Kesha’s back to croon!

Kesha recently discussed her fourth studio album, which is due to release this December. The LP will mark a full return to Kesha’s pop roots, after leaning into a more country-soul sound on her last record, 2017’s ‘Rainbow’. The as-yet-untitled new record was co-written with her mom Pebe, Dan Reynolds from Imagine Dragons and many other song-writers.

Ten years ago, she says, things were drastically different, just starting her career, she was “under the impression that to do this job, you don’t eat, you don’t sleep, you don’t have privacy, and you don’t have time for yourself.”

But eventually, “I just got sick of being mean to myself.” And once it clicked that she was in this “for the forever,” she realized her way of life wasn’t exactly sustainable. “I’m not starving myself for anymore. I’m too old for that. Been there, done that, it sucked, no thank you,” said Kesha.

Perhaps one of the main events that encouraged her to return to her music was when she performed Praying’ at the 2018 Grammys, backed by a chorus of women clad in all white, including Cyndi Lauper, Camila Cabello and Andra Day. It’s become one of the most powerful in Grammy history and a very gratifying experience for the singer too, for her to simply witness the respect that she had that night.

Over the course of making the new album, Kesha says, she proved to herself that she could find a balance between her early style and her more recent, introspective inclinations.
In the meantime, fans will hear a “Praying”-esque song on that new album. It’s about growing up without a father, contemplating having children and wondering if having a dad around would have protected her from everything. She wrote it shortly after her late business manager, a beloved father figure, passed away.

Speaking about her upcoming songs, the singer said, “You write songs about an awesome night where you go and meet Elton John and lose your phone in an Uber, and sometimes you write songs about what it might have been like if you grew up with a father, because you have absolutely no clue. And hopefully, by now, the world has realized that you can be multidimensional.”