Why You Should Care About Kesha’s Comeback
It’s been a while since we’ve been able to read Kesha’s name in the news without biting back some kind of frustration. Since 2014, the pop superstar has been locked in a legal battle with former manager and producer Dr. Luke (aka Lukas Gottwald) alleging sexual assault and emotional manipulation, while seeking an injunction to be freed from her contract with Sony. So far the law has predictably come down on the side of the record label and the accused (which I’ve already aired my grievances about), but the cloud isn’t without its silver lining — or Rainbow rather.
Earlier this month, Kesha dropped her first track in four years (excluding last year’s collaboration with Zedd), the swelling, life-affirming “Praying.” To sum up its impact in a single word, “wow.”
During her 2010 to 2012 zeitgeist, you would not have found me among her loyal elite. I counted myself among her most vocal (and pretentious if you asked my “friends” at the time) critics. I thought I was better than the jukebox pop music that ruled every sandwich shop on the Isla Vista loop. And let’s face it, “Tik Tok” isn’t one of the more artistic pieces to top the charts (Kesha herself told the Herald Sun she “thought it sucked”).
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