In a 2013 interview, Kesha revealed that she had little creative control over her music and expressed her desire to showcase "other sides" of her personality, aside from the wild, irreverent and hedonic drunken-party-girl persona that her hit singles repeatedly carved out for her. The next month, Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips revealed that their unusual, non-formulaic collaboration on a forthcoming album named Lip$ha was no longer in the making. Kesha was admitted into rehab in January the following year, and the much-publicized legal drama with her producer Dr Luke began later that year. Kesha may have been unsuccessful (so far) in freeing herself from her contractual obligations to Dr Luke's Kemosabe Records and a purportedly abusive working relationship with him, but one of her statements in 2013 has proved to be prophetic: "Hopefully in the future, I'll be in a position where I can put out a ballad or a more vulnerable song".
"Praying" - the first taste of her upcoming Rainbow, out August 11th - is a vulnerable piano ballad that signals an aesthetic break from the Auto-tuned party commander that Dr Luke fashioned Kesha to be, and an implicit rebuttal to his controlling ways. Since she is still contractually obligated to produce music under Kemosabe Records, Kesha resorts to appealing to a divine power for the justice that earthly ones may not administer: 'Oh, some say, in life, you're gonna get what you give/ But some things only God can forgive'. Retribution is only a part of the song's message; most of it sees Kesha, in a manner reminiscent of Beyonce's Lemonade, aiming to free herself from the burden of a painful past:
'I'm proud of who I amNo more monsters, I can breathe againAnd you said that I was doneWell, you were wrong and now the best is yet to come'Cause I can make it on my ownAnd I don't need you, I found a strength I've never knownI'll bring thunder, I'll bring rain, oh-ohWhen I'm finished, they won't even know your name'
Lyrics: Genius
In a personal essay for Lena Dunham's Lenny Letter, Kesha noted that the song is "about coming to feel empathy for someone else even if they hurt you or scare you", "about learning to be proud of the person you are even during low moments when you feel alone" and "about hoping everyone, even someone who hurt you, can heal". These are all amiable intentions, and the return of Kesha's voice in a raw, desperately human and powerful form is a welcomed fulfillment of the kind of creative expression that was long-thwarted by Dr Luke's desire to rival Max Martin's catalogue of No. 1 hits.
In taking the high road, however, Kesha also seems to have allowed her art to mirror her real-life legal setbacks. At one point she sings 'And we both know all the truth I could tell', suggesting that the true facts of their complicated partnership might never be fully revealed. But when setting the score proves to be too costly and practically impossible, the pragmatic choice would be to cut one's losses, move on nonetheless and hope for the best.
