Free Kesha

After a decade locked in a battle for her music and her very self, Kesha is finally free. Her onerous contract with Dr. Luke was fulfilled with 2023’s Gag Order, the last lawsuit with Dr. Luke was settled that same year. Now, Kesha is coming back with a new album, the first to be released under her own label, Kesha Records. The lead single, “Joyride”, is one of the dance hits of the summer, a wild mix of EDM, opera, and polka with a helluva hook: Don’t even try to give me sh-t/I’ve earned the right to be like this.

You don’t even have to like Kesha’s music to root for Kesha after her prolonged and very public legal battle with Dr. Luke, which included allegations of sexual assault. For years, it felt like Kesha’s career was sidelined by these issues, even as she continued to release new music, nothing earned as many headlines as her legal cases. But now that’s firmly in the rearview, and a new album is coming just as pop music has reentered a fun and flirty phase, ready-made for Kesha’s brand of party pop. I am rooting for her so hard, I hope the new album is an absolute banger and chart topper, as a lick back and a building block for her fledgling label.

In an interview with Elle focused on looking forward, Kesha says she has a “ten-year plan” and is going to “make some major moves and shift this sh-t. I really want to dismantle [the music industry] piece by piece and shine light into every corner”. I really wish her the best and support the intention and effort 100%, but if just one person could “dismantle” the music industry, I think more would have changed by now. That said, Kesha also talks about making herself available to younger singers in the industry, hoping to give them the support she never received as a young woman in pop music. 

Of Kesha, Chappell Roan says, “Kesha was so lovely to me after my Lollapalooza set. […] Kesha came to talk to me after, and it felt like a big sister was helping me through it,” and Reneé Rapp says, “She raised an entire generation of ‘f-ck the man’-like girls”.

 

Creating that kind of community and support can definitely move the needle. So can organize attempts to end the industry practice of coercing young musicians into signing record deals with outrageous terms that lock artists into contracts they cannot exit and signing away rights to intellectual property in perpetuity. Kesha’s right, that SHOULDN’T be a thing. But wildly burdensome contracts are par for the course in the music industry. Again, I’m not sure what one person can do in the face of global conglomerations, but here’s hoping Kesha can organize some kind of movement to improve contracts for musicians. Can pop stars go on strike?

We’ve already seen the creative leap Sabrina Carpenter made when she changed record labels, and all she did was leave Disney. Kesha is coming back after a decade in the wilderness, and after watching her pop girly peer Katy Perry continue supporting Dr. Luke as recently as this year. Katy’s new music is flopping, though, and she’s seen as largely out of step with the public mood and the moment. If “Joyride” is anything to go by, Kesha is a little more in tune with where pop music is right now, and her story of reclamation and resilience is likely to resonate with younger listeners—and fellow musicians—who are more outspoken about personal boundaries, self-love, and shouting your joy to the rooftops after trauma. 

In “Joyride”, Kesha declares herself Mother, in this interview, she is also declaring herself shepherd to a new generation of artists, who hopefully won’t face the trauma—personal, legal, and contractual—that she has faced. It’s not that Kesha hasn’t had hits in the interim, but it’s been a long time since she’s led the pop moment (so long someone seemed to think they could erase her name from “Timber” and no one would notice). Could a new album, released on her own label, return Kesha to the front of the pop girly pack? I hope so. If for no other reason than to demonstrate that you don’t have to work with accused abusers to make hit pop anthems with a feminist bent. But also, because after all the sh-t she’s been through, Kesha deserves the f-cking win. Not a settlement, not a half-measure, a f-cking win. A free Kesha is a winning Kesha. 

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