Music Monday #34: Animal by Kesha

I have a lot of qualms about including this album, not because of the music or the lyrics or the artist but because of the controversy attached to it and again that comes down to politics and social justice.  All I can say is that I love Kesha, I love her music, I support her as an artist, and I will continue to do all of that but if you don't own this album I can't encourage anyone to go and buy it for the simple reason that you'll be financially contributing to someone else who I wouldn't want you to contribute anything to, I don't want to go into this in depth because I am still angry about the way Kesha was treated and the outcome.  If you want a way to support her creative endeavours without buying her music, she has launched a cosmetics line called Kesha Rose Beauty in collaboration with HipDot which is vegan and cruelty free so you can feel no guilt about contributing.

Having said all of that, Kesha remains one of my favourite artists and I hope that one day she can be free of her contract.  'Animal' was released in 2010 as Kesha's first album back when her name was stylized as Ke$ha and of all the tracks on this album there are 3 in particular I want to single out.  The first is 'Tik Tok' because of the up tempo positive energy it conveys.  The whole album is electro pop, it doesn't really get dark at any point, positivity is the prevailing theme.  Tik Tok in particular is about having fun and letting go.  The lyrics aren't that deep, there's no real profundity, it's just happy and upbeat and something that I still play when I want to feel happy and nothing else.

'Take It Off' equally embodies this sentiment, with a mid tempo beat that feels dirtier and grittier whilst still capturing the positive vibes.  The whole album although not classified as dance officially to me I would still consider EDM inspired albeit firmly in the realm of pop, Kesha to me represents a mainstream interpretation of EDM, indeed she has gone on to work with some big names from the EDM scene including Zedd whose work I love but again has been embroiled in controversy.  I do miss a time when you could be completely oblivious to the wider world and focused entirely on the art and what it represents but sometimes you can't escape reality and it becomes very hard to ignore.

The last track I want to specifically focus on is 'Blah Blah Blah' which features 3OH!3.  Another up tempo track that I love for the happy carefree mindset it evokes.  I've mentioned before that my childhood was disrupted by trauma, and that my personality flipped, I went from an extrovert to being an introvert, but also in the process I disengaged with people my own age for a time becoming a reclusive person who spoke when they were spoken to but made no effort to engage and no effort to approach.  The shyness I felt saw me miss out on much of the social development most people acquire during their teenage years. 

I was old before my time in many ways I leap-frogged my teenage years into a mindset most people didn't develop until their 30s.  When I emerged from that period of my life and went to college I reverted in many ways and experienced some of that development but not to the same extent that others had.  My late teens and early 20s in this regard were closer to what most people experience in their late 20s.  I was "growing down" as I often refer to it.

After I left University however when I entered my mid 20s around 2012 that was when my connection with Kesha's music really began to take hold.  I had been aware of her music and I had paid fleeting attention to her career but I entered a mindset in my mid 20s that I view as the period when I went through my adolescence - I don't mean in the physical sense but in a mental and metaphorical sense.  The 2010s for me represent the embodiment of what teenage life encompasses, the turmoil, the transition, the transformation, rebellion, collapse, all giving way to rebirth in the end with new growth and new maturity.  That is the mindset I experienced and the journey I took, that period of collapse I was not prepared for and I sought professional help to get through it as I have mentioned on this blog when I wrote about Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.  Where my mindset is now in 2020 is once again at the late 20s/ early 30s, the latter of which is where my actual age now lies [32] so I've levelled out. 

Kesha's music career really evolved over the course of the 2010s and came at the right time to coincide with the mentality I had during that time.  I connected with her music because it embodied everything I viewed as teenage life.  That regression for a time was easier to process and emerge from in the end having a touchstone that could serve as a guide of where the natural progression of that mindset would lead.  In many ways Kesha's personal growth and her life journey served as a parallel to my own, and for those who know the intimate details of the trauma I experienced in childhood it turned out to be almost disturbing when I realised how deep that affinity went, I had no idea what she had been through but when everything came to light the realisation of what drew me to Kesha became so apparent and so obvious to me that it hit me like a brick wall.  This is part of the reason for why I feel so angry for her for how she was treated and for the fact she never got the justice she deserved because I project onto her my anger and dissatisfaction at what I experienced, how I was treated, and the impact it had on me.

Kesha will feature again on this list, it won't surprise you to know she'll appear twice more.  I'll cover her journey in much more detail across those posts.  For now suffice to say I accept the criticisms people have of her music, her style, and her lyrics that they often say lack depth but given my association of that period of time in her music career reflecting adolescence I don't think any of those criticisms are valid because I don't think anyone seriously expects a teenager to be deep and profound and create what contemporary artists consider masterpieces, that's not to say there aren't teenagers who are capable of such things, because there certainly are, but Kesha is 1 year older than me, she was 22 when she released Animal and it was marketed to people younger than her, she captured that time of your life perfectly, context is important, you can pick any artist you want and I could pick an artist to compare them to that would make you think they were insignificant, it's important to know your audience, your demographic, and what you're trying to connect with.  Kesha knew that well and the journey she has taken with her music reflects that.