Sam Smith is bringing their Kenergy to the Barbie soundtrack! On Monday, the musician revealed that they’ll be releasing “Man I Am” as part of Barbie the Album, making them the final surprise artist on the LP’s tracklist. (Billie Eilish was the first.)
“I cannot begin to express how incredibly excited I am to be a part of the soundtrack to this already iconic film,” they wrote. “I was invited by the incredible @iammarkronson and Greta Gerwig to write a song from the perspective of Ken for one of the scenes and we honestly had so much fun with this.”
“I cannot wait for you to hear what we’ve created together,” Smith continued. “Barbie Land here we come!!!!”
The announcement that Smith appears on the soundtrack arrives just a day after Barbie premiered in Los Angeles with the likes of Karol G, Billie Eilish, Haim, and Nicki Minaj — who are all on Barbie the Album — in attendance.
Also on Monday, Eilish released a snippet of her wistful, piano-backed track titled “What Was I Made For?” “We made this song for Barbie and it means the absolute worrrrllld to me,” Eilish wrote on Instagram last week. “This movie is gonna change ur lives and hopefully this song will too. Get ready to sob.”
Director-writer Greta Gerwig told Rolling Stone that the movie addresses the moment when Barbie learns that some women in the real world hate her and find her oppressive, mirroring IRL feelings some have for Barbie.
“It felt like we had to give the counterargument to Barbie, and not give it short shrift, but give it real intellectual and emotional power,” Gerwig said. “And Mattel was incredibly open to it. I said, ‘We have to explore it, because it’s a lie any other way. And we can’t make it a lie.’ I think they heard it.”
Since the Barbie the Album announcement, Dua Lipa released “Dance the Night,” Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice have dropped “Barbie World,” PinkPantheress released “Angel,” Karol G dropped “Watati,” and Charli XCX released “Speed Drive.”
“I don’t read a lot of scripts, but it was just everything I want in a movie,” Ronson told Rolling Stone of working on the soundtrack. “I was like, ‘If I don’t get this gig, this is gonna be my favorite movie of the year.’ ”