Ryan Gosling Made Changes To "I'm Just Ken" On His Barbie EP

Ryan Gosling has returned to the Kendom. On Dec. 20, Ken The EP came out, featuring the original Barbie song “I’m Just Ken,” along with three new versions of the track: “I’m Just Ken (Merry Kristmas Barbie),” “I’m Just Ken (In My Feelings Acoustic),” and “I’m Just Ken (Purple Disco Machine Remix).” For the Kristmas version of the song, Gosling, along with Barbie composers Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt, released a music video — one that was full of Kenergy.

The video, which chronicles what it was like to record “I’m Just Ken (Merry Kristmas Barbie),” is full of Christmas lights and Barbie references. As Gosling slid on a pair of sunglasses, he told Ronson and Wyatt that he was getting “in character.” He explained, “Because the world can have Ken’s voice, but only Barbie can have his eyes.”

Later, at the very end of the video, Gosling gave another Barbie shoutout. “Merry Christmas, Barbie, wherever you are,” he said, referencing the ending of the movie.

But throughout the music video, Gosling wasn’t only harkening back to his latest iconic role; he also mentioned one of his most famous memes. “Mark, what if I kind of lean into this ‘hey girl’ thing, and I go, ‘Hey girl, it doesn’t seem to matter what I do.’ I lean into it, I hit the gas, and then I’m like, ‘I’m just Ken,’” he asked the Barbie composer, referencing one of his first ultra-viral moments. (The “hey girl” meme was started by the 2008 Tumblr blog F*ck Yeah! Ryan Gosling — the format paired a picture of Gosling with flirty phrases like, “Hey girl, you sure you don’t want your last name to be Gosling?”)

In case you were wondering, Ronson didn’t go for Gosling’s idea: “I’m not saying I don’t like it, but the original has this delicate vulnerability that you just fall in love with it. I’m not sure.”

The other two remixes — which showcase Gosling going full emo and then hyper-disco —don’t have videos (yet), but are available to stream on Ken The EP.

Previously, the Barbie star opened up about taking on the Grammy-nominated song. In a July interview with the LA Times, Gosling explained how he felt recording “I’m Just Ken.” Per Gosling, he let his character take the reins. “Ken sang that song. I never sang like that in my life. I don’t know why or how that happened,” he said.

At the time, Gosling also told the outlet that singing the track “felt so organic.” He said, “When I was a kid, I was working and I was dancing at the mall or singing at weddings. And I thought, you know, that kid worked really hard and got me here. I owe everything to him, but I thought I had let him retire. Like, he’d worked enough and I could take it from here. But it was time to pull him out of retirement one more time for one last heist.”