Kesha's been out of rehab for a little over 3 weeks now and made her first post-rehab red carpet appearance Saturday night at The Humane Society of the United States 60th Anniversary Gala in Beverly Hills. She looked gorgeous, happy, and most importantly, healthy! Kesha could not have chosen a better occasion for her reemergence. She has done wonderful work as a Humane Society Ambassador and last year won the Wyler Award for increasing awareness of animal issues via the media. The Humane Society crowd will always value Kesha for her significant contributions to their cause.
I'm a fan of Kesha's and love everything about her (except the atrocious video for "Die Young"). Before her eating disorder came to light, she posted some Instagram shots of herself showing off her booty and newly-skinny physique. Rihanna set the bar on this type of gratuitous self-promotion, and at the time I thought Kesha was just trying to stay relevant in the same way. But now we know she was struggling with her body image and was starving herself so much she nearly died.
It looks like Kesha is almost back to a healthy weight, but I'm sure she will be dealing with her self-image and eating issues for years to come, if not her whole life. Eating disorders are like other addictions and must be vigilantly managed or they can creep back in and take hold again. Here's hoping that she acquired some tools to deal with this on a long-term basis, and that she continues to receive support from those close to her and from her "Animals," as she calls her fans.
Kesha says that she's working on new music, and I wonder if she will continue to work with Dr. Luke. She is only 2 albums (or 3, if you count "Animal" and "Cannibal" separately) into her reported 8-album contract with the successful producer, but is struggling to exert more creative control over her product. There is even a petition (with nearly 12,000 signatures at the time of this writing) demanding that Kesha be released from her contract with Dr. Luke. My opinion of this is conflicted, and I haven't signed the petition. On the one hand, Dr. Luke has produced 2 wonderful albums for Kesha that I love and her fans love, and I wonder if they would have been as good if Kesha got her way. But on the other hand, if Kesha is not allowed to express herself creatively in the manner she wishes, she might self-sabotage again, and her frustration might lead to the end of her career.
If Kesha's Bob Ezrin-produced contribution to the Bob Dylan tribute album, "Chimes of Freedom," is any indication of how she would express herself if freed from Dr. Luke's control, then I'm not sure she would continue to achieve mainstream success. The a capella track is an obviously-heartfelt vocal delivery of "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright," sung as a suicide note by a jilted lover. The song includes Kesha crying, and is practically unlistenable. I appreciate what she was trying to do with this stripped-down-to-the-bones rendition of a classic, but I'm sure it will be one of those tracks everyone skips over, just like any song sung by Meg White on a White Stripes album. However, this one-off song is surely an anomaly, and I bet that any non-Luke endeavor she undertakes would be as enjoyable as anything she has previously released. I mean, Kesha's the one writing those sassy lyrics and delivering them with the perfect combination of culturally-informed smart irreverence and balls-out joyful abandon, and that's what makes her fans love her. Whatever may happen with the third album, you can be sure that I will be first in line to pre-order that sucker on Amazon.
Via Ryan Seacrest
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