In 2014, Kesha sued her producer and label head Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald for a wide range of alleged abuses including sexual assault and battery. In 2015, she asked the court to be let out of her contract with Dr. Luke’s Kemosabe Records. In 2016, the courts dismissed her lawsuit and rejected her request to terminate the label deal. In 2017, on Kemosabe, Kesha released Rainbow, an album that dealt directly with that conflict and its attendant trauma.

In 2014, Kesha sued her producer and label head Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald for a wide range of alleged abuses including sexual assault and battery. In 2015, she asked the court to be let out of her contract with Dr. Luke’s Kemosabe Records.

In 2016, the courts dismissed her lawsuit and rejected her request to terminate the label deal. In 2017, on Kemosabe, Kesha released Rainbow, an album that dealt directly with that conflict and its attendant trauma.

Tracklist

Tonight
My Own Dance
Raising Hell (feat. Big Freedia)
High Road
Shadow
Honey
Cowboy Blues
Resentment (feat. Brian Wilson, Sturgill Simpson & Wrabel)
Little Bit of Love
Birthday Suit
Kinky (feat. Ke$ha)
The Potato Song (Cuz I Want To)
BFF (feat. Wrabel)
Father Daughter Dance
Chasing Thunder



As the title implied, Rainbow was a note of resolution and hope after the storm that dominated years of Kesha’s life. It worked as the finale of her story. The credits had rolled. But Kesha’s life isn’t over, and neither is her career, which puts her in a tricky position.



As a human being and a recording artist, she surely doesn’t want to let the Dr. Luke situation define her, nor do most of her listeners. Still, on a human level, such experiences can’t just be erased; processing your past can take a lifetime.

On an entertainment level, so much about modern pop stardom is driven by narrative. If Kesha’s life has gotten more peaceful, as one might hope, anything after Rainbow runs the risk of feeling like falling action. With High Road, Kesha has mostly pulled off that tricky balancing act. She has moved on by making an album about moving on, a full-length attempt to reconcile her past and present selves.

Musically, that means finding many ways for her rootsy Rainbow makeover to interact with the electronic pop-rap sleaze of Animal and Warrior. Opening track “Tonight” introduces that synthesis from the jump, successfully sliding between “Tiny Dancer”-style classic rock elements, snarling club-rap verses, and a huge pop chorus in the lineage of “Die Young.” Lead single “Raising Hell” matches Southern gospel with New Orleans bounce with an assist from Big Freedia herself. “Birthday Suit” involves strummy young-adult-fiction acoustic guitars and a glitchy Super Mario Bros. sample.

“Resentment” brings together the unlikely trio of Beach Boys genius Brian Wilson, post-country iconoclast Sturgill Simpson, and rising adult-contemporary producer Wrabel, while “Honey” spices up “Say It Ain’t So” guitar chords with blasts of soulful harmony. Nothing about the album’s sound is hip or tasteful, but that’s never really been Kesha’s shtick — as ever, your appetite for unapologetically garish pop will dictate your tolerance.