Pretty much out of the blue, Kesha released her new single last week. One day, she announced a new video on Instagram and the next day, the video was up.
The song is called “Praying” and, immediately, received its first million views, just hours after its release.
The video shows her in an almost psychedelic setting, at times. Shots of her alone on a raft in the water are mixed with shots of her playing the piano and walking passed signs of harsh words that were probably said to her. They are so generic they could have been said to any victim of bullying, too. In fact, it’s what makes the song and video appealing to a lot more people, despite it being a personal tale for Kesha.
It goes without saying that Kesha has been through a lot. It’s easy to focus on her most recent hard times with the ongoing court case against Dr. Luke – it’s been dominating the press for a little over two years or so - but obviously the time leading up to that must have been tough as well. That she’s been battling for years, is clear to everyone and so is the fact that she, now, has some emotions to work through. And when artists have shit to work through, they come up with their best musical work.
I’m not Kesha’s biggest fan, but this is, by far, the best thing I’ve ever heard from her. Her vocals are fragile in the beginning, but get built up to a strong vocal very quickly. The raw emotion really shows once the song goes towards the end and that’s where she surprises me the most, both by the high note as well as the breaks in her voice that make this song sound so authentic.
Musically, there’s a lot of unexpected variation in the song that just keeps surprising and captivating. She could’ve chosen to take a really safe route (kind of like Geri Halliwell’s tribute to George Michael), but she’s chosen to a different path when writing this song with Ryan Lewis, and it’s definitely very well done.
There’s no denying that “Praying” probably refers to Dr Luke, as well as it tells her own personal struggle to become stronger and, perhaps, even whole again. Dr Luke didn’t waste too much time to release a statement reminding the world that she is still under contract with his label and it had been her choice not to record any new music since “Warrior”. Kesha’s new album, “Rainbow” is the first album to be released since and is expected August 11th.
