After several weeks of sporadic releases from individual artists, the full Barbie album is now here, complete with its own website and trailer:
Ryan Gosling is already getting Oscar buzz for his performance as Ken:
Yet, as the reviews of Barbie have flooded in this week, one obvious irony has stood out: the eternal supporting player is actually the star. For no-one has been getting greater notices for the film than Ryan Gosling, playing the blonde-haired “stereotypical Ken” amid the innumerable variety of Kens within Barbie Land.
Thanks to his full-throttle transformation (bleached blonde hair, fake tan, shaved legs for his neon-rollerblading scenes), impeccable comic delivery, and riotous song and dance numbers, Gosling has been earning some of the best notices of his career. “Everyone is perfectly cast. But it’s Gosling who knocks it out of the park,” wrote Kirsten Acuna on Insider; While Beth Webb for Empire Magazine declared: “Every muscle flex, every hair flick, every guitar strum lands perfectly. There are moments where he will rob you of breath.”
Two of his songs are also getting notice. Here’s the moving ballad “I’m Just Ken.”
And let’s not sleep on his country-tinged contribution to the album, “Push,” out now:
Dua Lipa’s disco confection “Dance the Night” is already a megahit of the summer:
And in case you need more reasons to see it in the theatre this weekend, here are a few more stills from the album trailer:
Barbie the Album is available at barbiethealbum.com.
Images: YouTube / Warner Bros. Pictures / Atlantic Records
