Oscars 2024 Best Original Song: Did Ryan Gosling’s “I’m Just Ken” Deserve to Lose?
The winners and nominees of the shining golden statuette are making headlines across the media. While some of the most deserving movies won big like Oppenheimer snagging 7 Oscars out of 13 nominations, a few flicks did not do as well as everyone hoped. Oppenheimer’s release date twin, Barbie, got only 8 nominations, out of which it only took home 1 award. Despite being released together and creating one of the biggest cinematic phenomena of recent times, the two movies could not garner the same recognition at the coveted Academy Awards 2024.
Oscars 2024 Winner for Best Original Song
The battle was tough, but we made it to the end. Barbie had two nominations in the Best Original Song category at the Oscars with Billie Eilish and Finneas’ What Was I Made For? and Mark Ronson’s I’m Just Ken, performed by Ryan Gosling. Other nominees included Jon Batiste and Dan Wilson’s It Never Went Away from American Symphony, Diane Warren’s The Fire Inside from Flamin’ Hot, and Scott George’s Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People) from Killers of the Flower Moon.
The only Oscar award Barbie snagged was Best Original Song. What Was I Made For? beat the other nominees, making the sibling duo win the second Oscar of their careers. Eilish is now the youngest celebrity to win two Academy Awards at the young age of 22. The song was not only a hit on the music charts and Oscars, but it also won big at the Grammys and the Golden Globes. The lyrics and music of the Oscar-winning song played at the end of the Barbie movie brought together all aspects of the story beautifully.
Barbie is a movie about women finding their place in the world and all the challenges that come with it. Despite keeping a plastic doll at the center of the poignant theme, the movie successfully started a conversation in the industry about how women are seen and treated for their work. Aptly titled, the song encapsulates a woman’s self-exploratory journey in figuring out what exactly was she made for.
What Was I Made For? Deserved to Win
On the other hand, I’m Just Ken is a humorous song outlining the supposed feelings of a man who feels like a supporting character in a female-driven world. He sings about unrequited love and the feeling of being unappreciated by the one he loves. Essentially, tables are turned in the movie Barbie, and the man ends up feeling unseen by his paramour. While many felt I’m Just Ken was a tough contender for the Best Song category, What Was I Made For? undoubtedly deserved to win.
As opposed to being a gag song written for fun, Eilish’s ballad evoked feelings in every listener with somber tunes and words that tugged at everyone’s heartstrings. The song went on to chart at 14th position on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. Throughout the movie, the song and its intrinsic tune are played at crucial turning points that map the titular Barbie’s journey. Where I’m Just Ken is a song people sang along, What Was I Made For? made them bawl their eyes out.
Ryan Gosling performed I’m Just Ken at the Oscars ceremony last night, which entertained the audience through and through. However, while deciding on the winner of the Best Original Song at the Oscars, the Academy looks for something deeper than that to keep in line with the past winners including songs like Shallow from A Star is Born, We Belong Together from Toy Story 3, and Remember Me from Coco. In the end, a song in a movie needs to be felt more than heard. As the legendary German composer Robert Schumann said, “To send light into the darkness of men’s hearts – such is the duty of the artist.” That’s exactly what Eilish and Finneas achieved with What Was I Made For?
The devastatingly beautiful song by Eilish could have been a pink fluff song to match the Barbie theme, but what the songwriter duo achieved with What Was I Made For? is something completely extraordinary. From the music to the lyrics, they have crafted a melody so mesmerizing that you can’t help but shed a tear or two. It has become the soundtrack to an existential crisis and the feeling of infinitely falling into an abyss.
