Album Review: Kesha – PERIOD.

Kesha is a name in music that has maintained relevance through the 2010’s and beyond, but her career has been anything but smooth sailing. After featuring on Flo Rida’s smash hit Right Round and having her own string of hits including TiK ToK, Your Love Is My Drug, and Die Young, she entered into a long and costly legal battle with her former producer Dr. Luke. Coming out the other side of this, and of her five-album contract with Kemosabe Records, Kesha has dropped her first independently released album Period.

Period, or . as it’s been released as, being atmospherically with the aptly titled FREEDOM. The track spends nearly its first two minutes vocal-less, the first sign of Kesha’s voice after her reverberated cried being the line ‘freedom I’ve been waiting for you; everything’s changed now’, another fitting nod to the circumstances of this album and her life. This is switched up immediately with a funky bass line and Kesha’s more recognisable sassy singing style, mixed excellently with a backing choir. Single JOYRIDE. follows the themes and sounds of the opener, just more concise and bouncy. YIPPEE-KI-YAY. throwback to the 2010’s acoustic guitar meets club kick sound, while DELUSIONAL. seems to take the acoustic’s aesthetic and turn it into a synth that builds into the bittersweet and emotional power ballad.

RED FLAG. drives along on a hard beat and heavy bass, while LOVE FOREVER. has a summery shimmer, complete with an airy melody and an in-the-pocket bass line, as well as a Daft Punk Random Access Memory-esc chorus. GLOW. and TOO HARD. embrace different sides of the modern pop sphere, the former with a BRAT looseness while the latter brings back the soft funky style that feels very dreamy. The album’s closer CATHEDRAL. strips everything back – until the end – to reveal Kesha’s great vocal delivery as she confesses her past discretions, comparing herself to a cathedral saying ‘I was the one who needed forgiving’. It’s a beautiful comparative piece to the opener, and a fantastic way to close out this collection.

If PERIOD. is the start of a new era for Kesha then everyone has something to be excited about. This album is a showcase of popular music, combining different styles seamlessly and showing that she has the ability to cover them all with style and substance. The deep cuts on this reveal a woman getting demons off her chest, but they also show someone finally free to move on with their life. Whether you’re here to party or cry, or both, there is something here for everyone.

Ryan Bulbeck

Writer and Musician, Ryan Bulbeck has been published with a number of online publications, and has worked with a myriad of great artists, both as a performer, and as a producer. His most recent band The 295 are still active, playing shows around the UK.