"Bastards" Is The Defiant Comeback We Wanted From Kesha

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"Bastards" Is The Defiant Comeback We Wanted From Kesha

The 'Rainbow’s' opener is its most powerful and effective song.

Photo Credit: Kevin Mazur / Getty Images

Kesha is no longer Ke$ha. The pop star who catapulted into the mainstream with her massive club hit "TiK ToK" has forgone the money sign in her name, which marks a subtle, profound change. Her new album, Rainbow, feels like a debut, like she is, in many ways, fresh and new once again. Rainbow was released last week after almost five years of her being unable to make and profit off of new music because of a (painful and public) legal battle against her alleged abuser Dr. Luke. And while a lot of critical focus has been on her anthemic, uplifting singles from Rainbow ("Praying" and "Woman") as a nod to her pop music renewal, it's actually the album's introspective country twang opener, "Bastards," that is the core of Kesha's refresh and comeback—the one song on the record that truly encapsulates that Kesha is still defiantly here. It's the place on the album where she takes on her alleged abuser, rips into the music industry at at large, and anyone else who undervalued her.

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"Bastards" is a ballad, a song dedicated to Kesha by Kesha. Each line is an intention; a defined, actionable want that she can achieve. The song opens with the Nashville native— whose mother Pebe Sebert has a major foothold in the country music world—strumming a guitar and singing, "I got too many people I got left to prove wrong/ All those motherfuckers been too mean for too long/ And I'm so sick of crying, yeah/ Darling, what's it for?" Kesha's words almost sound defeatist set against the slow, singular guitar strum. Her normally caricature pop singing voice has been stripped away and what we have left is low and hymnal. While much of Rainbow deals in platitudes of learning to let go and forgiving those who have hurt her, "Bastards" confronts the realism of her obstacles and works as motivation to navigate them. More specifically, Kesha confronts who is standing in her way—bastards she doesn't give a name to, but whom we can discern. Dr. Luke (Lukasz Gottwald) is the most prominent of the "bastards," as he allegedly emotional and physically abused the singer during their working relationship together. As the song goes on, Kesha's voice gets deeper and more powerful as she sings, "Don't let the scumbags screw you 'round/ Don't let the bastards take you down." Kesha's attempts to get out of her contract with Dr. Luke's Kemosabe Records (under the major label, Sony) have been thwarted legally. Another "bastard" could be the music industry at large. Kesha went to rehab in 2014 for an eating disorder treatment, citing in an essay that a fairly substantial reason she was there was because of industry pressure to be sick but thin. As she sings, "Don't let the assholes wear you out/ Don't let the mean girls take the crown" on "Bastards," one can't help but hear the searing hurt and what kind of resilience it takes to overcome those pressures.

The lyric that is the most profound and cutting on "Bastards," however is, "Been underestimated my entire life." The sentiment is simple, sure, but it encompasses Kesha's journey up to now. Not just in the idea that society has at times treated her claims with incredulity but also Kesha as a pop star. Rarely hailed in the same regards as Lady Gaga or even Katy Perry at their respective peaks, as a writer and performer, Kesha has been integral to pop. Her fastidious dedication to creating banger pop songs isn't a fluke; it's a gift. Not only has she written her own massive hits ("TiK ToK" and "We R Who We R"), she has been part of Flo Rida's "Right Round," lending vocals to the 2009 megahit; she also has writing credits on Britney Spears' "Till The World Ends" and Miley Cyrus' "The Time Of Our Lives." Those who have sought to underestimate her, pass her off as a simple pop party girl, are in for a reckoning—not just on "Bastards," but on Rainbow as a whole.

Perhaps she is more palatable to critics who once turned their noses up at the superficial pop world and stayed in little rock music bubbles. She is no longer "getting slizzard" but she is both club hit Ke$ha and the candid, thoughtful pop star Kesha who appears before us today. She is now in control of who she is, as a person and as a musician. Kesha is resilient and she has transcended her critics and abusers. "Bastards" tells us that. It tells us of the compromises she's had to negotiate, personally and professionally, before realizing and being able to come into her own personal power. This is why "Bastards" is not only an excellent intro to her album, but to her own restart.

Sarah MacDonald is an Assistant Editor at Noisey Canada. Follow her on Twitter.