BBC Review
She’s a poster girl for youth gone wild, as annoying as she is charming.
Fraser McAlpine 2010-01-29
Anyone who has enjoyed the woozy charms of Ke$ha’s global hit Tik Tok, or the equally pie-eyed follow-up Blah Blah Blah may find themselves wondering if she can sustain her drunk girl shtick for an entire album.
The fact that there’s a song here called Party at a Rich Dude’s House will not alleviate this concern one bit.
Actually, it’s not that bad. The musical extremes on offer here can be mapped out in a triangle, with Kelly Clarkson at one corner, Princess Superstar in another, and Fergie in the third. So you get rocked-up songs about being a dirty stop-out; poppy dance songs about being a dirty stop-out; and power ballads about feelings.
The revelation is that Ke$ha can really properly sing, and she does. Stephen, a vulnerable ode to an unreliable crush, begins with beautiful layered a cappella harmonies. Sure, it tumbles into clunky pop straight afterwards, but then, that also seems to be what she does: beautiful things are bashed against ugly things, pretty melodies ruined by silly noises, emotional lyrics stuffed with buzzwords.
Brilliantly, the most heartfelt moment on the album, the huge ballad which shows off her impressive bellow off to its best advantage, and the song which should take her furthest from her infamous party animal persona, is called Hungover.
Clever and stupid, in equal measure: that’s the Ke$ha way.
Best of all is D.I.N.O.S.A.U.R., which could’ve been especially created to drive rock-bores into a state of spluttering fury. It is made of nothing but sugar and sass and additives, a song from a young girl to an older man who is attempting to pick her up in a club. All she has to offer him is a scattergun spray of insults, and cutie-pie whistling. It’s childish and Parental Advisory Required at the same time, and is going to infuriate any adult within hearing range.
That’s basically what Ke$ha is for. She’s a poster girl for youth gone wild, and to do that properly, you’ve got to be as annoying as you are charming. She does it properly.
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Comment number 1.
At 18:36 13th Feb 2010, nathan-7 wrote:I completely agree with this review.
"Hungover" is an outstanding power ballad which is a complete opposite to the following track "Party at a Rich Dude's House".
I love all the tracks except "Dinosaur" and "Boots & Boys".
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Comment number 2.
At 17:01 30th Jul 2010, tresbien wrote:As a 20 year old female I should be loving Ke$sha. However, I think she is absolutely disgusting. Has anyone actually listened to her lyrics?
"Blah Blah Blah" openly talks about how she doesn't want to know their name she just wants to get them in the back of a car. Brilliant. Good morals right there Ke$ha.
I'm all for going out and having a good time, but I highly doubt Ke$ha has done a fraction of these things. She's been designed by a record company.
I'm mainly worried about the young girls out there who are really buying into this. I know when I was younger I really listened to the lyrics of bands like the Spice Girls. At the time "2 become 1", to me, was just two people getting together maybe for a nice meal one night. Of course, we all know what they were getting at now, but at least they had some tact.
If Ke$ha is openly singing about her throwing it about, I can imagine teen pregnancy is going to shoot up - not very easy to write a catchy pop song about contraception is it?
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Comment number 3.
At 14:39 2nd Aug 2010, bl0b wrote:tresbien you seem a little confused. are you criticising Ke$ha's morals for describing casual sex or accusing her of never actually doing it? As for this being the cause of an upsurge in teenage pregnancy, apart from the fact there isn't much room for growth there already, there are some other factors here, one called education and the other personal choice...no? Since when did singing for a living come with a moral obligation to replace those?
Are you saying '2 become 1' is unclear about what it was getting at? ('Be a little but wiser, put it on, put it on' seems pretty ambiguous for sure),or using it just to contradict yourself about contraception? so it has been written about in a pop song and didn't cause an immediate drop in teenage pregnancy. weird.
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