I’ve never thought highly of Kesha’s music, but there’s no denying that she’s gone through hell. The world seems determined to slight her about the smallest things. Then there’s the more serious struggle she went through with her producer and abuser, the so-called Dr. Luke. I’m not going to re-litigate that awful story here, but the spotlight put on the case took Kesha away from forgettable pop, and turned her into a symbol of all that’s wrong and misogynistic in the music world. And it just. Would. Not. End.
So what’s a musician to do? Kesha took all those feelings and turned it into music. She’s got a new single, with a new music video, off a new album. The song, “Praying,” off of the new album Rainbow, is definitely a different Kesha. She’s free now from what amounted to legal slavery from her abuser, and now she’s making melancholy music? It’s a weird look for the queen of glitter and tequila, but maybe this is the real her?
She recites a spoken word monologue (“Am I dead? Or is this one of those dreams? Those horrible dreams that seem like they last forever?”) and then launches into a somber power ballad? It’s not a 80s style girl power ballad of triumph, but more of a track of post-Adele pathos. Like I said, that’s pretty weird right?
So maybe the real thing holding Kesha back was her abuser? Clearly the man was a monster, but maybe he was also bad at his job? Because finally free of him, Kesha is dropping the best tracks of her career. Hopefully, the world will give her a new chance on her upcoming tour, and she can tell the haters to GTFO.