Kesha is most definitely not ready to make nice. The “Only Love Can Save Us Now” singer detailed what she described as a scorched earth plan to shake up the music industry’s old guard in a new ELLE magazine profile in which she warned that anyone with “deep, dark secrets” better be ready for a reckoning.
“I don’t believe you can create if you’re not feeling safe,” she told the magazine in detailing a new digital platform she’s working on with help from people in the tech industry that she said will prioritize artist’s safety. “The old guard, they’re falling. The old way of doing everything with secrecy — there’s no future there. So, like, those of you with deep, dark secrets, you better f–king run.”
Her warning to those traditional gatekeepers pulls no punches: “The music industry should be f–king terrified of me,” she said. “Because I’m about to make some major moves and shift this s–t. I really want to dismantle it piece by piece and shine light into every corner. I hope my legacy is making sure it never happens to anybody ever again.”
Kesha extracted herself from a contract with Dr. Luke following a 2023 settlement in her long-running civil lawsuit against the producer born Lukasz Gottwald over her claims of infliction of emotional distress, sexual harassment and assault; Luke denied the claims and reached a settlement with Kesha to dismiss his defamation suit against her last year, with both parties denying any misconduct.
She has since formed her own independent label, Kesha Records, which she said is the first big step in taking back her musical voice after signing with Luke in 2005 when she was 18. “I’m free and it feels good,” she said, noting that she has a reminder on her phone that reads “you’re free.” Kesha is now fully in charge of her music and free to work with any producers and writers she wants, a situation that led to the release of her recent single, the A.G. Cook (Charli XCX) and Zhone (Slayyyter)-produced “Joyride,” a bouncing, horn-spiked party record on which she sings, “Rev my engine til you make it purr/ Keep it kinky, but I come first/ Beep-beep b–ch, I’m outside/ Get in loser, for the joyride.”
Not for nothing, Kesha said “Joyride” was birthed both after the settlement of her Luke suit as well as in the wake of a break-up with someone she felt was “in it for the wrong reasons and was a bit of a starf–ker,” and whose loyalty she assessed in the most Kesha way possible. “I decided to test that theory and took one of my friends instead of him to Taylor Swift’s party. He came over the next day and broke up with me,” she said.
At this point she hasn’t come up with a title for the follow-up to her raw, 2023 fifth studio album, the not-to-subtly titled Gag Order, which marked her final release through RCA Records and Luke’s Kemosabe Records. The words that keep coming to mind as she ponders a name for it are also pointed and telling: freedom, safety, joy.
“This record is my little wild child,” she said, describing Gag Order as a way to give voice to her more painful emotions. “I was really vulnerable. Now I’m really trying to make way for the bad b–ch. I’m giving her the moment — because we need the space to have all the emotions safely. I capture the empowered emotions, so that I can listen back to it when I’m not feeling that way.”
Psyched to be “100 percent in control of everything now,” Kesha said her new music mogul era is allowing her to do all the things: “ideating the song, writing the song, singing the song, comping the song, coproducing the song, marketing the song, designing what I’m wearing for the song.”
As evidenced by the bubbly playful vibe of her recent social media posts, Kesha is leaning into the meaning of her name in Russian (“innocent joy”) because, as she said, “my soul needs this album. I need to reclaim my joy. Because I fought so f–king hard for it.”
She also loves the fact that her fortitude and defiant spirit have clearly helped empower a new generation of strident female pop stars who are embracing their authenticity. “I do have a sense of feeling protective of young women in music. I really hope my joy can stand for others to know that it’s available to them and to not give up,” she said of the singers she often DMs to offer herself up for advice or a kind sounding board. “I enjoy feeling my power, which hasn’t been available to me for a really long time, and I’d love to give that gift to others if I can.”
She specifically shouts out Chappell Roan and Reneé Rapp, referring to the latter as the “most genuinely cool, calm, unbothered, iconic pop girlie.” Kesha invited Rapp to perform with her in Brooklyn in Nov. 2023 and Rapp returned the favor at April’s Coachella Festival, where Kesha performed her Billboard Hot 100 topper “Tik Tok,” which pointedly featured a revised line dissing embattled hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, who was indicted on sex trafficking charges last month amid a dozen lawsuits alleging sexual assault and harassment; Diddy has denied the charges.
Though Roan drew attention for playing to what was described as the biggest daytime crowd in Lollapalooza history this summer, Kesha said she could sense the stress the “Hot To Go” singer was likely feeling during a moment many saw as a dream scenario.
“Kesha was so lovely to me after my Lollapalooza set,” Roan told the magazine. “Because with that huge of a crowd, maybe only five other people there understood what that’s like. Kesha came to talk to me after, and it felt like a big sister was helping me through it. Me and Reneé were crying because we felt like we were seen in a way we never had been before. Kesha has always stood up for women and what she believes in and that’s very inspiring.”
