Ke$ha - 'Your Love Is My Drug'
Today's lecture is on the topic of mystique: the pop fan's catnip.
Some pop stars are gifted with the ability to transform the act of saying very little - while still desperately pointing to their own faces and generally pleading with the general public to love them unreservedly - into utter fascination.
This is called creating an aura, because you're deliberately conjuring up a cloudy, ghosty sort of a haze around yourself, and allowing tantalising glimpses of what seems to be the real you underneath. The best way to do it is to keep schtum, and strike some seriously arresting poses. To reveal too much, even in your music, is FATAL.
Or to put it another way, one of the principal differences between Ke$ha and Lady GaGa is that Kesh is no lady.
She is gaga tho...*
(. It's a Disney desert romance.)
What she IS good at is spilling her internal monologue all over the floor, and setting the splatterpatterns to music. So far she's been involved in four hit singles (counting Flo Rida's 'Right Round'), three of which play that boozy floozy card, and now here's another.
That's not who Kesha Sebert is as a person, you understand, it's not even the whole story of her musical output. She's pretending to be whiny and drunk because that is what people love about her at the moment. Well, that and her way with a pop chorus, which is pretty mighty, truth be told. This one, for example, is a doozy.
But you only have to listen to the power ballads on her album to see that there's more to her, which is why putting this out as a single is interesting. You'd think some evidence of range would be welcomed at this point. Oh sure, this time she's drunk/whiny and in LOVE, but there's a whole other side to her that you'd never know if you just listened to the singles.
Which means that even though her 'act' is to be far too revealing about her dirty habits (or the dirty habits of other girls that she's putting on as a mask), she has still managed to create something of a mystique cloud around herself.
Either that or her record company know they're on to a good thing and don't want to rock the boat.
Download: Out now
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Music page
(Fraser McAlpine)
"I really tried to hate it but somehow she has created one of the most infectious songs for this summer."
"I think we waited for something better, but what I have to recognize is Kesha's original creativity."
"Ke$ha once again plays the hot mess."
* See what I mean? There was NO NEED to say that. You all got that Lady GaGa minus Lady equals GaGa, right? THAT'S why ChartBlog has no mystique.
Comment number 1.
At 3rd Jun 2010, OddOne wrote:This shouldv'e been the second single. 'Blah Blah Blah' pretty much did what it said on the tin - it was a load of BLAH.
This song however, is a perfect summer anthem. She keeps up the slurred 'half spoken' lyrics for the verse before the infectious bridge takes over and then a chorus which is far more 'TiK ToK' than 'Blah Blah Blah', by which I mean it's just pure genious. Everyone I know who's heard 'Your Love Is My Drug' says they absolutely love it, the radio are giving it the airplay it deserves, and the chorus sticks in your head harder than bubblegum.
Now all she needs to do is release 'Take It Off', and with it's huge hooks and catchy chorus, she'll be cemented 'up there' with GaGa and Pixie as one of the huge success stories of 2009-10.
P.S. "I like your beard". THIS IS V GOOD.
4 stars.
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Comment number 2.
At 3rd Jun 2010, U14429597 wrote:The bit where she says 'wanna have a slumber party in my basement' sounds EXACTLY like the line in 'Blah B;ah Blah' where she says 'wanna put a little love in my glove box'. The beat is like a mix of tik tok and BBB.
HOWEVER, the chorus is AMAZINGLY catchy so 4 stears :)
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Comment number 3.
At 3rd Jun 2010, U14429597 wrote:PIXIE LOTT is NOT a massive success story! She didn't win a BRIT, wasn't nominated for the Mercury Prize, didn't sell over 1million albums worldwide, didn't get fantastic live and Album reviews unlike Florence and The Machine!
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Comment number 4.
At 3rd Jun 2010, OddOne wrote:Pixie Lott, as discussed in another thread, IS indeed a success story.
COnsidering 'Turn It Up' is her dΓ©but album, having four Top 20 singles, two of which went to number #1. She doesn't have to a be a success with the critics or the reviewers to be hailed a success - if they public like her, and she sells many singles - she's a success.
And it looks like she's going to add another Top 20 hit - possibly Top 10 - to the the mix aswell. She IS a success story.
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Comment number 5.
At 3rd Jun 2010, BloggingLiam wrote:@4. Sadly!
Ke$ha = drunk Gaga and I love it. This song's great. I should hate it, but I don't. 4 stars for another find pop song from the 'less hot more mess' Ke$ha (love that term, not seen it in the media before, I use it too much).
BlahBlahBlah!!!! was absolute tripe.
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Comment number 6.
At 4th Jun 2010, pokerfaceprincess wrote:I've seen em both and Gaga is a better performer. That's what I love about her, her stage presence. There is also a lot more info & stuff about gaga, I just found a free to enter contest on FB for gaga in vegas from a poker company just because she has a song called "pokerface"
I havn't seen any contests to go see Ke$ha, but maybe that's because I'm not her FB friend lol
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Comment number 7.
At 4th Jun 2010, BloggingLiam wrote:Ke$ha was shocking at Big Weekend.
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Comment number 8.
At 4th Jun 2010, U14429597 wrote:@7 She was indeed.
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Comment number 9.
At 4th Jun 2010, OddOne wrote:I heard her perform for the 4Music Live Sessions, doing 'TiK ToK', 'Party At A Rich Dude's House', 'Blah, Blah, Blah', and 'Take It Off', and the only song she gave half a decent performance of was 'Party At A Rich Dude's House', which is one of her only songs that isn't smothered in auto-tune; for all the others she was trying to imitate the auto-tune.
Not good.
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Comment number 10.
At 4th Jun 2010, Haducon2 wrote:This is a five star and if it doesn't reach the top 10 it's a crime.
I hated tiK toK and blah blah but I can't get enough of this.
@5 I believe ke$ha to be more of a drunk taylor swift.
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Comment number 11.
At 6th Jun 2010, nicoley wrote:best song yet, i used to like 'tick tock' but it was massively over-played.
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