ReportWire

Tag: Kesha Dr. Luke

  • Bebe Rexha Serves 00s Paparazzi Vibes and Shady Record Execs for “I’m The Drama” Video

    Bebe Rexha Serves 00s Paparazzi Vibes and Shady Record Execs for “I’m The Drama” Video

    [ad_1]

    At the beginning of July this year, Bebe Rexha tweeted, “I could bring down a BIG chunk of this industry. I AM frustrated. I Have been UNDERMINED. I’ve been so quiet for the longest time. I haven’t seen the signs even though people constantly are bringing them up and they have been SO OBVIOUS. And when I have spoken up I’ve been silence[d] and PUNISHED by this industry. Things must change or I’m telling ALL of my truths. The good the bad and the ugly.” The release of “I’m The Drama” feels in line with that pronouncement, as Rexha makes a heavy-handed allusion to the ways in which she’s been mistreated throughout her tenure in the music business by singing, “There’s a silence only I/I was born to break.”

    Alas, Rexha has yet to go into full detail about what, exactly, has happened to her. When asked by a fan on Twitter (again, it’s not “X”), “What stops you from speaking? Do it! We are with you,” Rexha ominously replied, “THEY PUNISH YOU.” On the heels of releasing two other singles, “Chase It” and “My Oh My” (with Kylie Minogue and Tove Lo) this year, it seems as though Rexha is primed to release a fourth album, therefore doesn’t totally want to rock the boat when it comes to blowing the lid off the abuse she’s suffered. Particularly since Better Mistakes and Bebe didn’t perform as well on the charts as they should have (though her 2018 debut, Expectations, was certified platinum and managed to climb to number thirteen on the Billboard 200 album chart upon its release).

    But that doesn’t mean that more “subtle” digs can’t be made at the industry, with the Jak Payne-directed video for “I’m The Drama” channeling Britney Spears in the 00s (think: the video for 2007’s “Piece of Me”). Particularly as it opens on Rexha surrounded by a sea of paparazzi, herself serving as the eye of the storm while wearing oversized black sunglasses (a very Brat emblem these days), a fur-trim coat and hair that’s dyed with black stripes to contrast against the overall blonde tresses.

    In another intercut scene, Rexha appears to be at a venue that looks like a wedding reception (or any generic after-party, really) as she stands in the center of it all wearing a black floor-length gown (which is also her steez in the “My Oh My” video). She then dives into the chorus with an intonation that sounds decidedly mantra-y as she chants, “I’m the drama, I’m the face/I make heads turn in this place/And they lining up, and they lining up/And they lining up for a taste/I’m the drum set, I’m the bass/A goddamn filthy disgrace/And they lining up, and they lining up/And they lining up for a taste.” While this might be what constitutes that majority of the song’s lyrics, the infectious backbeat produced by Jimmy James and Punctual is what sustains it as an undeniable earworm rather than coming across as overly repetitive.

    When she deviates from the chorus to announce, “When I walk in, feel your eyes/Oh, and they call my name,” the scene then switches to her sitting at the head of a table in what looks like a quintessential record label office (further emphasized by the framed records hung up on the wall) filled with executives in suits who don’t have an artistic bone in their body. Thus, it comes across as particularly pointed that she repeats the line, “There’s a silence only I/I was born to break” in this room, as though to none too abstrusely indicate who/what she’s talking about: the music industry “powers that be.” For, like Britney Spears, it seems there is so much more going on behind the scenes with Rexha’s oppression than fans and casual enthusiasts alike could ever fathom, with Rexha herself fueling the flames of that “conspiracy theory” fire by saying, as mentioned, “Things must change or I’m telling ALL of my truths. The good the bad and the ugly.” It sounds a lot like Kesha warning Dr. Luke in 2017’s “Praying,” “And we both know all the truth I could tell.” (Uncoincidentally, Rexha promoted her fangirl love for Kesha by posting a story on her Instagram where she’s singing the lyrics to her first independently-released single, “Joy Ride,” and captioning it, “KESHA YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO SLAY SO HARD WITH THIS ONE.”)

    Rexha might just be reaching her breaking point in that truth-telling regard, as “I’m The Drama” pronounces both lyrically and visually. Unlike, say, Taylor Swift, who “self-effacingly” admits, “It’s me, hi/I’m the problem, it’s me” on 2022’s “Anti-Hero,” Rexha isn’t saying she’s the problem when she declares, “I’m the drama, I’m the drama/They lining up for a taste,” so much as riffing on what Britney said when she goaded, “You want a piece of me?/I’m Mrs. ‘Extra! Extra! This just in’/You want a piece of me?/I’m Mrs. ‘She’s too big, now she’s too thin’/You want a piece of me?/Piece of me.” Of course, Britney’s paparazzi-plagued 00s aura isn’t the only element of the aughts Rexha is serving throughout the “I’m The Drama” video—there’s also some major Lindsay Lohan in “Rumors” vibes (including the occasionally-reminiscent-of-the-“Rumors”-video color palette and the assaulting paparazzi visuals Rexha brings back from the 00s).

    To further explain the message behind her song, Rexha stated, “I just wanted to create something people could relate to. The drama in it captures those moments where you feel like all the eyes are on you, whether good or bad. It’s embracing that and making something so empowering about it.” Just as Britney tried to do time and time again before they turned her into America’s fucked-up voodoo doll. Hopefully, the same won’t happen to Rexha, though, the way this year has been going for her (see: the hate crime in Munich incident), it would be understandable if she had a full-on Britney-with-the-shaved-head-and-umbrella moment.

    In the meantime though, Rexha’s fans would probably like to believe she’ll do as she does at the end of “I’m The Drama” and simply spray a bottle of champagne among the crowd to celebrate her many instances of overcoming adversity in a business that still seeks to chew women up and spit them out like more grist for the mill.

    [ad_2]

    Genna Rivieccio

    Source link

  • The Only Thing to Celebrate This 4th of July? Kesha’s “Joyride”

    The Only Thing to Celebrate This 4th of July? Kesha’s “Joyride”

    [ad_1]

    Reminding the corporate overlords that Pride Month is never really over (no Katy Perry reference intended), Kesha has brought us a balls-to-the-wall queer anthem for what marks her Independence Day far more than it does America’s at this moment in time. In fact, this musical release is just about the only thing to celebrate in the U.S. right now, with Kesha never disappointing in terms of the musical offerings she delivers (particularly in times of darkness—which seem to be all the time now). Mainly because, although each new song/album might take fans further and further away from the Dr. Luke-orchestrated sound they first came to love on her 2010 debut, Animal, she always maintains a core element of her original musical identity. Fourteen years on, Kesha has cultivated a sound all her own—something between psychedelia and electro dance-pop. This being established on her 2023 album, Gag Order.

    The title of that particular record was a nod to her ongoing legal entanglements with Dr. Luke, which were “resolved” (as much as such a thing could be)/settled in June of 2023. One year on, Kesha is finally releasing music that is independent of her unwanted Svengali. Thus, it was only right that she should wait until July 4th to poetically release her inaugural single from Kesha Records. That’s right, Kesha’s not making the mistake of releasing music through any other channels but her own again. Enter “Joyride,” a moody, almost Tove Lo-sounding (musically and lyrically) song that establishes the jubilance Kesha feels over her liberation.

    So while the U.S. as a whole has little to celebrate this “Independence Day,” at least Kesha can revel in her own liberty after decades spent under the thumb of a relentless oppressor. Especially creatively speaking. At last, without having to defer to Dr. Luke or his Kemosabe label any longer, Kesha truly is what Lady Gaga would call a “Free Woman.” Because if Britney could be freed from her conservatorship, then surely Kesha’s ability to release her music as she wanted to wasn’t far behind.

    Having teased the “Joyride” promo photos on June 30th with a photo of her seductively pumping gas into a white Porsche while wearing a skin-tight red number (this combination of colors being peak “America”) in front of a station labeled “Joyride,” Kesha continued the Lana Del Rey-but-gayer gas station/7-Eleven-esque aesthetics over the next few days leading up to her independence anthem. And, in the spirit of anthems, it is unabashed and unapologetic, with Kesha proclaiming, “Don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t even try to gi-give me shit/I’ve earned the right to b-be like this/Oh, you say you love me? (that’s funny)/Well, so do I.” The immediate sense of braggadocio established on the song is indicative of Kesha’s love of hanging out with drag queens (that’s right, she was doing so before Chappell Roan laid primary claim to the “practice”).

    As a matter of fact, Kesha chose to celebrate the single’s release into the world by posting a video of her and two drag queens singing along to it before her mother entered the frame to add to the overall campiness. And yes, Kesha has long been a provider and appreciator of camp (for one can’t provide it without also appreciating it). “Joyride” fits that very description with its zany, frenetic sonic landscape.

    An automatic earworm, Kesha proves, once again, that she’s never needed someone else pulling the strings to create her own hits. Her producer on this particular track, Zhone, also specializes in the hyperpop genre, citing Charli XCX and PC Music in general as major influences. But Kesha was doing a “beta version” of hyperpop already in the 2010s, further perfecting that sound with certain tracks on Gag Order. Thanks to “Joyride,” she’s reached a new height with the sound, which, while not “on par” with Charli XCX’s particular style, is something that Kesha has made all her own—meaning even kookier and more unclassifiable.

    Granted, “Joyride” might be described as Kesha’s version of Charli’s 2016 signature, “Vroom Vroom,” during which she sings, “All my life, I’ve been waitin’ for a good time/So let’s ride (vroom, vroom)/Bitches know they can’t catch me (vroom, vroom)/Cute, sexy and my ride’s sporty (vroom, vroom)/Those slugs know they can’t catch me (vroom, vroom)/Beep beep, so let’s ride.” Kesha even uses the “beep beep” term when she says, “Beep beep, best night of your life/Get in, loser, for the joyride.” That last line obviously being a nod to Regina George’s (Rachel McAdams) illustrious quote from Mean Girls.

    For added pop culture reference cachet (which is always required of camp), Kesha also alludes to Cher’s “Mom, I am a rich man” aphorism in the opening verse, “Are you a man?/‘Cause I’m a bitch/I’m already rich, just looking for that (mm).” Her oozing-with-horniness vibe continues in the part of the chorus that goes: “Rev my engine ’til you make it purr/Keep it kinky, but I come first.” (And yes, Kesha also has a song called “Kinky” from High Road.) Elsewhere, she continues to maintain her cocky aura with the assertion, “Makin’ every motherfucker turn/Fell from heaven, no, it didn’t hurt.”

    At times, Kesha is also channeling her inner Beyoncé, arrogance-wise. To that point, on “Alien Superstar,” Bey sings, “Mastermind in haute couture/Label whores can’t clock, I’m so obscure.” But Kesha might try to nonetheless. After all, she proudly notes, “Keep your eyes on the road/A label whore but I’m bored of wearing clothes.” Or, as she once phrased it more directly on “Blah Blah Blah,” “I wanna be naked.” But that’s the thing about the new Kesha: her lyrics are more “elegant” even if still direct. Another case in point being: “You want kids?/Well, I am mother.” A.k.a. she doesn’t need to push out any children when she’s already raised so many sons (and daughters). All of whom have been waiting for this glorious day when she could at last be deemed “independent.” As for America, well, its so-called independence is becoming increasingly tenuous. A tenuousness that might just snap come this Election Day.

    [ad_2]

    Genna Rivieccio

    Source link

  • As the Diddy Scandal Unfurls, Kesha’s “Tik Tok” Becomes Increasingly Sullied

    As the Diddy Scandal Unfurls, Kesha’s “Tik Tok” Becomes Increasingly Sullied

    [ad_1]

    It’s one of the most iconic opening lines of any hit song: “Wake up in the morning feelin’ like P. Diddy.” When Kesha first came up with it back in 2009, the comparison seemed “harmless” enough. After all, women (especially white women) wanting to be as “badass” as men was a particular motif of the 2000s. That “Tik Tok” would be released just before the decade closed out was telling of how much it ultimately belonged in that time frame. Particularly after the revelations about Diddy (formerly P. Diddy, formerly Puff Daddy) and, among other things, the sex trafficking operation he’s cultivated over the years. 

    The entire dam was initially opened when Diddy’s ex-girlfriend, Cassie, sued him for sexual assault in late 2023. At that time, in fact, Kesha opted to change the lyric while performing it live during the Only Love Tour. Her quick fix?: “Wake up in the morning feelin’ just like me.” After all, how could someone like Kesha not stand in solidarity with a fellow victim of abuse? And yes, “sexual assault” seems like far too general (and gentle) a term for some of the things he did to Cassie, which included forcing her to have sex with other women (specifically, sex workers) in different cities while he filmed it and masturbated.

    Similar claims subsequently came from producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, who has recently filed his own lawsuit against the disgraced rapper for coercing him into having sex with sex workers, in addition to being at risk of “constant unsolicited and unauthorized groping” by Diddy. Among other allegations laid out in the lawsuit are the mention of parties—which were, of course, attended by underage girls—where Diddy would lace alcohol with drugs for his sinister purposes and sexual power plays. So yeah, maybe waking up in the morning and feeling like P. Diddy isn’t the greatest look (or lyric) anymore. Because what kind of person wants to feel like such a piece of shit after what they did the previous night? Then again, what makes a true piece of shit is that they feel no remorse for their actions at all. 

    As the meme momentum gathers about Kesha and her now illustrious “Tik Tok” lyric (this includes the monkey meme positioned as a reaction to that particular line), one wonders if Kesha herself, as someone who suffered through her own abuser (who need not be named at this point), might soon feel inclined to make an official amendment to the song by re-recording it. But something squeaky clean that still rhymes (e.g., “Wake up in the morning feelin’ like so pretty”) inarguably alters the entire tone of the track, which is one of the peak examples of what is now more than somewhat vexingly referred to as sleazecore. Thus, on the one hand, leaving the P. Diddy mention is a careful preservation of 00s heritage. A way to maintain the reminder that there are many things about that decade that aren’t worth getting wistful over, or nostalgic about. That, while it was easy to romanticize abusive men (and abusive male behavior in general) then, it is no longer so easy to do so now. 

    For Kesha to have envisioned “being a G” after a night of partying to equate with being like P. Diddy is also a reflection of women’s attitudes and more pronounced internalized misogyny during that period. Another prime example being Marina and the Diamonds’ (before she became simply MARINA) “Girls,” first released in 2009 (just as “Tik Tok” was) and featured on her 2010 debut, The Family Jewels. It only took about a year for MARINA to look back on it and realize how misogynistic it might come across. A rallying cry against “basic” (read: hot and looks-obsessed) women that was liable to brand her as a “pick me” in future years (the same way Pink would be for 2006’s “Stupid Girls”). 

    Indeed, even after she first mentioned it being problematic in 2011, she brought it up during a 2021 interview when asked about the songs she would likely never perform again live, calling “Girls” just “very 2009” in its misogynistic sentiments, including, “Look like a girl, but I think like a guy/Not ladylike to behave like a slime/Easy to be sleazy when you’ve got a filthy mind” and “Girls, they never befriend me/‘Cause I fall asleep when they speak/Of all the calories they eat/All they say is, ‘Na-na-na-na-na.’”

    One can’t imagine that Kesha would ever do that (i.e., cease performing it) with “Tik Tok,” knowing full well that it’s one of her fans’ favorites (along with other Dr. Luke-era fare such as “Blow,” “Your Love Is My Drug,” “We R Who We R” and “Die Young”). Which again brings up the question of whether or not, as the R. Kelly-esque scandals in Diddy’s closet continue to come out, Kesha will buckle under the pressure and alter the lyrics in a more official capacity as a means to “not trigger anyone” going forward. 

    Obviously, “Tik Tok” isn’t the first song in recent years to be given a retroactive “ick factor” after a public figure was effectively canceled. And at least 1) Kesha herself isn’t the reason for its cancellation and 2) the single had more longevity before certain “unmaskings” occurred—far more years of guilt-free airplay/streaming than, say, “Pink” by Lizzo, which features prominently in the opening scene of Barbie. But it’s not like that song slapped nearly as hard as “Tik Tok,” so it didn’t feel like any big loss. With this, however, it just goes to show that referencing “lotharios” (read: predatory assholes) in music is not without its unique set of risks. 

    [ad_2]

    Genna Rivieccio

    Source link

  • Kesha and producer Dr. Luke settle legal battle over rape, defamation claims – National | Globalnews.ca

    Kesha and producer Dr. Luke settle legal battle over rape, defamation claims – National | Globalnews.ca

    [ad_1]

    Pop star Kesha and producer Dr. Luke have settled nearly a decade of lawsuits and countersuits over her accusation that he drugged and raped her and his claim that she made it up and defamed him. The singer and producer separately announced the settlement on Thursday, with Kesha saying that “only God knows what happened that night.”

    Dr. Luke, meanwhile, said he was “absolutely certain that nothing happened. I never drugged or assaulted her.”

    Terms of the deal were not immediately disclosed, as both parties revealed on Instagram that they had agreed to “a resolution” of the case and to a statement from each of them. Messages seeking comment were sent to their attorneys.

    “I cannot recount everything that happened,” Kesha wrote, adding that she wishes “nothing but peace to all parties involved.”

    Dr. Luke, in turn, said he wished her well and wanted “to put this difficult matter behind me” after years of fighting to clear his name.

    Story continues below advertisement

    The deal averts a trial that had been scheduled for this summer over allegations that became a #MeToo cause for Kesha’s supporters and came to involve a lineup of music industry luminaries. Lady Gaga, Kelly Clarkson, Katy Perry, Pink, Avril Lavigne, Adam Levine and Taio Cruz are among those who gave testimony or sworn statements related to the case.

    At the same time, the case raised important legal questions about fame and defamation. The stakes were seen as high enough that media outlets weighed in about pretrial rulings that they worried could help powerful people suppress unflattering reporting.

    The court clash between the multiplatinum-selling singer and the Grammy-nominated producer has been playing out since 2014 and looming over both of their careers.

    The Associated Press does not generally name people who report being sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as Kesha has done.

    The singer made her name — originally styled Ke$ha — with a series of swaggering, just-try-to-stop-me party anthems, beginning with 2009’s TiK ToK. Those early hits were produced by Dr. Luke, who founded the record label that signed a Nashville unknown named Kesha Rose Sebert at age 18.

    Born Lukasz Gottwald, he has produced chart-toppers for Perry, Lavigne, Flo Rida and more. Besides notching multiple Grammy nominations, Dr. Luke has repeatedly won pop songwriter of the year awards from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.

    Story continues below advertisement


    Click to play video: 'Katy Perry On Dr. Luke Vs. Kesha'


    Katy Perry On Dr. Luke Vs. Kesha


    Kesha sued him in 2014, alleging he drugged and raped her nine years earlier and psychologically tormented her throughout their working relationship. She said he harangued her about her weight, denigrated her voice and lorded his power over her career.

    “The abuse I suffered from Luke was a decade long, every day, every moment of every day,” she said during sworn questioning in 2017. According to Kesha, the ordeal sparked a flare-up of an eating disorder that led to her spending two months in a rehabilitation clinic in 2014.

    Dr. Luke, who has not been charged with any crimes, responded by suing Kesha. He has asserted that she made “completely untrue and deeply hurtful” claims to tarnish him and get out of her record contract.

    “Any reasonable person will not believe her,” he said when questioned under oath in 2017.

    Story continues below advertisement

    His attorneys have noted that Kesha herself said he “never made sexual advances at me” during sworn questioning in a separate lawsuit in 2011. She has since said she was “not entirely transparent” in those 2011 statements because she was terrified of Dr. Luke and felt compelled to protect him.

    Trending Now

    Kesha went five years without releasing an album during the standoff, saying she could not work with a “monster” but couldn’t get away from him because she was under contract with his label. His lawyers and the label’s attorneys maintained that she did not have to work with him personally.

    She eventually returned with 2017’s Rainbow and two subsequent albums, all with other producers. Her most recent album, Gag Order, came out in May.

    Dr. Luke’s career also took a hit after she went public with her allegations. He has said various artists, particularly female ones, eschewed “working with someone who’s called a rapist.”

    But under the name Tyson Trax, he made it back to the top of the charts in 2020 with Doja Cat’s Say So, garnering his first Grammy nomination since 2014. By this year, he was ASCAP’s pop songwriter of the year once again.

    Along the way, Kesha’s sexual abuse-related claims were dismissed because of time limits and other legal issues, without any findings about the merits of the allegations themselves. But she countersued Dr. Luke under a New York law against bringing frivolous suits to try to intimidate critics into silence; New York’s highest court recently ruled that she could pursue those claims.

    Story continues below advertisement

    The top court, which New York calls the Court of Appeals, also declared that Dr. Luke is a “public figure” in the eyes of the law. That’s significant because the legal requirements for proving defamation are tougher for public figures than for everyday people.

    Lower courts had said the producer wasn’t a public figure. Over a dozen media outlets and organizations got involved in the case to argue that those earlier rulings could end up helping famous people squash free speech and reporting on sexual abuse allegations.

    Earlier in the case, Kesha was ordered to pay Dr. Luke more than US$373,000 in interest on royalties she paid him years late.


    Click to play video: 'Kesha claims she was offered ‘freedom’ if she took back rape allegations'


    Kesha claims she was offered ‘freedom’ if she took back rape allegations




    &copy 2023 The Canadian Press

    [ad_2]

    Source link

  • The Wonderful Bizarreness of Kesha’s “Only Love Can Save Us Now” Video

    The Wonderful Bizarreness of Kesha’s “Only Love Can Save Us Now” Video

    [ad_1]

    As Kesha continues on her Gag Order journey, the latest visual she’s provided fans with is one for the non-formulaic dance ditty known as “Only Love Can Save Us Now.” Described by Kesha herself as a single inspired by how “the ludicrosity of life can make you crazy. If anything, IF ANYTHING, can save us, I believe only love can. This song is a desperate and angry prayer. A call to the light when all feels lost.” Indeed, it is this type of rallying battle cry that people need more than ever at this point in time to keep themselves going (because we all know that humans are built to insist on “enduring” even when they know damn well they shouldn’t bother). Commencing the video with a portion of the “Only Love Reprise,” featuring the vocal stylings of Kesha’s niece, Luna, the latter’s little girl voice tells us, “This is reality, can’t you feel it?” Though the following portion of the reprise isn’t included in the video, to give more context for Kesha’s mental state, the rest of Luna’s monologue goes: “I am one with what I am. Everything in color, everything. You have to see the air, you can’t believe it.” The faint harmonization of the chorus, “Only love can save us now” briefly interjects before Luna concludes, “I wish I could talk in Technicolor.”

    If anyone has been able to “talk that way” through music, however, it’s been Kesha. With an entire career characterized by a glitter and rainbow aesthetic (shit, she even had album called Rainbow—sorry Mariah), her message has always been one of, let’s say, “peace, love and positivity.” Even through her darkest hours. Which is part of why she was so nervous about releasing Gag Order, her “least fun” album to date because it broaches topics that veer away from the party/“brush my teeth with a bottle of Jack” lifestyle. Instead choosing to explore more existential issues—this being part of why Ram Dass is a fixture on the record (therefore gets his own interlude). But because she is, in fact, Kesha, even her existential ruminations can’t help but have a danceable beat. Case in point, “Only Love Can Save Us Now.”

    Directed by Vincent Haycock (who has previously directed videos like Lana Del Rey’s “West Coast,” Florence + the Machine’s “What Kind of Man” and Harry Styles’ “Lights Up”), the video not only starts by playing the “Only Love Reprise,” but also with someone dressed in a “Kesha flesh suit” walking down the street before cutting to a close-up on Kesha’s makeup-free face as she declares, “Tell a bitch I can’t jump this, Evel Knievel/I’m ’bout to run you down the church and the steeple.” Haycock then shows us an image of a body wrapped and bound in a red tarp type of covering while sitting on a chair in the middle of a stark room—this “taut wrapping” speaking to the “gag order” theme of the record that pertains to Kesha being silenced and stifled. Something the singer has had to deal with ever since her Kesha v. Dr. Luke debacle began back in 2014 (though she did recently gain a win in the defamation case Dr. Luke brought against her in the wake of her civil suit). With this video, Kesha seems to be illustrating the nightmarish qualities of what she’s had to go through by tinging it with the surreal and absurd. For what have the past nine years of her life been if not those two things? Besides that, Kesha has never been much of a “literal” person when it comes to creating the accompanying music videos for her singles (see also: “Blow,” during which humans with unicorn heads [that eventually spew out rainbow beams as “blood”] and James Van Der Beek inexplicably appear).

    Kesha is joined in the “art gallery” room by a slew of other random people who also seem to want to find salvation of their own…or are they just there to treat Kesha like a one-woman art exhibit? Gawking and circling her as though she’s some kind of spectacle. Which, yes, is precisely what she’s had to be for most of her career, especially the parts of it that had Dr. Luke pulling the strings. Even when Kesha still brought her own unique stamp to the projects she wasn’t quite as passionate about (e.g., the Warrior album).

    Appearing in another scene against a red backdrop next to a “being” dressed in some tribalistic attire, Haycock cuts again to Kesha in the white room as she lifts her hands up heavenward, as though genuinely waiting to be saved by “Love” or “God” or whatever name one wants to give to some sort of higher power. Meanwhile, the man in the “Kesha flesh suit” keeps running down the street, a slew of impressionistic street and car lights behind him—going at a pace that indicates some spectral, likely demonic presence is chasing him. And “God” or whoever knows that Kesha has been dealing with her fair share of getting chased down by demons (maybe that’s why she chose to face them head-on in a reality series like Conjuring Kesha). Perhaps whoever starts dragging her through the art gallery/“white space” is trying to help exorcise some of those demons (“maybe I’m possessed, bitch” as she herself sings), one of which could very well be the tribally-dressed being we keep seeing set against a devil-red backdrop. But that particular “creature” is soon topped by another surrealistic entity (straight out of something from a Salvador Dalí or Leonora Carrington-esque painting) also dressed in red (with an ensemble that makes its torso look like a triangle) and rounded out by a red headpiece that features three red squares atop a purple head (with an eyeball stuffed in its mouth). And, again, set against a red backdrop.

    As Kesha keeps rocking her body back and forth in the “art gallery” as though a demon is being exorcised, we continue to see scenes of the “Kesha flesh suit” man, doing things like sitting on the sidewalk or, at last, walking instead of running down an L.A. street (L.A. being the site of Kesha’s, and so many others’, trauma). Whether or not that man is meant to be a representation of how Dr. Luke himself wore Kesha like his own “flesh suit” in terms of controlling her and getting inside her head with his verbally abusive rhetoric is at the viewer’s discretion.

    But for those trying to find “logic” in the wonderful bizarreness of the video, it would be missing the point. For nothing about what Kesha has gone through in the last decade (or really, since 2005, when the trauma wrought by Dr. Luke was first set in motion) is “logical.” Nor is most individuals’ trauma (and subsequent effects). “Only Love Can Save Us Now” is an unapologetic visual manifestation of that.

    [ad_2]

    Genna Rivieccio

    Source link

  • Gagging For Gag Order

    Gagging For Gag Order

    [ad_1]

    Although traces of the raw, ethereal Kesha everyone’s talking about on Gag Order had appeared in flickers on 2017’s Rainbow, something about her, let’s just say it, “aura” on the latest record seems to be resonating far more with listeners. Between Rainbow and Gag Order, 2020’s High Road was Kesha’s attempt at toeing the line between her then-fractured persona of party girl/goddess of sleazecore and her newfound sense of spirituality post-trauma. That COVID-19 waylaid any chance of touring High Road could have perhaps been interpreted as a sign to Kesha that she ought to “dig deeper.” Not to say that High Road doesn’t have many gems, including “My Own Dance,” “Raising Hell” and “Resentment,” but perhaps something about it didn’t ring true for Kesha as she sought to marry her “old self” with her “new” one. Billed as a “full return to Kesha’s pop roots, after leaning into a more country–soul sound,” High Road got its fair share of praise, but, in the end, it still seemed like the proverbial “ugly, redheaded stepchild” of Kesha’s discography.

    Perhaps being on some kind of autopilot in order to function contributed to a roteness in creating High Road that had to be obliterated for the making of Gag Order. And it is on the opening track, “Something to Believe In” that Kesha admits, “You never know that you need something to believe in when you know it all.” Prior to her epiphany in the summer of 2020 (the one that led to the inspiration behind “Eat the Acid”), Kesha likely felt she, in some sense, “knew it all” as she ignored the need for something “higher” to believe in—however cheesy that might sound. But when you exist in an industry that’s ultimately as nihilistic as the entertainment one, a girl could do well to find some spiritual guidance (after all, that’s what Madonna did).

    And Kesha has apparently found hers through not just Ram Dass (whose words of wisdom are wielded on the “Ram Dass Interlude”), but through a fondness of creating her own “Jesus Prayers,” if you will, on this record. For the repetition of phrases is key on many of the tracks (in a manner that goes beyond mere chorus). On “Something to Believe In,” that phrase is the aforementioned, “You never know that you need something to believe in when you know it all.” Among two of the only divergent verses from the chorus is the concluding one that goes, “I’m so embarrassing/So used to abandoning myself/I can’t believe I’m still alive.” This referring to all the times she let herself be denigrated for the sake of “going along to get along,” as so many women feel they have to in order to “succeed.”

    But her enlightenment about this and a plethora of other things arrives on the second track, “Eat the Acid,” a single that actually urges against eating the acid if “you don’t wanna be changed like it changed me” (this being the warning about LSD that Kesha’s mom, Pebe Sebert, gave to her). Funnily enough, it was Ram Dass who said, “I didn’t have one whiff of God until I took psychedelics.” Kesha appears to have found whatever “God” is without use of such drugs though. This much made clear as she imparts, “I searched for answers all my life/Dead in the dark, I saw a light/I am the one that I’ve been fighting the whole time/Hate has no place in the divine.” Even for someone who did her as wrong as Dr. Luke, her erstwhile producer/wannabe Svengali figure.

    He being at least part of the reason for all the toxic thoughts swirling in her head, as elucidated on “Living In My Head.” This being a track that was given a precursor on “Something to Believe In,” during which Kesha addresses some of the racing thoughts in her mind. For example, “Mind’s been racing like a stallion/While I watch it all collapsing/Kill the chaos, find the balance/‘Round we go, around we go/Greatness just a shade of madness/Ego just a face of sadness/Pain is just part of the package/Around we go, ’round we go/I sit and watch the pieces fall/I don’t know who I am at all.” But that was only a small preview of the hell that is solipsism compared to “Living In My Head.” Wanting desperately to escape her flesh prison, Kesha laments, “Oh, I don’t wanna be here anymore/Stuck inside my head here anymore/Stuck inside my head here anymore/Mm, I don’t wanna be scared anymore.” Though it’s hard not to be with the climate and AI apocalypse being upon us. Those who remember Ashlee Simpson’s 2008 single “Outta My Head (Ay Ya Ya)” will also recognize similar sentiments in the lines, “Get me outta my head/Outta my head/Outta my head.” This is, to be sure, a more relevant desire than ever in the landscape of constant social media infection, wherein we’re all made to compare ourselves to others (whether we know them or not) on a daily basis. Olivia Rodrigo acknowledged something similar on “jealousy, jealousy” via the lyrics, “Comparison is killing me slowly I think, I think too much/‘Bout kids who don’t know me/I’m so sick of myself/I’d rather be, rather be/Anyone, anyone else.” Kesha, too, alludes to the detriment of comparing herself to others when she bemoans, “God, I hate myself/Got to stop comparing.”

    By the time “Fine Line” rolls around, she’s started to achieve a more “I don’t give a fuck” state as she ruminates on the various fine lines between such things as “genius and crazy,” “sellin’ out and bein’ bought,” “hope and delusion” and “famous and bein’ forgot.” That “bein’ forgot” element likely a strong fear of Kesha’s as she was forced into silence amid her ongoing lawsuit against Dr. Luke that started in 2014. Which is part of why it took five years for her to put out Rainbow after the release of her sophomore album, Warrior, in 2012. Over the years of hardship and emotional rollercoastering, it seems Kesha learned one key lesson: “Only Love Can Save Us Now.” As the third single from the album, it marks the jubilant, “party girl” stylings she assured were no longer present on Gag Order. But hey, you can take the girl out of the party, but you can’t take the party out of the girl. Even if it’s a party with apocalyptic vibes (as Kesha once also said, “We’ll keep dancin’ till we die”—a similar assertion to Britney saying, “Keep on dancin’ till the world ends”). With regard to the frenetic, “all over the place” nature of the song, Kesha remarked, “I wanted ‘Only Love Can Save Us Now’ to sonically, lyrically, and emotionally reflect the severity of my mental pendulum swings. The world is so overwhelming sometimes. It requires a moment of surrender. The ludicrosity of life can make you crazy. If anything, IF ANYTHING, can save us, I believe only love can. This song is a desperate and angry prayer. A call to the light when all feels lost.”

    There’s another call to the light on “All I Need Is You”—the “light,” in this case, being Kesha’s beloved cat, Mr. Peeps (and yes, on “The Drama,” she’s sure to note that in the next life she wants to come back as a house cat). After nearly losing him in 2022, the seed of the song sprung to life. Sampling Indian philosopher Osho at the beginning, he states, “Authentic love is beyond your control. And the most basic thing which is dangerous in you is the possibility of love. Because if you are possessed by love, you can go even against the whole world.” Yes, a woman possessed by unconditional love for her cat is not to be trifled with. Which is why the full quote from Osho is actually, “They were afraid of your authentic love, because authentic love is beyond their control. You are possessed by it. You are not the possessor, you are the possessed. And every society wants you to be in control. The society is afraid of your wild nature, it is afraid of your naturalness, so from the very beginning it starts cutting your wings.” That Kesha’s early career is founded on some notion of “wildness” that eventually caused her to be suppressed therefore feels only too fitting for this particular assessment.

    Through the traumas and the tribulations, perhaps the only being she could truly trust was her cat. Thus, the potential of losing him prompts her to demand, “Tell me that you’ll live forever/‘Cause I’ve taken years for granted.” Speaking to the emotional dangers of opening one’s heart and becoming vulnerable—even to a cat—Kesha also adds, “Your love might break my heart harder than being alone.” As a song that’s representative of just how much the millennial generation has swapped out real children for pet children, Kesha insists, “You know parts of me nobody else will ever know” (cue the barrage of scenes featuring any cat’s voyeuristic antics) and “I don’t need much, but there’s one thing I can’t lose/All I need is you.” The Beatles might have said, “All you need is love,” but Kesha begs to differ here. All she needs is her cat to live forever. Or for it to at least outlive her à la Choupette.

    Among the most experimental tracks on the record is “The Drama,” which feels like a sonic companion to the moody viscerality of “Only Love Can Save Us Now.” Opening with a serene tone that explores more “Living In My Head” themes with the lyrics, “There’s a violence in the silence/And it’s coming for me/Oh, the paranoia/It’s creeping closer/Swimming in my head like a Great White,” the temperament changes entirely just when you think you’ve got it pegged as some kind of ballad. So it is that at the thirty-nine second mark, the auditory landscape shifts entirely as Kesha sings, “Build me up to feel the fall/And fall in love to break my heart/I’m bored and I’m broken/I’m self-destroying/At least it’s something to do/Oh, the drama of it all.” “It all” referring to being, well, human. Which is, despite any modern “conveniences” still a fucking bitch. Co-written with Kurt Vile, Kesha throws another lyrical curveball into the fray of “The Drama” by incorporating The Ramones’ “I Wanna Be Sedated” (specifically, “In the next life, I wanna come back as a house cat, as a house cat/I wanna be sedated”). At moments giving LCD Soundsystem fare a run for its money, Kesha takes us back to the wonderfully weird experimentation of a song like “Rich White Straight Men.” At another point, Kesha notes, “I desperately wanna think people are good/But if you’d seen the things I’d seen/I don’t know if you would.” This echos another lyric she sings on “Fine Line”: “Don’t fucking call me a fighter/Don’t fucking call me a joke/You have no fucking idea/Trust me you’ll never know.” This idea that she’s seen horrors so indescribable they can’t actually be put into words is just the type of Hollywood cautionary tale to give any aspirant the chills. And yet, fame, no matter how frivolous, is a temptress that can’t be quelled.

    Maybe that’s why Kesha segues this track into the “Ram Dass Interlude,” a reminder of how ridiculous it is to place any emphasis on such thoughts as, “Do you approve of me? Do you like me? Am I good enough? Have I achieved enough?” Ram Dass then assures, “And then thеre comes a period whеre you’ve just gone through enough. And the space starts, that little blue sky starts to develop. And you start to identify with the blue sky instead of the cloud.”

    This is where Kesha’s at on “Too Far Gone.” And, while she might have found that space with the “little blue sky” Ram Dass was talking about, she can’t deny that there’s a part of her that will never come back. And that’s still difficult to reconcile. Hence, the lyrics, “Love comes with pain/I don’t know why/My whole life/Too far gone and I’ll never come back/Slipping through my fingers, damn, it’s going fast/Trying to find some meaning, something that lasts/Am I missing you or am I missing pieces of me? Am I missing you or am I missing who I used to be?” Part natural aspect of the “growing pains” that come with aging and part nostalgia for a seemingly simpler time, “Too Far Gone” also explores the theme of an “old self” being dead (“Think I killed the part of me that I like”) the way “Only Love Can Save Us Now” does via the line, “The bitch I was, she dead/Her grave desecrated.”

    Regardless, Kesha declares she won’t go gentle into that good night on “Peace & Quiet.” Accordingly, the track bears no aural tones that connote “tranquility,” so much as another frenetic dance experiment (in the spirit of “Only Love Can Save Us Now” and “The Drama”) co-produced by Kesha, Rick Rubin and Hudson Mohawke. As she considers, “Maybe I should stop and take a breath/Maybe I’m not making any sense,” Kesha realizes, “But I would be lying if I said I could do peace and quiet/Loving me is running into a house that’s burning down, baby/Honestly, make it out alive and you’ll get the best of me/So get into it or get the fuck out.” At a point in her life where she has no room for anything but candor and bluntness, Kesha riffs on the chorus of The Cure’s “Friday I’m In Love” by chirping, “Monday, I’m praying/Tuesday, I’m heinous/Wednesday, I’m stable/Thursday, I’m up to something/Friday, I’m screaming/When I’m a-sleeping/Then by the weekend, I’ll need a restraining order.” So yeah, get into it or get the fuck out.

    Kesha goes back to her “zen” place on the “Only Love Reprise,” wherein she enlists her niece, Luna, to deliver the verse, “This is reality, can’t you feel it? I am one with what I am. Everything in color, everything. You have to see the air, you can’t believe it.” Needless to say, she’s passing on her “Kesha-ness” quite easily not just to her “Animals,” but to the next generation of the Sebert family.

    From that place of zen-ness comes the next song. And yes, in contrast to Ariana Grande demanding to “Love Me Harder,” Kesha, instead, goes in the opposite direction with “Hate Me Harder.” Yet, to use her “fine line” wisdom, there’s a fine line between love and hate. So maybe all “haters” are secretly obsessed (or they just happen to have a knack for the art of criticism). Either way, Kesha declares she can handle it as she sings, “I’ve graduated from caring about your opinions/Tell you the truth, babe I’ll never know that you existed…/So if hating me helps you love yourself/Do your worst, baby, gimme hell/Hate me harder, hate me harder/There’s nothing left that I haven’t heard/And I can take it, so make it hurt.” As such, she appears to want to alchemize the hate directed at her by radiating it back as love (besides, like she said on “Spaceship,” “Nothing is real. Love is everything. And I am nothing”). Plus, Kesha also seems to be of the Wildean belief, “There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.” So, as far as Kesha is concerned, let the haterade rain down if it keeps the commentary flowing.

    While MARINA might have kicked off 2015’s Froot with a song called “Happy,” Kesha opts to conclude her album with a track named as such. After all, it’s the ultimate goal/achievement for anyone, famous or otherwise. And it seems that, at least for now, that’s what Kesha is. Or is striving to be. The sparse, yet rich instrumentation (which sounds a lot like The Beatles’ “A Day in the Life”) heightens the bittersweet tinge of lyrics like, “If you asked me then where I wanted to be/It looks something like this living out my wildest of dreams/But life sometimes ain’t always what it seems/If you ask me now/All I’ve wanted to be is happy.” That, too, is what Beyoncé claimed as her “aspiration in life” on “Pretty Hurts.”

    More recently still, Lana Del Rey assured her fans at the 2023 Billboard Women in Music Awards that she wants them to know she’s happy. Then there was Billie Eilish naming an entire album Happier Than Ever after her breakup with Brandon “Q” Adams (a.k.a. 7:AMP). The bottom line is, famous people have been making it clear how much more challenging it can be to be “happy” while subjected to public scrutiny. Touching on the evolution of her mental state and perspective since becoming famous, Kesha ruminates, “I remember when I was little/Before I knew that anyone could be evil/These egos, some people, playing with my innocence like at a casino.” This, of course, reminds one of the fate that befell Britney when she was put under a conservatorship for little better reason than she was acting “hysterical.” Kesha, perhaps like Britney, has overcome that period of oppression, and whatever comes next, she wants to make one thing clear: “I refuse to be jaded/Still painting rainbows all over my face, oh/I’ve gotten used to the fall.” And with Gag Order, Kesha keeps falling upward.

    [ad_2]

    Genna Rivieccio

    Source link

  • The (Zen) Take No Prisoners Return of Kesha

    The (Zen) Take No Prisoners Return of Kesha

    [ad_1]

    After the release of High Road in 2020, just before the lockdowns of the pandemic would start to pop off, it’s safe to say that Kesha probably felt pretty defeated—beaten back into submission after hoping to get out on the road and tour the new record. As she explained to Nylon, “…after my last album was released right before the pandemic hit, I went into quarantine feeling very lost. There was no tour, so the album that I had just made kind of felt like it hit a wall as soon as it entered the world. If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? If an artist creates a piece that no one knows exists, are they still an artist? Or am I just talking to myself? The foot on the gas had been halted. The world seemed to stop spinning. My head hit the dash.”

    And yet, like many musicians who whipped into a flurry of artistic productivity as a result of touring and “being a celebrity” getting ripped away from them, Kesha started “receiving” the early seeds of inspiration for what was to become her sixth album, Gag Order (not to be confused with Gaga Order just because she’s mentioned a desire to work with Lady Gaga). The provocative title, needless to say, is a direct hit at the likes of Dr. Luke and the slew of lawyers and judges that have been involved in the Kesha v. Dr. Luke case since it first officially began in 2014. Appropriately, the term “gag order” isn’t found in the glossary of physical torture, but rather, it’s a legal phrase meaning: “a judge’s directive forbidding the public disclosure of information on a particular matter.” That matter obviously being her ongoing legal entanglements with Dr. Luke, who came back at Kesha’s civil suit with a defamation lawsuit that has another court date set for this summer.

    For someone like Kesha, known for being outspoken and candid, a gag order is an especial form of cruelty. Nonetheless, she’s found a way to “talk about it” without saying anything truly specific—cloaking her pain in such arcane lyrics as, “Don’t fuckin’ call me a fighter, don’t fuckin’ call me a joke/You have no fuckin’ idea, trust me, you’ll never know.” But we can sense the agony she’s endured in evocative descriptions like, “The years keep on draggin’, I’m at the end of my rope/The noose gets tighter and tighter, I’m tastin’ blood in my throat.” Both of these lyrical sets appear on “Fine Line,” one of the two singles Kesha has opted to unleash in preparation for the May 19th release date of Gag Order. With its album cover featuring Kesha being suffocated by the presence of a plastic bag over her head (as Katy Perry—also circuitously involved in Kesha’s case—once asked, “Do you ever feel like a plastic bag?” The answer for Kesha is clearly an emphatic yes).

    Along with “Fine Line,” Kesha has also provided us with “Eat the Acid,” the first track she started to write for this record. One that she’s forewarned listeners about in terms of it not being the “happy, upbeat” music she’s generally known for (e.g., the legendary “Tik Tok”). This being part of why she’s nervous about the reception of the album, exposing herself emotionally in a way that she never has before. And at least some of the reason she’s long been afraid to is because of a quote she has in her mind that goes, “There’s nothing more unattractive than an angry woman.” Whether she made the quote up in her head thanks to living in a misogynistic society for so long or not, Kesha elaborated to Nylon, “Whenever an ugly emotion would announce itself, I would silence it. Dance it away, drink it away, shop it away, fuck it away, or just shut up and vibrate violently on the inside. Anger, sadness, frustration—whatever it was, that’s not what I was here for. It was a burden to be anything but fun and grateful. Which I am. Thus the internal battle rages.”

    But for the first time, we can’t hear that battle so palpably as we did on an album like Rainbow, where Kesha bared her soul for the first time on tracks like “Praying” and “Rainbow,” but also still felt obliged to mitigate her pain with bangers such as “Woman” and “Learn to Let Go.” Gag Order promises to be much more emotionally no holds barred. That much is made clear by the eerie, surreal tones of “Eat the Acid,” a song inspired by Pebe Sebert, Kesha’s mother, warning her daughter at an early age never to take acid, because she would see things that couldn’t be unseen (which is probably why the song should be called “Don’t Eat the Acid,” to be slightly clearer).

    As it turned out, becoming part of the music industry would have a similar effect, but to this day, Kesha has still never actually done acid (she assures). Even so, she repurposes her mother’s warning into the ominous chant that weaves its way in and out of the song: “You don’t wanna be changed like it changed me.” For Kesha’s mother, that phrase might have been about a particular drug, but for Kesha, it’s clearly about the abuse she’s endured from her oppressor, continuing to work freely as a producer and getting his songs on the top of the charts like he never did anything wrong (and yes, someone like Kim Petras is complicit in normalizing Dr. Luke’s “inculpability”). Regardless of Gag Order being the last record Kesha is contractually obligated to fulfill for Dr. Luke’s label, Kemosabe, she will unfortunately be forever linked to him. But with this coup de grâce, she’s not going quietly or gently into that good night. She’s speaking up about her pain without any “danceable ditty” veneers or posturing as a “party girl character.”

    That much is made evident by the visualizer that accompanies “Eat the Acid.” Opening on a close-up shot of Kesha’s makeup-free face, a barrage of hands proceeds to “attack” her, with fingers entering her mouth as she lies practically frozen in something like a state of resigned paralysis. It seems to be an undeniable metaphor for what she’s gone through in the almost decade since her legal battle with Dr. Luke began. And yet, thanks to her “epiphany” moment in the early hours of the morning during the summer of 2020, Kesha has realized, per her lyrics, “I searched for answers all my life/Dead in the dark, I saw a light/I am the one that I’ve been fighting the whole time/Hate has no place in the divine.” In which case, perhaps she’s no longer hoping that Dr. Luke is somewhere “praying,” at last fully absorbing a Kabbalist message that Madonna once summed up by saying, “It’s the hardest thing in the world to do. I mean, can you imagine forgiving people that, you know, fuck you over, for lack of a better word?”

    Kesha has been imagining and alluding to that kind of forgiveness since Rainbow, but it appears to have come to its full fruition in “Eat the Acid.” For, despite all she’s been through, Kesha can still declare, “…the universe is magic/Just open up your eyes, the signs are waiting.”

    [ad_2]

    Genna Rivieccio

    Source link