Kesha Rose Sebert wears many hats – and that’s excluding the huge fluffy headgear she sports in the video to her breakneck recent single, “Boy Crazy”. Having spoken out about the abuse and gaslighting she experienced as a young woman in the record industry, she is perhaps best known as one of those rare artists applying the lessons of #MeToo to the music biz.
The Los Angeles singer has also fought for creative control with her now-ex label Sony – specifically the imprint operated by her former producer, Dr Luke (real name Lukasz Sebastian Gottwald, and not, in fact, a medical professional). Finally freed from that straitjacket, her sixth album, Period, is released on her own label – and so, simply by existing, represents a victory for self-expression.
What’s most striking about this joyfully irreverent listen is that far from taking the wind out of her artistic sails, Kesha’s struggles have encouraged her to embrace the most outrageous version of herself. Granted, she’s never been one to hold back. Her early hit “TiK ToK” – nothing to do with the video app – famously celebrated 24/7 partying, beauty sleep be damned. But there is nonetheless a sense throughout Period of a pop star seizing the moment and going for broke; this is truly Kesha unleashed.
Maximalism proves a smart creative decision across a winningly over-the-top LP that starts with a stately choral opening before Kesha comes swinging in, promising to take a prospective love interest to the “sex shop”. It’s a striking blend – Enya one minute, Lady Gaga the next (and Kesha’s debt to Gaga’s fuel-injected outrageousness is undeniable).
This first track is titled “Freedom”. However, the lyrics have more to do with her unleashing the party girl within than dwelling on her label woes or the defamation lawsuit that Dr Luke brought against her after she alleged sexual abuse.
Period clocks in at a trim 38 minutes and makes the most of its economical run time. From the glo-sticks aloft joy of “Freedom”, it somersaults into Eurovision-banger-on-hormones “Joyride”, which features a scorching solo on the, erm, accordion. How to top that? How about roof-raising country power-ballad “Yippee-Ki-Ya” – a showcase for her rasping vocals with lyrics seemingly inspired by Bruce Willis’s hard-punching catchphrase from Die Hard? Or what about “The One”, a fizzy love song spritzed with Charli XCX levels of auto-tune?
These high-octane thrills have an infectious, live-in-the-moment quality. They will also come as a relief to Kesha fans who may have worried about her shift to a more contemplative and far darker direction on 2023’s Gag Order (overseen in part by Johnny Cash and Red Hot Chili Peppers producer Rick Rubin). Their concerns that the 38-year-old had moved to a more “grown-up” phase are laid to rest as Period bounces from one hedonistic groove to the next.
Lyrics-wise, she is equally forthright and in no mood for taking prisoners. On aforementioned disco rollercoaster “Joyride” she celebrates the excitement of a hook-up by bragging about what a bad girl she is: “Are you a man/Cos I’m a bitch/I’m already rich”. Meanwhile, there are echoes of the recent Sabrina Carpenter album cover controversy on “Boy Crazy”, where she instructs a love interest: “motherf***er, pull my hair”.
Amid the anarchy, more contemplative moments stand out like a cloudy spell on a hot day – in particular, the beautiful synthpop ballad “Too Hard”. Here, Kesha shows she can croon like a lost soul as readily as shriek like a party girl. Yet it’s a rare breather across a project that shoots for maximum absurdity and rarely misses.
Not every pop star would go for broke to the extent Kesha does here – and for some, Period will be too much, like heading to a rave straight after breakfast. But isn’t that the point of creative freedom? Period feels like the record Kesha always wanted to make: an emotionally gory valentine to living in the moment. It’s a lot of things – riotous, unrelenting and, above all, irresistibly, unapologetically Kesha.
Stream: “Freedom”, “Too Hard’
