “It Never Went Away” from “American Symphony,” Becky G’s “The Fire Inside” from “Flamin’ Hot,” Scott George and the Osage Singers’ “Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People)” from “Killers of the Flower Moon” and the winner, Eilish and Finneas O’Connell’s “What Was I Made For?,” also from “Barbie.”

“I admire Greta Gerwig so much, and I can perfectly see her saying, ‘I want a crazy dance montage ballad scene, and we need this song for this quirky character,’ played so brilliantly by Ryan,” Finneas previously informed The Times regarding “I’m Just Ken.” Added Eilish, “It’s so ideal for the movie. It’s so suitable for Ken. And just the goofiness and the light-heartedness of that character.”