Case Analysis of the Life of Ke$ha

Kesha Rose Sebert

Introduction

Kesha (often written as Ke$ha) is a singer/songwriter famous for her up-beat songs with outrageous lyrics. Her fun style and self-confidence has made her one of the most eccentric artists in Hollywood today. She pulls off her crazy, messy style with grace and integrates it into every part of her image. The music she creates sounds like something you would hear at an out-of-control party or during a dance rave, but the world has embraced Kesha with open arms. Although her intense energy and intentional music only appeals to a certain type of person, it has been enough to make her an icon of the decade. What is it that made Ke$ha into the top-selling artist she is today? A look into her childhood and career beginnings may hold the answer.

Childhood

Kesha Rose Sebert was born during a party in Los Angeles, California on March 1, 1987, to a single mother, Pebe Sebert. Her mother was a singer and songwriter who co-wrote the song “Old Flames Can't Hold a Candle to You” which was sung by artists such as Joe Sun and Dolly Parton. Pebe’s career became successful in the late 1970’s, but nearly 10 years later when Kesha was born, her career was headed downhill fast. For a time, they had to survive on welfare payments and food stamps to get by and oftentimes, Pebe would have to watch over the newborn while she was on stage at rehearsals. Although Pebe was a loving mother, her approach to parenting was controversial to say the least. Kesha remembers being in Target with her mother at the age of 3 and wanting her mom to buy her a kitty cat stuffed animal. Her mother replied to her pleading by saying, “If you want something, you just have to take it.” This is an example of the hands-off style of parenting Kesha’s hippie mother provided.

When Kesha was 4 years old, Pebe moved her and her brother, Lagan, to Nashville, Tennessee for a songwriting deal she had landed. Shortly after moving to Nashville, Kesha’s second brother, Louis, was born. Kesha and her brothers grew up in recording studios, but she didn’t know life any other way and thought this was standard for children across America. Her mother encouraged her to sing, telling her she had a great voice and to practice singing. Pebe would even let her daughter sing on some of the tracks she was working on for other artists. Kesha also learned the art of songwriting from her mother. Most mother/daughter relationships consist of baking cookies, shopping, and watching popular television shows. For Kesha and Pebe, it consisted of writing songs and singing together.

Pebe enrolled Kesha in a music school in Tennessee. This was a liberal type of school in the countryside, where some of the students didn’t even wear shoes. Love of art was emphasized and things such as materialism were discouraged. This is where Kesha’s love for music was further incubated. She elected to take songwriting classes at this school and started to see the magic in telling stories through song.

Career Beginnings

During Kesha’s senior year of high school, she decided to drop out and earn her GED instead. This seemed like a crazy move at the time, because she had been accepted into an International Baccalaureate program at Columbia University and was set to study psychology and comparative religion that fall. She wasn’t satisfied with this course of life however. Her dream was to move to LA to pursue a career in music. After being contacted by the recording artist, Dr. Luke, her decision to move to Los Angeles was final. Dr. Luke had heard her demo through some of Pebe’s contacts in the industry and was very impressed with Kesha’s sound. Kesha was merely 17 years old at the time, but was encouraged by her mother to pursue her dreams in the one city that had the potential to make them all come true, LA, California.

Kesha’s musical beginnings were not a walk in the park. Although she was signed right after moving to LA by Dr. Luke’s recording label, Kemosabe Entertainment, she had to work hard to survive on her own in the city. She moonlighted as a waitress to help pay the bills. Once she was done recording in the music studio each day, she would rush off to her second job until her shift was over, only to do it all again the next day.

She was adamant about earning everything she had and did not want anything to be handed to her. She even went so far as to trespass on Prince’s property (the recording artist and music producer) to get what she wanted. Kesha wanted Prince to produce her first album, so she found out where he lived and decided to pay him a visit in person. Once she arrived at his house, she attempted to squeeze under the gate to his property but got stuck in the process. She had to bribe a gardener five dollars to pull her out. After trekking up the long purple velvet-laced driveway, she found Prince’s front door to be unlocked, which she took as an invitation and let herself in. She then rode the elevator up to the top floor and found Prince jamming out with a few friends down the corridor. She called her mom, suddenly panicked about the situation, and asked what she should do. Her mom replied by saying, “I guess give him your CD.” So Kesha sat in a purple chair in the room Prince was in until he noticed her. Once discovered, Kesha was escorted out by a security guard, but not before she could leave her CD wrapped in a purple bow on Prince’s table. Kesha never heard back from Prince, but was satisfied to have at least met her icon.

For five years, Kesha’s life consisted of waitressing, working with low level producers, and singing background and writing songs for other more popular artists. She had many minor accomplishments during these five years, but nothing ground-breaking. Some of these accomplishments included co-writing “This Love” for the Veronicas, singing background vocals for Paris Hilton’s “Nothing in This World”, and appearing in Katy Perry’s music video “I Kissed a Girl”.

Kesha lived in the shadows of Hollywood stars until one fateful night when she was hanging out at the recording studio with Dr. Luke and one of his clients, Flo Rida. Dr. Luke and Flo Rida were working on a track called “Right Round” for his second album. Flo Rida told Kesha he wanted a female voice in the song and asked her if she would give it a try. As any other struggling musician would do, she eagerly agreed. The song released in February of 2009 and quickly became number 1, reaching over 636,000 downloads in the first week alone. This crushed

the all-time one-week digital single sales record up to that point. Although the success of the song was sky-rocketing, Kesha didn’t receive any reward or credit for her work on the single, and she refused to appear in the song’s music video. She explained to a reporter that she knew they would want her to be some booty-shaking sexpot in the video, and that was not the image she wanted portrayed of herself. This was a very strange time in Kesha’s life, being that she was still struggling to make ends meet while at the same time hearing her voice played everywhere she went.

Soon after the debuted success of “Right Round”, Kesha was signed with RCA Records through Dr. Luke. Her first single “Tik Tok” was released digitally in August of 2009, and set a new record for the most downloads of a female artist and became the second best-selling single in a week, right behind the song she worked on with Flo Rida, “Right Round”. Her next 3 singles, “Blah Blah Blah”, “Your Love Is My Drug”, and “Take It Off” received similar success.

Her first album “Animal” was released in January of 2010. It received mixed reviews everywhere, being that her sound was unique and something the world hadn’t heard before. Some critics enjoyed the up-beat, carefree nature of the album and loved the fun use of Auto-Tunes to alter Kesha’s voice in certain parts of the songs. Others, however, thought the album seemed juvenile and insincere and found the use of Auto-Tunes irritating. Despite all of this controversy, “Animal” reached platinum status, selling over one million copies in the United States and over two million worldwide.

Recently

Kesha’s recent success in the past two years is astonishing. Although her music doesn’t appeal to everyone, her loyal fans appreciate the transparency and entertaining compositions of her music. They relate to her music through lyrics that are based on her past life experiences of love,

heartbreak, douchy boys, backstabbing best friends, late nights at crazy parties, and the early morning hangovers that follow. Kesha’s life is an open-book that she is more than willing to write, and her fans love her for it. She is unashamed of who she is and isn’t afraid of any challenge that comes her way.

She recently released an EP (extended play) of “Animal” and re-titled the album “Cannibal”. This deluxe edition of the original album includes hit singles such as “We R Who We R” and “Blow”.

Reflection

It is clear to me that Kesha’s success can be attributed in large part to her upbringing. As controversial and unconventional as it may seem, it is her upbringing that made her into the musical icon she is today. It doesn’t matter how creative or unique an individual is born to be, if that creativity is never harvested or put in the right environment, it may never reach its full potential. Pebe created the perfect environment for Kesha’s creativity to soar. It was the late nights in the studio, the mother-daughter song-writing sessions after school each day, and her mother’s encouragement and belief in her that allowed Kesha to reach the type of success she marvels in today. Thank goodness for moms.

Mother's day is coming up, so HAPPY MOTHERS DAY MOM!!! I'm so thankful for all you do. Your support and encouragement in my life has been so comforting, and although it's overwhelming when you tell me I can do anything, it is so nice to know you believe in me. I love you mom! :)