Ke$ha
Warrior/Commentaries [Kemosabe]
B-list autotune popstress Ke$ha who, the older readers among you will recall, stole her entire image and sound from French electro C-list autotune popstress Uffie, has got a new album. If you’re familiar with pop albums, you’re familiar with this one. The first seven or so tracks are up-tempo, potential singles frontloaded for the listener’s convenience. The last seven or so consist of change-up – ballads, weird pastiches of I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll, that sort of thing. These sorts of records are immune to the conventional album review – unless they’re very good – almost by definition.
More interesting than the actual music, however, is the fact that (newly available) Spotify provides a track-by-track commentary by the auteur herself. It’s almost like a DVD commentary on a television box-set, except it’s not played over the music and it’s not even slightly insightful. “So… *Warrior* is my record…” it opens. From there, she consistently refers to her fans as “my animals” and talks, confusingly, about how she (and her animals) are just really different from ordinary people. It’s actually incredibly interesting to hear the unmediated narrative of a tepid popstar, dispensing personal experience and emotion in PR-type soundbytes. “One night that was super crazy was my birthday party?” she intones, in the same way Bon Iver might tell you about his personal turmoil in a log cabin. Here’s hoping this bizarre development continues in 2013.
See also: Nicki Minaj – Roman Reloaded, Rihanna – Unapologetic, Maximum Britney
