Lainey Wilson Reveals How She Ended Up Filling In for Ryan Gosling on ‘I’m Just Ken’ at Clive Davis Pre-Grammy Gala
On Sunday (Feb. 4), Lainey Wilson scored her first Grammy, taking home best country album for Bell Bottom Country. It previously won album of the year at the Academy of Country Music Awards and at the Country Music Association Awards — becoming just the ninth album to win all three awards.
Wilson has had a busy Grammys week, performing alongside best new artist nominee Jelly Roll at Spotify’s Best New Artist party on Thursday night, and on Saturday, she delivered a surprise performance at Clive Davis’ annual Pre-Grammy Gala.
Deep inside the Beverly Hilton, Wilson happily filled in for Ryan Gosling to perform the hit Barbie song “I’m Just Ken,” accompanied by the song’s co-writer Mark Ronson. As she said backstage at the Grammys while celebrating her win: “First of all, I feel more like Ken than Barbie, for sure.”
“I believe it was Tuesday evening,” she recalled of how the performance came together in the Grammy press room at Crypto.com Arena. “We were on a flight over here, and Clive Davis called my booking agent, Austin Mullins. He was like, ‘Hey, I’ve got this opportunity. Would Lainey like to sing “I’m Just Ken” with Mark Ronson?’ And first of all, I mean, when Clive Davis asks you to go to a party, of course you’re gonna say yes. And then when you find out that it’s with Mark Ronson, you’re definitely gonna say yes. So I had just a few days to learn it, but it was so much fun. And it was stepping outside of my comfort zone, which I like to do – it was awesome.”
Ronson also shared some love for Wilson, writing on Instagram: “We were so flattered when @clivejdavis asked Ryan, Andrew and I to perform ‘i’m just ken’ last night. As Ryan couldn’t be there, he told us to make sure we got the baddest country voice in the land and boy did we get lucky with @laineywilson.”
Watch video from the performance below:
Lyndsey Havens
Billboard
