With news of this, is Ke$ha a dumb party girl blonde, or an intelligent musician parodying the party girl genre? With the release of "Praying" and Rainbow, she is firmly in the latter.
Some people note her subverting general acknowledged 'Facts' of Rap and Pop music as evidence she is smarter then she says. (Boots + Boys, Blah Blah Blah, Got A Pear, Dinosaur, Sleazy, Crazy Beautiful Life, Kiss N Tell to name a few.)
Is "Praying" only about forgiveness and self-acceptance like she said? Is there a hint of anger and even threatening in the song? Or even that the "forgiveness" angle is dripped with Condescending Compassion?
Award Snub: At the 2018 Grammy Awards, she lost Best Pop Solo Performance for "Praying" to Ed Sheeran's "Shape Of You." Given the themes of "Praying" resonating even more in the post-#MeToo climate, this made for a huge backlash.
"Invisible", an extremely obscure older song of hers (as it was made for the soundtrack of The Barbie Diaries, which hasn't seen a DVD release since 2006).
Goodbye is another old, also very obscure song of hers that showcases perfectly the vocal cords nature gave her.
To a greater or lesser degree, every time she actually sings is pretty awesome. Such as "I Hate You (Don't Leave Me)".
Her lesser-known songs that don't use auto-tune may count. Examples: "Animal", "The Harold Song" and "Dancing with Tears in My Eyes"
"C'Mon" is just a catchy, happy, wonderful dance number.
"Praying" shows that Kesha does have a really damn good voice.
Songs like "Tik Tok" and "Your Love Is My Drug" were always bops. A lot of us were just too proud to admit it at the time.
Broken Base: There are still many people who can't decide whether she is the real thing or if she is a parody of party-girls. Among those who both believe the latter and dislike her music, there are many people who can't decide as to whether this makes her more respectable or less respectable.
Fan Nickname: While he's not a fan of hers (at least, her Pre-Rainbow work) Todd in the Shadows has been known to refer to her as "Ke-Dollar Sign-Ha", a nickname also used in her video for "Blow" and by Principal Figgins from Glee.
With any and all bands and artists ever and the people who don't like her Refuge in Audacity. This includes Lady Gaga's Monsters to Christina Aguilera's fans and in between. Britney Spears fans do generally tend to enjoy her message and image though.
With the sudden rise of TikTok app and overshadowing the song by large margin, fandom of both the song and the app began clashing that's still prevalent to this very day.
While she has achieved success in her native United States, she is particularity popular in Northern England where her music and act seem to be taken more seriously. In many areas like Greater Manchester, she has influenced female fashion, standards of behaviour, and become somewhat of a cultural icon.
Ke$ha made a song called "Starving". In 2014, she went to treatment for anorexia.
This also shines a slightly uncomfortable light on the very first lyric on Animal: "Maybe I need some rehab....."
Her former twitter name was Ke$hasuxx, which wasn't good after her self-loathing, she changed it to KeshaRose after her treatment.
Songs like "Your Love is My Drug" take on a very sinister meaning after suing longtime collaborator Dr Luke for instances of sexual assault (including date rape).
“what did you slip in my drink” from “Disgusting.”
Key of Awesome did a parody of "Tik Tok" in 2010 with the punchline being that the Ke$ha "drunken party girl" image was contractually obligated. If you believe Kesha's lawsuit allegations, it pretty much was.
In hindsight, the upbeat and relentlessly earwormy "Dinosaur" (about a young woman being hit on by a creepy old man who won't take no for an answer) is enough to make you feel guilty about whistling along with the chorus, due to the recent wake of producer Dr. Luke's sexual harassment and abuse of artist Kesha.
Pretty much the internet's entire treatment of her became this after what we learned what she endured under Dr. Luke and Sony. Makes every single music reviewer who bitched or mocked her a lot more cringe-inducing considering the utter hell she suffered, and many of those music critics have since apologized for the harsher things they said about her, even if they still aren't fans of her earlier work.
LGBT Fanbase: Has a strong following. Some songs have subtly acknowledged the LGBTQ+ community and she herself is openly bisexual.
The pig-headed men in "Praying". Especially with the visual clues that they're supposed to be rapists...
The visualiser video for "Eat The Acid" has the camera slowly zooming in on a make-up free Kesha as her face gets covered in many human hands that smother her as she tries to speak. The hands even enter her mouth at some points, stifling her words, gagging her and choking her and pulling her hair, before the video ends with her entire head being completely smothered by the many human hands.
Signature Song: Good luck finding someone below the age of 30 or so that doesn't know all the lyrics to "Tik Tok," whether they're a fan of hers or not.
Spiritual Successor: Easily fits into Britney Spears shoes, fun pop star, who likes to release cutting edge pop music with a more Be Yourself leaning, who wants to create epic stage shows and has some instrumental training/talent.
A lot, but the song "Mr. Watson" probably takes the cake. The entire premise of the song is an Ordinary High-School Student who wants to sleep with her history teacher, and not just "I think he's cute" kind of stuff. It comes about as close to saying "I want to have sex with you" as you can without actually saying that.
"Mr. Watson I want to get with you" and "Teacher whatcha gunna do/Cause I am coming on to you." "I want you on your bed, or on your desk." I'm pretty sure that counts as flat out saying "I want to have sex with you."
She actually does say, in the background "Mr. Watson, I wanna sleep with you".
Unintentional Period Piece: Iggy Pop's verse on "Dirty Love" from 2012's Warrior mentions Rick Santorum, who was a major conservative political figure from the mid-2000's to the early 2010's, but has largely dropped off the radar since.
What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: For some reason, "Tik Tok" was used in trailers for several children's movies when it first came out. Lyrics sample: "I'm talking 'bout everybody gettin' crunk, crunk / Boys tryna touch my junk, junk / Gonna smack 'em if ya getting too drunk, drunk..."
, is Ke$ha a dumb party girl blonde, or an intelligent musician parodying the party girl genre? With the release of "Praying" and Rainbow, she is firmly in the latter.
