Kesha | |
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Kesha in June 2010. |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Kesha Rose Sebert |
Born | March 1, 1987 Los Angeles, California, United States |
Origin | Nashville, Tennessee United States[1][2] |
Genres | Electropop, dance-pop |
Occupations | Singer, rapper, songwriter |
Instruments | Vocals, piano, guitar |
Years active | 2005–present |
Labels | RCA |
Associated acts | Flo Rida |
Website | www.keshasparty.com |
Kesha Rose Sebert (born March 1, 1987),[3] better known by the mononym Kesha ( /ˈkɛʃə/ KESH-ə, stylized Ke$ha), is an American pop singer, rapper and songwriter. At age eighteen, Kesha was signed to Dr. Luke's record label and publishing company.[4] Although an active musician since 2005, singing background vocals and writing songs for other artists, her breakthrough only came in early 2009 after appearing on Flo Rida's number one single, "Right Round." Her debut single, "Tik Tok", released in late 2009, reached number one in eleven countries. Her debut album, Animal, was released in January 2010 and debuted at number one in the US. By March, Kesha had sold a million albums and eight million singles worldwide.[5]
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Kesha was born in Los Angeles, California, to Pebe Sebert, a singer and songwriter.[6] Pebe, a single mother, struggled financially while supporting Kesha and her older brother, Lagan, at the time. They had to rely on welfare payments and food stamps to get by.[1] When Kesha was an infant, Pebe would often have to look after her onstage while performing.[7] Kesha grew up without her father and does not know who he is.[1] Pebe moved the family to Nashville, Tennessee, in 1991, after securing a publishing deal.[6] She frequently brought Kesha and her brothers, Lagan and Louis, along to recording studios and encouraged Kesha to sing.[1][6] Pebe also taught Kesha how to write songs and they would often write together when she returned home from school.[1][8]
The Seberts were featured in an episode of The Simple Life, as the host family for Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie in 2005.[9] Kesha described herself in an interview as being "very studious" in high school; she would drive to Belmont University to listen in on Cold War history classes after school and achieved "near perfect" SAT scores.[8] However, she dropped out at age seventeen and earned her GED afterward.[10] She left school after being convinced by Dr. Luke and Max Martin to return to Los Angeles to pursue a music career. They had received Kesha's demo after Pebe passed it to Samantha Cox, senior director of writer/publisher relations at BMI, and were impressed.[4]
At age eighteen, Kesha was signed to Luke's label, Kemosabe Entertainment, and music publishing company, Prescription Songs.[4] Six months after hosting Paris Hilton at her house, Luke gave Kesha the opportunity to sing background vocals for Hilton's single, "Nothing in This World".[11][12][13] In 2006, Kesha signed with David Sonenberg's management company, DAS Communications Inc., hardly interacting with Luke after that. DAS was tasked with obtaining a major label record deal for her in a year’s time with her having the option of ending the relationship if they failed.[14] She worked with several top writers and producers while at the company and credits the creation of her beat-driven sound to a co-writing session with Greg Wells.[4] She also co-wrote The Veronicas' single, "This Love" with Toby Gad.[15]
While her songs were used on television programs,[6] Kesha moonlighted as a waitress and a telemarketer to make ends meet.[16] Two years after arriving in Los Angeles, she decided that she wanted Prince to produce her music and located his home. After she trespassed and was discovered, she was thrown out of his home, but not before she left her demo with him.[1] She sang background vocals for Britney Spears' song "Lace and Leather" and appeared in the video for Katy Perry's single, "I Kissed a Girl" in 2008.[2] DAS soon attracted the attention of Kara DioGuardi, who wanted to sign her to Warner. The deal fell through due to conflicts with Kesha's existing contract with Dr. Luke's label. She terminated her contract with DAS in September and reunited with Luke.[4][14]
Kesha gained exposure in the mainstream media in early 2009 after appearing on Flo Rida's number one single, "Right Round."[17] The collaboration was called "an accident" by Kesha; she had walked into a recording session with Flo Rida and Luke.[18] Flo Rida wanted a female voice for the song; Luke then suggested Kesha for the part. Flo Rida liked the end result so much that they did two more tracks.[3] However, she is not credited for her feature on the US release of "Right Round" and did not collect any money for the part.[4][17] She also refused to appear in the video; she explained in an interview that, "if you want to be a legitimate artist, it’s more important what you say no to. I knew he would want me to be some sexpot, shake my booty, and whatever."[19]
Soon after, Kesha signed a multi-album deal with RCA through Luke's imprint, after being sought after by Lava Records and Flo Rida's record label, Atlantic Records as well.[4] RCA had noticed her strong following on social media when negotiating her contract and thus relied on viral marketing to build a following for her debut single, "Tik Tok", offering the song as a free stream on MySpace in July. It was released digitally in the US in August and sent to radio two months later.[5] She made her official stage debut at Lollapalooza and graced the cover of Women's Wear Daily in the same month as the single's release.[20] By then, Kesha had also co-written the title track for Miley Cyrus' The Time of Our Lives EP and made an appearance on Pitbull's album.[21][22]
"Tik Tok" topped the charts in eleven countries and became the first Billboard Hot 100 number one of the new decade in 2010.[23] Spending nine weeks at number one, on the chart "Tik Tok" became the longest running number one debut single by a female artist since Debby Boone's 1977 single, "You Light Up My Life".[24] In its second week at the top, the song set the weekly record for the most digital downloads of a female artist and became the second best-selling single in a week, after "Right Round", by shifting 610,000 copies.[25] At its fifth week at number one, it broke the record for the highest weekly total Top 40 Mainstream airplay record.[26]
Kesha's debut album, Animal, was released in January to mixed reviews from music critics. Rolling Stone summed the album up as "repulsive, obnoxious and ridiculously catchy."[8] It debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 152,000 copies with 76% of sales coming from digital outlets, the largest weekly digital percentage share for an album at number one.[27] Album track "Blah Blah Blah" debuted in the top ten in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand in the same week as the album due to strong digital sales.[28] By March, Animal had sold a million copies worldwide with half of the sales coming from digital downloads. Its singles had racked up eight million downloads as well.[5] As of June, the album has reached close to 800,000 copies in sales in the US alone.[29]
In May, "Tik Tok" was featured in the opening sequence for The Simpsons episode "To Surveil With Love" where the entire cast lip-synced to the song,[30] making it the first time the series had forgone its traditional opening theme for another song since its creation.[29] Kesha was also featured on two top ten singles by Taio Cruz and 3OH!3 in that same month.[13] Both opportunities came through recommendations by Dr. Luke.[31][32] Later that month, Kesha's former managers from DAS filed a lawsuit, seeking $14 million from Kesha and $12 million from Luke for commissions on her RCA Records deal, alleging that she squeezed them out of her career under pressure from Luke.[14]
In August, Kesha was named brand ambassador for Casio. She will design two watches for the Baby-G women's line as well.[33] She was also a supporting act along with Travie McCoy on the summer North American leg of Rihanna's Last Girl on Earth tour.[34] Spin called her "fantastically obnoxious" in her opening set in Vancouver, Canada.[35]
Kesha held a benefit concert on June 16, 2010 where all proceeds went to aid victims of the May 2010 Tennessee floods from her hometown Nashville.[36] She raised close to $70,000 from the event.[37] She also donated 1,000 pounds of dog food to a local animal shelter for pets abandoned in the flood.[38] She explained the motivation behind the benefit "Nashville helped shape me as an artist and as a person and my love for this city is beyond words. I will continue to do anything I can to help rebuild this city and support the families and animals who have been affected by this tragedy."[36]
On June 21, 2010 Kesha was one of the celebrities answering calls at a telethon organized by Larry King and CNN to help those impacted by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Their efforts brought in more than $1.81 million for three charities.[39]
Kesha has been noted for her party girl image and behavior,[40] while both she and her music have been dismissed early on as lightweight, calculating and crude.[41] She would later openly admit in interviews that while her antics and lyrics were real, much of her image was a joke, also lamenting that many critics did not "get the joke." She states that she was being ironic, that it was "a bit of being an idiot for the sake of having fun with it."[42] She insisted that they should look past her image, saying "I have been working on realizing this dream, my path, my mission, for years. I’ve really invested a lot of thought, time and effort into it. The last thing that makes me is a victim [of celebrity culture]. I think it’s a bummer when people don’t represent that properly, when they portray me as purely one-dimensional."[41]
Kesha has said that the dollar sign in her stage name was meant to be ironic, in that she "actually [stood] for the opposite of putting a lot of emphasis on money."[11] Her styling comprises messy hair, smudged makeup and a wardrobe she describes as "garbage-chic". The look developed from her being poor and trying to brand herself as best she could on a budget.[43] She has named Keith Richards as her fashion inspiration.[11] 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."[22] Her stage makeup is characterized by dramatic makeup at her right eye, inspired by A Clockwork Orange,[44] and body glitter.[45] Kesha came in at number fifty-six on Maxim's 2010 Hot 100 "definitive list of the world’s most beautiful women".[46]
Kesha has cited Beck, Queen, Madonna, Johnny Cash, Aaron Neville, Bob Dylan, Beastie Boys, The Damned, Velvet Underground, Talking Heads and Blondie as musical influences.[12][21][40][42][47] She has also highlighted Dylan's Nashville Skyline as her favorite album and called her debut album, Animal, an homage to the Beastie Boys' Licensed to Ill.[12] She has writing credits on every track on the album and defended her decision to make pop music in an interview, explaining that, "[p]eople get so pretentious about pop music so I do feel like I'm fighting this battle. My record is honest and fun. It's a celebration of youth and life and going out and getting crazy. I'm about non-pretentious irreverence and fuck off good fun!"[48][49]
Kesha credits the album as having a rock edge, with straightforward lyrics based on her life experiences and influenced by the storytelling style of country music.[6][16][50] She has urged critics not to take her lyrics seriously; such as in "Tik Tok", where she has been criticized for referencing brushing her teeth with a bottle of Jack Daniel's whiskey. She explained that, "Everyone's really offended by that. But come on, brushing your teeth with Jack Daniel's: what girl does that? People are like, 'Do you really advocate brushing your teeth with bourbon?' I'm like, 'Yes, actually, I do, every day, for everybody. Especially eight year olds.' I mean, what are you talking about? Of course I don't. Come on."[41] She has also expressed frustration at the double standard for the objectification of women in music. Thus, in songs such as "Blah Blah Blah" and "Boots and Boys", she makes it a point to sing the same way men traditionally sing about women.[1][44]
Animal is of the dance-pop genre; it incorporates elements of electropop in its production. It ranges from high energy pop dance tracks, to electronic ballads, to songs with guitar riffs.[48] When it came to her ballads, Kesha stated that they "[would] still have that four-on-the-floor to keep the heads moving." She also regards the need for her live shows to be "rowdy and really fun, and hopefully dance-inducing."[50]
Kesha uses a sing-song rapping style on a number of her songs, which she admitted had begun as a joke,[4] most notably on her debut single "Tik Tok". The New York Times stated that the song represented "the complete and painless assimilation of the white female rapper into pop music."[19] The Los Angeles Times compared this vocal style to that of L'Trimm and Salt-N-Pepa.[51] Kesha has been criticized for using Auto-Tune and vocoders to distort her vocals on her album Animal.[52] Billboard stated that the heavily processed vocals "[made] it hard to tell whether [Kesha could] actually sing."[53]
Year | Nominated work | Event | Award | Result |
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2010 | Herself | Eska Awards | Best New Artist Of The Year | Won |
Herself | MTV Video Music Awards | Best New Artist | Pending | |
"Tik Tok" | Best Female Video | Pending | ||
Best Pop Video | Pending | |||
"My First Kiss" | Best Collaboration | Pending | ||
"Tik Tok" | MuchMusic Video Awards | International Video of the Year - Artist | Nominated | |
UR FAVE: International Video | Nominated | |||
Herself | Teen Choice Awards | Choice Music: Female Artist | Nominated | |
Choice Music: Breakout Artist — Female | Nominated | |||
Choice Summer Music Star: Female | Nominated | |||
"Animal" | Choice Music: Album — Pop | Nominated | ||
"Your Love Is My Drug" | Choice Music: Single | Nominated | ||
Choice Summer Music: Song | Nominated | |||
Herself | World Music Awards | Best New Artist | Nominated |
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