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It was just crazy who kept being like, Yeah, Im down, says Ronson.
We were fucking spoiled for the amount of people that actually even came to the table.
(Ronson, who is a SAG member, spoke to us beforethe SAG-AFTRA strikebegan.)
You said you took on the project because you were really excited about working with Greta and Noah Baumbach.
However it got to me, Im extremely grateful.
Coming up with the instrumental that became Dance the Night, I felt pretty free to create.
Greta had referenced the Bee Gees a bit.
When you listen to Staying Alive, theres this big-ass kick drum just going, [imitates drumbeat].
I think I named it Tastes Like Barbie, because I just thought it sounded cool.
My driver says its a hit.
This is just the most basic instrumental ever.
So they started to do all these dance rehearsals to it.
In the original brief, it only said two songs.
And that lyric just came to me, Im just Ken.
Anywhere else Id be a 10.
Dance the Night was written for Dua Lipa, whom youve worked with before.
It feels like a continuation of the dance direction she took onFuture Nostalgia.
Its all mixed up in the soup.
So Im sure theres somewhere where Dua and I have similar influences.
Same as Tame Impalas music, like any dance music thats just a little imposing.
I think thats why theres the disco ball that smashes in the video, right?
This feels like her triumphant stomp on that era of her music into whatever she does next.
I was surprised that the Ken song was my favorite on the soundtrack.Are you into musicals at all?
Yeah, a little.
And I hadnt heard something from you that was that loose and self-aware and almost silly.
Its so stupid, its the worst syntax.
But thats one of the things that made me laugh the most.
In the studio with Ryan, it was really his performance that lifted the whole thing.
All these lines that felt a little bit throwaway-ish, delivered by him, suddenly took on much more.
Then it kept getting a little more ridiculous in the best way.
This two-and-a-half-minute song that we wrote is now in an eight-minute giant sequence.
Is that a Holiday sample?No, definitely not.
We originally wrote that as an instrumental piece.
We had a hard time cracking the code at first.
Halfway through the second day, I was just like,This isnt going to work.
Im going back to Greta empty-handed.
Lizzo said, You know what?
Throw this picture up again.
And shes like, Play the track.
And she just starts narrating whats going on on the screen.
Like, Hey, Barbie.
The song ends at about two and a half minutes, but the credit keeps going with the instrumental.
And Gretas like, Tell her to do whatever she wants.
She can keep singing, she can tell Helen Mirren, Stop talking, Im singing here whatever.
We could have some of these songs almost feel like a reverse-engineered musical.
Another song touching on that metaness is Barbie World, with the Aqua flip and Nicki Minaj.
I had read that originally you couldnt get in touch with Nicki for it.
I dont have any personal relationship, Im just a fucking fan.
Ive been playing her records for 15 years.
Riot worked on the beat, and he had already flipped it and it was fucking phenomenal.
The next thing we know, its her and Nicki going back and forth on it.
And Im just like,This is a fever dream.
The only thing with Gayle specifically was that we had Butterfly in the film at one point.
It was like, Wouldnt it be cool to give it our own version?
And wouldnt it even be cool to have a young female artist flip it in a different way?
I wouldve been jealous of that song.
And its not something I could ever write anyway.
They didnt even get to watch probably more than 20 minutes of the film.
It was still shooting, still editing.
We got a text a week later, maybe, that said just, I wrote something today.
It was just flooring.
Youve also been working on a solo album, which I read is very 90s-inspired.
The record, yeah, they both started evolving in my head at the same time.
I dont know yet if its covers or its just influenced.
Its a little bit inside the mind of a DJ, because were all a little bit odd.
Each chapter is a different club night.
The book is certainly as personal as you get.
I was actually thinking about your last album,Late Night Feelings, in relation to theBarbiesoundtrack.
I cant give you a really good concise answer on that.
Had they asked you about using music at all?No.
A lot of producers are getting asked about AI.
Its obviously still a novelty and a gimmick, but its extremely powerful.
I dont think theres ever going to be anything that beats it.
Now Im like, whatevers best for the song.
So yeah, I do love, still, the nuance in live performance.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
