Kesha

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Kesha

Kesha Rose Sebert (Template:PronEng, KESH-ə; born March 1, 1987),[5] better known mononymously as Kesha (stylized as Ke$ha), is an American recording artist. Her breakthrough came in early 2009 after appearing on Flo Rida's number one single "Right Round". Her debut single, "Tik Tok", was released in August 2009 and reached number one in five countries and set the female weekly download record in the US. Her debut album, Animal, was released January 5, 2010 and debuted at #1 on the US Billboard 200 albums chart.

Biography

1987–2005: Early life

Kesha was born in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles to a single parent. Her mother, Pebe Sebert, a singer and songwriter, looked after then infant Kesha onstage while performing.[6] Pebe was struggling financially while supporting Kesha and her older brother, Lagan,[3] at the time and they had to rely on welfare payments and food stamps to get by.[7] Pebe moved the family to Nashville, Tennessee in 1991 after securing a publishing deal and Kesha spent the rest of her early years there. She often brought Kesha and her brothers, Lagan and Louis , along to recording studios[3] and encouraged Kesha to sing[7] and taught her how to write songs.[3] They still co-write songs together.[8]

The Sebert family was featured in an episode of The Simple Life in 2005, as the host family. Kesha was already working on her music[9]and giving out demos by then;[10] at the age of seventeen she dropped out of high school, after being convinced by Dr. Luke and Max Martin to return to Los Angeles and pursue a music career.[7] Dr. Luke had come across her demos and was so impressed[6] that he contacted her with Martin from Sweden and began flying her to New York and Los Angeles to record music.[9]

2005–2009: Career beginnings and "Right Round"

While in Los Angeles, Kesha survived on low income, moonlighting as a waitress and dabbling in telemarketing[10] to make ends meet while furthering her music career in studio[3][7] and seeing talent scouts.[11] She lived with her alleged father when she first moved there, after being introduced by her mother, and subsequently moved in with a boy in whom she was interested.[3] She later lived in a shared house in Laurel Canyon[9] where the Eagles recorded Hotel California[2][11] and at one point had lived out of her gold 1978 Trans Am.[12]

Kesha wanted Prince to produce her music, so she found and snuck into his Beverly Hills home. Once discovered, she was thrown out, but not before she left her demo with Prince, who did not contact her afterwards.[7] She also had the opportunity to sing background for Paris Hilton's single, "Nothing in this World", which led to an incident later where she vomited in Hilton's closet[9] and wrote a song about it.[11] Kesha co-wrote The Veronicas' single, "This Love" with Toby Gad,[13] sang background vocals for Britney Spears' song "Lace and Leather"[2] and appeared in the video for Katy Perry's single, "I Kissed a Girl". Her appearance in the video arose due to her being friends with Perry; they met frequently as aspiring pop singers in Los Angeles and shared many musical collaborators.[14]

Kesha gained exposure in the mainstream media in early 2009 after appearing on Flo Rida's number one single, "Right Round".[12] The collaboration came about when Kesha was hanging out in studio with Flo Rida and Dr. Luke, who was producing the song; Flo Rida decided that the song needed a female voice and Kesha was then suggested for the part by Dr. Luke. Flo Rida liked the end result so much that they did two more songs.[5] She is not credited for her feature on "Right Round"[15][16] and therefore did not collect any money for the part.[12] She also refused to appear in the video because she wanted to become a legitimate artist in her own right.[17]

2009–present: Animal

Soon after, it was announced that Kesha had signed with RCA Records[12] through Dr. Luke, after being sought after by many major labels,[4] and was working on her debut album.[7] On March 27, 2009, she appeared onstage alongside 3OH!3 at a concert at Avalon Hollywood to perform their duet, "My First Kiss". She later made her official stage debut at that year's Lollapalooza as part of the BMI Stage.[18] Her debut single, "Tik Tok", had been released digitally in the US in early August,[19] and was sent to radio two months later in October.[20] By then, Kesha had co-written the title song for Miley Cyrus' The Time of Our Lives EP, made appearances on Pitbull and Taio Cruz's albums,[14] and appeared on the cover on Women's Wear Daily.[18]

A number one placing in New Zealand for "Tik Tok" gave Kesha her first number one;[13] this was followed by number one positions in Canada, Australia and Norway. It later reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100, the first number one of the decade,[15] and reached top five in several countries.[21] For its second week at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, "Tik Tok" set the female download record and became the second best-selling single in a week, after "Right Round", for shifting 610,000 copies.[16]

Kesha later supported Calvin Harris on tour in the UK[14] and toured with Mickey Avalon in the US.[18] She also performed at Madison Square Garden on December 11, 2009 for the Z100 Jingle Ball. She has been announced as one of the acts for the 2010 revival of Lilith Fair.[22] Her debut album, entitled Animal, was released on January 5, 2010 in the US to generally favorable reviews from music critics.[9][23] The album sold 152,000 copies in its first week in the United States, debuting at number one at Billboard 200.[24] Kesha is a rumored supporting act for Rihanna's Rated R Tour

Artistry

When asked by Pop Excess, Kesha listed Beck and Queen as her main musical influences.[25] She told RWD Magazine that she draws from rap music and old-school punk as well[1] and credits her older brother with exposing her to groups such as Fugazi, Dinosaur Jr. and the Beastie Boys.[5]

"Tik Tok" (2009)
Kesha's debut single and one of many songs in which she raps.
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Jon Caramanica of The New York Times proclaimed that Kesha's rap-singing single, "Tik Tok" represented "the complete and painless assimilation of the white female rapper into pop music" as part of a crop of "white-girl rap" songs released in 2009, calling her a "double threat".[17] Ann Powers of the Los Angeles Times compared this vocal stylings to that of L'Trimm and Salt-N-Pepa.[8]

In an interview with Digital Spy, Kesha described her music as irreverent and defended her decision to make pop music for her first album as opposed to "more serious acoustic stuff", explaining that she wanted to "give people something that brings them joy."[26] She has expressed interest in releasing a country music album in the future because of her love for the genre.[17]

Kesha's lyrics are based on her life experiences[10] and influenced by the storytelling style country music.[7] Her frank and humorous lyrics prompted Ryan Dombal of The Village Voice to compare her to Lily Allen and Katy Perry, however, he conceded that "[d]istinguishing a Kesha song [was] surprisingly easy."[27] She has expressed frustration at the double standard for the objectification of women in songs; in songs such as "Boots and Boys," she makes it a point to sing the same way men traditionally sang about women.[3]

Image

Kesha described her dress sense as "garbage-chic" to Entertainment Weekly and named Keith Richards as her fashion inspiration.[9] On the dollar sign in her stage name, Kesha states that she was being ironic, in that she does not believe in placing an emphasis on earning money. It came about after her Flo Rida collaboration achieved success worldwide; and yet she did not receive any money to show for it.[3][9] Paul Lester of The Guardian called her "the degenerate Hannah Montana" and stated that "her whole shtick appears to be predicated on the idea that she's a rebel in American Apparel."[11]

Discography

Main article: Kesha discography

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Collins, Hattie (November 24, 2009), Ke$ha: Ke$h Money, RWD Magazine, retrieved December 14, 2009
  2. ^ a b c Sullivan, Matt (August 13, 2009), "KE$HA and the Not-Quite-72 Virgins in Her Own Personal Heaven", Esquire, Hearst Communications, Inc., retrieved October 20, 2009
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Day, Elizabeth (November 29, 2009), She's a walking, talking living dollar, Guardian News and Media Limited, retrieved November 29, 2009
  4. ^ a b "Superstar Producer Dr. Luke Brings Highly Sought After Pop Singer to RCA Records" (Press release). RCA Music Group. Retrieved December 29, 2009.
  5. ^ a b c Mazzella, Alysia (March 2, 2009), Ke$ha: Crazy, Sexy & Too Fuckin' Cool, 21-7 Magazine, retrieved November 1, 2009
  6. ^ a b Axelrod, Nick (August 26, 2009), "Kesha Sebert: Hard Candy", Women's Wear Daily, Fairchild Fashion Group, retrieved October 20, 2009
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Official biography, RCA Records, retrieved January 10, 2009
  8. ^ a b Powers, Ann (January 5, 2010), Ke$ha is a wisecracking 'Animal', Los Angeles Times, retrieved January 6, 2010
  9. ^ a b c d e f g Lynch, Joseph (December 11, 2009), Ke$ha: A Music Mix Q&A, Entertainment Weekly, retrieved December 12, 2009
  10. ^ a b c Malone, Aibhe (January 8, 2010), All that glitter$, Independent.ie, retrieved January 10, 2010
  11. ^ a b c d Lester, Paul (October 2, 2009), Ke$ha (No 640), Guardian News and Media Limited, retrieved December 29, 2009
  12. ^ a b c d Gordon, Sandra (November 25, 2009), "Breaking & Entering: Ke$ha", Billboard, Nielsen Business Media, Inc., retrieved November 26, 2009
  13. ^ a b Moses, Hussein (October 26, 2009), Ke$ha Hearts NZ!, MTV Networks, retrieved December 14, 2009
  14. ^ a b c WAPS interviews Ke$ha, We Are Pop Slags, October 28, 2009, retrieved October 29, 2009 {{citation}}: |first= missing |last= (help)
  15. ^ a b Trust, Gary (December 24, 2009), "Chart Beat Thursday: Ke$ha", Billboard, Nielsen Business Media, Inc., retrieved December 25, 2009
  16. ^ a b Pietroluongo, Silvio (December 30, 2009), "Ke$ha Sets Female Download Record", Billboard, Nielsen Business Media, Inc., retrieved December 31, 2009
  17. ^ a b c Caramanica, Jon (December 23, 2009), Changing the Face (and Sound) of Rap, The New York Times, retrieved December 26, 2009
  18. ^ a b c "Red-Hot Pop Sensation Ke$ha to Release Debut Album" (Press release). RCA Music Group. December 3, 2009. Retrieved December 4, 2009.
  19. ^ "TiK ToK - Single", iTunes, Apple Inc., retrieved December 14, 2009
  20. ^ FMQB CHR Airplay Archive 2009, Friday Morning Quarterback Album Report, Inc., retrieved November 16, 2009 10/5 Mainstream
  21. ^ Ke$ha - Music Charts, aCharts.us, retrieved December 24, 2009
  22. ^ Itzkoff, Dave (December 10, 2009), Lilith Fair Lineup Is Announced, The New York Times, retrieved December 14, 2009
  23. ^ "Animal by Ke$ha", Metacritic.com, CBS Interactive Inc., retrieved January 10, 2010
  24. ^ Caulfield, Keith (2010-01-13). "Kesha ends Boyle's 'Dream' with No 1. debut at Billboard 200". Billboard. Retrieved 2010-01-13.
  25. ^ Ke$ha Pop Excess Interview, Pop Excess, August 23, 2009, retrieved January 11, 2009
  26. ^ Levine, Nicke (November 13, 2009), Interview - Ke$ha, Digital Spy Limited, retrieved November 13, 2009
  27. ^ Dombal, Ryan (January 5, 2010), Ke$ha's Glitter Invasion, Village Voice LLC, retrieved January 6, 2010

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