The Tik-Tok singer emerges from a tumultuous five-year hiatus with a bold, defiantly unapologetic new album full of hope and redemption.
Kesha / Rainbow
'I got too many people I got left to prove wrong/ All those motherf***ers been too mean for too long," Kesha lets rip with raw, pent-up emotions in the opening verse of Bastards, the acoustic guitar-driven first track on her comeback album Rainbow. "Don't let the bastards get you down/ Don't let the assholes wear you out/ Don't let the mean girls take the crown/ Don't let the scumbags screw you 'round/ Don't let the bastards take you down," she continues in the chorus, turning a personal resolution into something more universal. It's a brilliant preface to the record that's based on the singer's hardship during the last five years of her life.
That abovementioned hardship, as some of you might know, is a much-publicised legal battle with her long-time producer Dr Luke (real name Lukasz Gottwald), whom she'd accused of sexual assault and battery. Long story short, Kesha wanted to break free from the contractual recording obligations made with Gottwald, who at the time was the CEO of Kemosabe Records/RCA Records, but couldn't (hence the #FreeKesha hashtag that flooded Twitter a few years back) and still can't.
With her case thrown out by the judge, the only way left for her to continue making music is to fulfil her obligation, which is exactly what she's done with the release of Rainbow, her first album since 2012's Warrior. Throughout this record, not only does she sing about her trials and tribulations but she also comes to the realisation that letting go is the best way forward.
The production on Rainbow ranges from power ballads (Praying) to Kesha's own brand of bratty hip-hop/pop-dance (Woman featuring The Dap-Kings Horns, Hymn, Learn To Let Go, Boots), but a good chunk of it leans mostly towards roots, folk and country. Let 'Em Talk and Boogie Feet feature garage rockers Eagles of Death Metal whereas the stomping Hunt You Down finds her yodelling her way through the galloping groove.
The real highlight, though, is a cover of Dolly Parton's 1980 Old Flames (Can't Hold A Candle To You), a country ballad written by Kesha's singer-songwriter mother Pebe Sebert and guested here by Parton herself. The title track echoes the optimistic sentiment with help of orchestral flourishes. "I've found a rainbow, rainbow, baby/ Trust me, I know, life is scary/ But just put those colours on, girl … But in the dark, I realised this life is short/ And deep down, I'm still a child/ Playful eyes, wide and wild I can't lose hope."
Like its title suggests, Kesha's latest LP offers a full spectrum of colours both musically and lyrically. Yes, the drama of her past still lingers, but it's overshadowed by the unbridled positivity she's found and embraced. Her vengeance, in the end, is the courage to accept things as they are and learn to rise above it all.
THE PLAYLIST
Polycat / The Flowers
Chiang Mai's synth-pop trio Polycat have just dropped a Japanese-language EP, Doyobi No Terebi, and we must admit that it's probably one of the best decisions the band has ever made. Lead single The Flowers pairs Polycat's retro-loving vibe with endearing lyrics about making someone you love feel good ("Everything that you want/ I'll give it to you/ You are my, my, my girl"). And with flute, saxophone and trombone added to the mix, the whole thing just screams old-school J-pop.
Alice Glass / Without Love
Alice Glass, former frontwoman of punky electronic act Crystal Castles, has just dropped a new solo number in the form of Without Love. Compared to her 2015 gnarly, noise-rocking debut single Stillbirth, the song is surprisingly a much tamer offering that relies on wobbly synths. "How are you gonna lie about me now?/ I see you watching me from underground/ Quasi-Strangers waiting to be found/ How are you gonna lie? Got to be without love," she sings in the spectral voice that recalls Purity Ring's Megan James. Speaking about her forthcoming album, Glass said that "some songs sound more like being eaten by fire ants and some songs are like being slowly consumed by a snake". This one definitely belongs in the latter camp.
Mogwai / Party In The Dark
Mogwai's new album, Every Country's Sun, is imminent (as imminent as early next month, in fact), and here we get to hear Party In The Dark, a follow-up to lead single Coolverine. The track, complete with a conventional song structure (yes, vocals, hook, lyrics and all!), marks the band's most accessible material to date. Who would have thought these Scottish post-rockers could rustle up a catchy indie-rock jam that could easily rival what's on today's radio.
Pink / What About Us
Mogwai is not the only band with a new record on the horizon -- pop songstress Pink is set to release hers shortly after. Titled Beautiful Trauma, the seventh LP arrives five years following the release of 2012's The Truth About Love. First single What About Us sees the singer delivering an impassioned message about hope and defiance. "We are searchlights, we can see in the dark/ We are rockets, pointed up at the stars," she begins alongside the soft piano chords and then breaks into an anthemic chorus. "What about us?/ What about all the times you said you had the answers?/ What about us?/ What about all the broken happy ever afters?"
The Horrors / Something To Remember Me By
Something To Remember Me By is the latest taste of The Horrors' forthcoming fifth record V. Clocking in at six minutes and 39 seconds, the song unfolds in a decidedly danceable fashion over a vibrant synth-pop groove. Frontman Faris Badwan has never sounded so wistful here either, singing about "the fear of letting go" and "the arrow of acceptance". We especially dig the moment when the track comes to a brief halt and starts to build up all over again before eventually fading into silence.
