Behind “I’m Just Ken”: Glam Rock, Meatloaf, Slash and 90s Film

Everything initially goes back to the nostalgia of 80s and 90s. When Barbie director Greta Gerwig talked about the inspiration and creative process behind the 80-style power ballad, “I’m Just Ken,” she traced back to her initial spark for cinema as a teenager.

“Because I was born in 83 and going to movies in the 90s, I wanted to create a moment that felt like those movies from the 90’, when they had soundtracks to movies that ended up at Costco,” Gerwig told Rolling Stone.

There was a lot of glam rock involved in the discussion, and the name, Meat Loaf, came up many times. Then, these ideas became melodies, and “I’m Just Ken” was born.

“Mark Ronson talked a lot about glam-rock and Meat Loaf and the drama of that kind of song,” mentioned Gerwig. “And then Mark and his songwriting partner Andrew Wyatt wrote ‘I’m Just Ken.’ They didn’t even have all the lyrics. They just had a feeling and the skeleton and the lyric “I’m just Ken” and it just evolved from there.”

The executive producer was the mastermind who orchestrated both Slash and Wolfgang Van Halen’s “mammoth guitar sound” to be in the final soundtrack.

“I was, what, seventh grade when Appetite For Destruction came out. He’s my all-time hero. I had pictures of Slash all over my walls. So when we were getting near this song being done, I was like, ‘It never hurts to ask.’ It seems like such a long shot,” Ronson told Variety.

“I sent him the song and he was like, ‘This is a good song.’ I didn’t know Slash that well before this, and he was like ‘Cool, I’ll play it.’ And he was so cool. He killed it. He plays the solo at the end and the rhythm parts. It’s wonderful.”

And without any of these elements, “I’m Just Ken” would not sound the way it is today.