Ryan Gosling brings pink-washed Kenergy to the Oscars
HOLLYWOOD, United States: The live musical performances at Sunday’s Oscars were mostly truncated – the Academy took pains to tighten its notoriously lengthy broadcast – but there was still Kenough onstage song to go around.
It was, of course, Ryan Gosling’s reprisal of his Oscarnominated role as Barbie’s Ken that stole the show, as he donned a sequined hot pink suit and matching gloves to perform “I’m Just Ken,” the synthy pop-rock track among the contenders for best original song.
That prize ultimately went to Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas O’Connell, who penned another already-decorated hit off the “Barbie” soundtrack, “What Was I Made For?”
But it was Gosling who had the audience singing along to the quippy song about the performative nature of masculinity.
The Dolby Theatre was awash in purple-pink light as the camera turned to a sunglasses-wearing Gosling in the audience – right behind co-star Margot Robbie, who couldn’t keep a straight face as he began to croon the earworm of a track.
As he made his way onstage, he was joined by Mark Ronson – who produced several tracks for the “Barbie” film, which was directed by Greta Gerwig – on guitar and a troupe of male dancers, fellow Kens in cowboy hats.
His co-stars Kingsley BenAdir, Simu Liu, Ncuti Gatwa and Scott Evans also joined in, as did Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash and Wolfgang Van Halen, as they recreated the film’s dream ballet-battle sequence-power ballad theatrics that also nodded to Marilyn Monroe’s iconic performance of “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend.” With a bath of pink light and the final lyrics displayed to the audience, the gala took on the aura of latenight karaoke as Gerwig, his costar America Ferrera and Emma Stone sang into Gosling’s mic.
The elaborate performance had lasting impact: “My dress is broke,” said an overwhelmed Stone as she accepted the best actress prize for her role in “Poor Things.”
“I think it happened during ‘I’m Just Ken.’ I’m pretty sure.”
Powerful ‘Wahzhazhe’ performance
Per usual, the ceremony included performances of all the night’s nominated original songs.
Eilish and Finneas played a sparse, moving rendition of their prize-winning track -- she wore an oversized black and white Chanel tweed jacket, demure ankle-length skirt, complete with a white button up and pink headband.
Best actress nominee Lily Gladstone teared up watching Scott George and the Osage Singers’ powerful performance of “Wahzhazhe (A Song for My People),” which featured in Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon.”
Pop star Becky G brought out a children’s choir to sing “The Fire Inside” from “Flamin’ Hot,” and Jon Batiste staged “It Never Went Away” from his documentary “American Symphony,” an intimate documentary detailing the trials he and his wife faced as she battled leukemia. In the best original score
category, the Grammy-winning Ludwig Goransson nabbed his second triumph in the category, for the music of the night’s crowning film “Oppenheimer.”