Animal
4/5
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that Ke$ha is another blonde kid on the pop production line. This is a girl who snuck into Prince’s house just to hand over her demo; a girl who added her vocal flair to Flo Rida’s number one smash ‘Right Round’ but refused to be in the video in case it harmed her image; a girl who will announce to the world that her producer Benny Blanco thinks her ‘armpit smells like a shrimp in a diaper’; a girl who co-wrote every one of the tracks on this, her debut album (as well as a couple on Miley Cyrus’s last one).
Somehow we don’t think Ke$ha is anyone’s marionette. Part Valley girl, part mascara-smudged hipster, part electro-pop minx, her tunes are liberally slathered in Auto-Tune, Benny Benassi-like synths and producer Dr Luke’s (Katy Perry, Britney) seductive gloss.
But Ke$ha’s real strength lies in her knowing, occasionally kitsch lyrics, many of which are ripped straight from the party girl’s diary. From the rowdy chart-topper ‘Tik Tok’ to the feisty ‘Blind’ to ‘Party in a Rich Dude’s House’ (sample lyric: ‘I threw up in the closet’), Ke$ha embodies her tunes with enviable gusto. She’s irreverent, frisky, fierce as they come and very much the belle of her own ball.
Kim Taylor Bennett
Available now in stores.
