Slash revealed in an interview with Classic Rock that he initially wasn't going to perform at the 2024 Oscars ceremony. His participation in the performance of "I'm Just Ken ," alongside Ryan Gosling and Wolfgang Van Halen , was one of the most talked-about topics on X , formerly Twitter.
The guitarist explained that the invitation came after the release of Barbie (via Classic Rock ): “ Mark Ronson , who is a great friend of mine, asked me to record the song, which I did. Then the movie was released and it was amazing, the song resonated very well, so he asked me if I would perform it at the Oscars – which I originally wasn't going to do because I was in Asia.”
During the week of the awards ceremony, the musician was performing The River Is Rising Tour in Asia. The tour included a stop in Brazil in late January and early February 2024. Despite this, the artist said that Hollywood had done its part and made him fly there to perform the music.
Slash concludes by saying that the time for rehearsal was very short: “I only showed up on the day of the event. I flew from Korea to Los Angeles, arrived at the Kodak Theatre, was rushed into this crazy, chaotic situation that is the Oscars, we did a quick visit with Ryan Gosling singing. I sat in the audience with all the other actors for the ceremony, then I got up and played the song, got in the car, went back to the airport and flew to the Philippines.”
Slash and Ryan Gosling?
Despite the success of "I'm Just Ken," the guitarist says that his fans and the actor's fans shouldn't expect a new collaboration anytime soon: "No, I don't think I'm going to record an album with him."
The Hollywood actor played Sebastian Wilder in the film La La Land . Ryan performed the song "City Of Stars," the big winner in the Best Original Song category in 2017, a track by Justin Hurwitz and written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul .
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