Picture property of The Sun Newspaper. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage
So let’s talk about Ke$ha for a minute.
She’s been blowing up the radio in your car, she’s making frequent appearances in the Facebook status updates of girls, guys and grown-up but out-of-control, unable-to-adapt party lovers everywhere—and she’s even blaring in the department stores you shop in.
In her video on RollingStone’s website she proclaims, “You know, it’s a recession; dancing is free. I wanna make people dance.”
And, so: I LOVE HER!
Call me trend follower, or a mindless sheep flocking to what the entertainment and music industries demand I view as the “Next. Best. Shit.” You can even call me shallow, unintelligent or easily entertained. But you know what? My newfound love of this girl, much like my two-years-running obsession with Taylor Swift, isn’t going to be something I give up anytime soon.
Why, you might ask?
Her new album “Animal,” has beats reminiscent of Lady GaGa. She works with a free and liberal application of glorious glitter make-up. Her songs reference being a “hot-mess,” “feelin’ like P.Diddy”, “a dirty free-for-all” and those “D-I-N-O-S-A-U-R old men” who don’t realize us young hot things don’t want them to eye-fuck us (or buy us drinks no matter how poor we are, thank you very much!). And for every song of hers that I listen to, I have a different, crazy “this jam makes me happy” dance, an accompanying moronic smile and a variety of harmonization in place. “So why wouldn’t I obsess over her?” might be a better question.
I’M ADDICTED.
Oh, and I also might want to add that Ke$ha is like my imaginary best friend who is so exactly like my self-deprecating, dysfunctional side that she’s practically living inside my body and brain.
So, why does this seeming artist/album review belong in a blog about men and fashion?
Well…besides the fact that her delectable little snack “Boots and Boys” inspired this blog with my favorite lines “I’m keepin’ quite the collection, take nothin’ but perfection, cowboy boots—cowboy boys; Mmm, oh joy,” you can take your pick from her variety of songs I can’t keep out of my head (or my cd player).
Peek, for instance, at these lyrics from “Your Love Is My Drug,” the first track of “Animal:”
“Baby I need some rehab,
Or maybe just need some sleep.
I got a sick obsession,
I’m seein’ it in my dreams.
I’m lookin’ down every alley,
I’m makin’ those desperate calls;
I’m stayin’ up all night hopin’…
Hittin’ my head against the wall!
What you got, boy,
is hard to find;
I think about it all the time.
I’m all strung out,
my heart is fried,
I just can’t get you,
off my mind.
Because your love, your love, your love:
is my drug.
Your love, your love, your love!
I said, your love, your love, your love:
Is my drug.
Your love, your love, your love!
Won’t listen to any advice;
Mom’s tellin’ me I should think twice.
But left to my own devices,
I’m addicted; it’s a crisis!
My friends think I’ve gone crazy.
My judgment’s gettin’ kinda hazy.
My steeze is gonna be affected
If I keep it up like a lovesick crackhead!”
For any of you who know me well, this might remind you of certain “drive-bys” and other stalking tendencies from my college days (yes, that means this is in the past… at least for now). I've definitely been that crackhead before... and so have you. So even if you don’t know me, it all still makes sense. Who among us hasn’t been tragically nuts (for no reason, I might add) over a guy before? This bass-heavy, guilty, pop-pleasure piece displays the insane tendencies of any young lady in lust or in infatuation with an asshole that is really just bad for her. It shows how pathetic we can be as women, but how completely understandable and universal it is at the same time.
But following that song up five tracks later is “Blah, Blah Blah” where Ke$ha insists:
“Zip your lip like a padlock,
and meet me in the back with the Jack and the jukebox
I don’t really care where you live at,
Just turn around boy—let me hit that.
Don’t be a little bitch with your chit chat
Just show me where your dick’s at!”
….
“Boy come on get your rocks off.
Come put a little love in my glove box.
Wanna dance with no pants on?
Meet me in the back with the Jack and the jukebox!”
This time, she demonstrates our ability to “wham, bam, thank you ma’am” like the boys, and sings the truth that while some men makes us nuts… others are just as pathetic as we can be sometimes.
Either way, Ke$ha delivers from every angle. She covers all spectrums. I feel like her album could help me recover from or revel in a one-night stand, a “lost cause” of a relationship that was never to be, or the end of my most important romance. Maybe I’m reaching, maybe I’m right, or maybe I’m a sucker. There’s also the possibility that Ke$ha and I are both pathetic and insane. But whatever the case… I bet there are millions of women out there who feel just like me.
Ke$ha gets us; she is us. She understands our need to fight control, capture and maintain it and then throw it all away with a really strong bottle of booze. Let’s invite her to our next party! And I, for one, am taking back my confidence, my control and rockin’ my stride for the first time in a long while… thanks to Ke$ha. Again, that might be me reaching a little, but with the affect music has on people, it’s definitely possible that she’s at least assisting in the process!
And btw, in her RollingStone video, she also tossed out:
“I plan to leave this decade fists held high, fighting a war against pretention.”
And after some recent man interactions, I am too. So EFF pretentious people and judgmental shortsighted egocentrics—and let’s rage along to a little Ke$ha ladies!
Picture property of bpm Magazine. http://www.bpmmagazine.net
