The film ‘Barbie’ has arrived in theaters and so has the film’s soundtrack, which includes the “Kenergized” guitar work of Wolfgang Van Halen.
Wolfgang is joined by Slash on the track “I’m Just Ken” (above) sung by Ryan Gosling, who plays the character of Ken. Slash and Wolfgang were both asked to contribute by the soundtrack’s producer Mark Ronson.
“I sent [Slash] the song and he was like, ‘This is a good song… cool, I’ll play on it,'” Ronson told Variety. “He kills it, he plays the solo at the end and the rhythm parts. It’s wonderful.”
Wolfgang took to social media to share the backstory:
“My buddy Mark Ronson hit me up earlier this year needing my ‘mammoth guitar sound’ and I happily obliged,” Wolfgang wrote. “If anyone is curious about specifics, I have a lot of textural stuff throughout the film with two major spots where I do some soloing. One in particular is pretty cool because it’s the big song that Ryan Gosling sings and Slash plays on it as well!”
He also noted “a specific moment in this song that’s only in the movie where l’ve got this fun solo with some tapping and stuff.”