"Man I Am" is a song by English singer
Sam Smith for Barbie the Album, the soundtrack of the 2023 film Barbie. It was released on 21 July 2023, as the album's third promotional single.
Background
On 25 May 2023, Rolling Stone announced a partial tracklist of the Barbiesoundtrack, with two additional tracks and surprise artists to be revealed at a later date.[1] On 10 July, Smith was revealed as the second surprise artist of the soundtrack, with their song "Man I Am" being released on 21 July.[2][3]
On 12 July, Smith teased the song on
Twitter with a clip from the film.[4]
Production
Smith was invited by Barbie director
Greta Gerwig and soundtrack producer
Mark Ronson to write a song from
Ken's perspective.[2][5] Ronson described the track as "the missing piece of Ken's puzzle" and "put[ting] the sound of Ken's liberation perfectly into song".[6]