Ke$ha - Warrior
Artist – Ke$ha
Album – Warrior
Label – Sony
Rating – 4/5
Ke$ha proved more than a few people wrong by lasting more than five minutes after Tik Tok left the charts. Now the highly controversial singer, who seems to have many of the same properties of Marmite, is back with her second full album Warrior.
She claims it’s a much more grown up record, and while it won’t quite be keeping Florence Welch up at night, it’s a big step forward for Ke$ha.
While Warrior may have several tracks that are auto-tuned to within an inch of their lives, it never manages to aggravate and annoy like Kesha’s previous work. It uses it now more as a statement of style on individual tracks, as opposed to purely covering up every inch of vocal.
This is a massive upgrade from both Animal or Cannibal, with Warrior not only able to carry songs that can make a stock broker dance like a nincompoop, but also the occasional slower, more mellow moment.
Think Of You sounds like an odd mash-up between Daft Punk and Katy Perry and Wonderland is a vocally stripped back track of disarming sincerity. She even ends the album on a power ballad of all things. The weirdest thing of all? It’s actually rather brilliant. Who would have every though Ke$ha could pull off a power ballad?
There’s a bit more than a passing resemblance to Katy Perry throughout, although, this is has a much harder edge to it than the Teenage Dream hitmaker’s latest album, conveying far more menace to it than a lot of pop out there right now. Instead of just toying with electronica, when it gives into its urges (most clearly on its title track and opener) it absolutely commits to this new route with aplomb.
Warrior is also infectiously catchy throughout, with album constantly managing to hook you back in despite your best efforts to tear yourself away from it.
Yes there are still call backs to her partying days, she’s not moved that far away from her glittered up past, but even in those grimy, unapologetically dirty moments, Warrior is disarmingly good.
If Ke$ha capitalises on the finest parts of Warrior then she really could have a future past the YOLO craze that she was such a major part of.
Ke$ha – Warrior is out now and you can get it right here.
FemaleFirst Cameron Smith
Tagged in Kesha