Dear Ke$ha,
Before you do the equivalent of scrunching up a tangible letter and throwing it in the recycling bin to this e-letter, let it be known that I do like you. I like you quite a lot, actually, and have been known to defend my liking of you in front of my friends who notice that between Kate Bush and Killing Heidi, your clever dollar sign replacement of an 'S' stands defiantly and proudly in my iTunes library. You even make it onto my specific iPhone playlist where only the creme de la creme of my thousands of songs are held in high regard. But I digress.
Like I said, I like you a lot, Ke$ha, and I think that the fact I continue to employ the extra energy required to press 'shift' '4' to spell your name correctly is evidence of this. You haven't been around for long; first appearing on my own YouTube when I unfortunately stumbled across Katy Perry's 'I Kissed A Girl' and you were one of the girls in the video. I am willing to forgive you for this mishap because hey gurlfrannn, I totally understand what it's like in da BIZ. You gotta make your way somehow, and if you have to lounge around on a bed with several other beautiful women in lingerie with kittens and doonas and shit in a song that's degrading to your own gender then hey - you gotta do what you gotta do, right? Right.
I will admit that my approval of your work has taken time - however I will also admit you did not have the most unbiased of listening ears at your service. Let me explain.
'Tik Tok' did not win me over, K, I will be honest. But what did win me over was 'Your Love Is My Drug', and while I do believe this song is one of your better ones, I think it might have had something to do with the fierce beginning of a relationship that was occurring at the time that prompted me to proclaim 'THIS SONG, IT IS ME. IT IS ME, AND NO OTHER SONG WILL EVER UNDERSTAND ME THE WAY THIS SONG UNDERSTANDS MY PRECISE SITUATION AT THIS MOMENT.'
Situations change but songs, they do not. (Unless you're like me and write a really nice song about liking a boy only to keep everything about the song exactly the same except change the tone from cute to bitch-sarcastic as soon as he stops calling. Hilarious). As soon as this relationship ended I quite clearly remember telling you, specifically, to fuck off at a party when it was played. With a nice boy, this song was stellar. Alone and drunk and struggling with a sweaty mop of hair and a runny face of makeup, not so much.
But Ke$ha, even in times of trouble, you have been there to pick me up with your electronic spoken word ridiculousless. When the descant of Bon Iver or the gravel of Counting Crows or the soaring of Joni Mitchell would lay my body into bed so deep down I thought I would sink into the ground and die there, 'Hungover' had the stupid, stupid lyric that both sympathised with and saved me:
in the dark i can fight it i fake til i'm numb but in the bright light i taste you on my tongue
Then things were better and healthy jealous and there was 'Blind' (i'm sick and tired of the mess you made but you're never gonna catch me cry). Then there were parties in the summertime and there was 'We R Who We R' (in which the word 'sexyfied' was first coined and heartily appreciated, albeit privately, by me). More boys, more disappointment, oh Ke$ha, 'The Harold Song' was very much a saving grace (i would give it all to not be sleeping alone.) And somehow, in ecstatic hysteria, I would eventually love 'Your Love Is My Drug' again for what it was, and what it is now.
You are simple, and easy, and nothing is a metaphor and I feel thirteen when I listen to you. I feel my thirteen year old emotional capacity, which was unfairly large for one so inept at self-expression; that is, secret crushes from afar, and mumbled conversation, sketchbooks of horses and lions and fairies and other things that I would punish myself for not leaving in primary school and pages upon pages of pitiful poetry and songs and wishing for nothing more than to experience the things discussed in songs like yours so that I could fucking write something decent about it. While that seems aggressive the thing is, without music such as yours I couldn't relive that feeling of tweenage-dom because other than you, I listen to quite a limited selection of your precise genre of electro-pop-rap-thing.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I think you're great, and I don't give a shit what anyone else says. Well, that is - apart from maybe the lyric wake up in the morning feeling like P Diddy. It might've been worth redrafting that one.
Kind regards,
Eilish Gilligan
For someone who specialises in classical singing who uses an 'outside of the box' mindset in regards to art, why do you love the pop scene so much? It is filled to the brim with generic auto tune and lacks inspiration, almost every pop song is either about love, sex or partying, doesn't that seem kind of petty to you? Emphasising these things to the youth so much makes them crave it, causing all kinds of distress.
ReplyDeleteI guess you could say it's reflected in your originals, from what I've heard. With the exception of your "I'm not a robot" song, every song is in relation to boys. Sure the vocals are beautiful but the concepts are really lacking. Why can't you reflect your originality in your art with your song writing?
I apologise if this comes off as hostile, but it is quite frustrating to see someone with so much potential caught up in something that restricts them from reaching their peak. You have every right to do whatever you want with your music, but without any real form of criticism you'll never know for sure whether compliments are superficial or not, at least that's how I feel in regards to my artwork.
firstly i just have to set you straight - i don't know where you got the idea but 'i am not a robot' isn't my song!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_oMD6-6q5Y
ReplyDeleteby saying that i have an 'outside of the box' mindset in regards to art you have 'created' a box by which all artistic work is put either inside or outside, and while you're totally welcome to it, personally i really haven't ever believed in that. i think it's important to accept all forms of creativity - i don't like some pop songs, just like i don't like some radiohead songs, or i don't like some of chopin's nocturnes. essentially, they are all a manifestation of ideas, just as with every creative endeavour, and just because i don't like some aspects of songs i can accept them for what they are, and appreciate why some people would like them. in regards to pop music, i have never been a 'typical' teenager (if there's any such thing) and i suppose there's something in the ridiculousness and carelessness and inappropriateness of ke$ha's music that i just dig, you know? it doesn't mean i don't appreciate other kinds of music or art but it also doesn't mean i listen exclusively to ke$ha because clearly i don't. even if i did, it wouldn't matter - to each their own!
i use songwriting as a cathartic exercise. i feel as though everything i have ever felt has been felt an infinitesimal amount of times before me and will continue to be felt by others in the future. i don't feel comfortable tackling issues that i know nothing about so i only write about things that i do know. in regards to reaching my peak i won't reach that until i know much, much more about life, and about music. i am proud of the songs that i have written, particularly the ones i perform live - but i am not stupid or conceited enough to believe they're perfect, trust me, i know they're not. but i'm working on it, all the time. you are right about criticism and it is nice to know that i have frustrated someone with my work because it means that someone cares enough to let themselves BE frustrated by it, so thankyou!