By shelz.

It’s funny how acts come and go in the blink of an eye. There have always been one hit wonders, but the more conscientious of music fans can normally give you some sort of path these artists have traveled beneath the radar.  Usually there is no such thing as an overnight success.  Even though that’s exactly what Ke$ha appears to be.

Maybe I just wasn’t paying attention.  I’ve heard Flo Rida’s awful cover of new wave Euro-pop sweethearts Dead or Alive’s classic “You Spin Me Round,” on which she featured, but after that first listen I really did my best to block the memory.  And I don’t frequent those top pop hot hits stations because Ryan Seacrest seems to be a DJ at all of them and well… he bothers me. So maybe I wasn’t in the right place at the right time to mark this young lady’s ascension to being the biggest seller in music right now.  All of that aside though, Ke$ha has managed to sell more MP3’s than her former musical host, Mr. Rida, which is an event meandering into karmic territory considering he didn’t even bother to pay her for her feature.  For shame Flo Rida.  For shame.

Anyway, “Tik Tok,” the lead single from Ke$has debut album, Animal, has moved more copies than all of Interscope’s rap artists put together who aren’t named Marshall.  Leading me to believe that the dawn of the white female emcee is here.  That’s if you want to call what she does rapping.

She says that’s what it is so I guess that makes it so.  The bottom line to this album though is that it’s some one dimensional lyricism over some one dimensional dance tracks with a lot of belligerence thrown in for edge.  Miss Ke$ha’s presentation is Avril Lavigne meets L’Trimm with way too much contrived attitude. The music is almost as cliché as that dollar sign in her name. In other words, it’s not very good.

The album kicks off with “Your Love is My Drug” establishing the central theme of black out style inebriation. Of course this is actually a clever metaphor about adoration creating a feeling of euphoria.  (Haven’t heard that one before.) However, to Miss Ke$has credit, she doesn’t dress it up like most songwriters do suggesting it’s a pleasant high that takes them to the sky so they can play on the clouds and blah blah blah.  Nope.  This love has her wandering dark alleys with a fried heart like a love sick crack head.

Next is “Tik Tok,” the crazy selling single that has everyone shaking their booties on the dance floor right now.  She brushes her teeth with Jack Daniels, hits the club, and makes so much of a ruckus the cops are called.  At one point she goes from explaining that she’s drunk to sounding like she is.  It’s a paint by numbers club song, with the bass and the synths and well placed blips and bleeps but the Lady Tigra impersonation is on full blast here and honestly I’d rather listen to “Cars that Go Boom.” If given a choice.

The party continues with “Take It Off.” There’s an obvious difference in her delivery.  I guess this is her serious tone.  The song is about dirty hole in the wall club where freaks get naked and go hard core.  But according to her, there is glitter on the floor.  I don’t know when glitter became hardcore.  Anyway, if you are planning on getting naked in public this is the song to do it to.  “Kiss and Tell” is about exactly that and “Stephen” sounds like a stalker anthem. 

Further on there is “Hungover.” It’s more emo than the previous songs, a story about a broken relationship and a heart in disrepair.  It’s the best of the songs at this point, but still nothing special. “Party at a Rich Dude’s House” is a rock influenced demand to “do it.” I guess “it” is going to this guy’s house while his parents are gone and tearing all kids of shit up. She’s still imploring folks to get drunk and naked by the way.  Then there is “Dinosaur.” This song gets props just for being hella funny.  It’s a rude, obnoxious castration of every middle aged Corvette driving dude trying to recapture his youth by hitting on the youngest of the 20-something brigade.

The album is produced by Dr. Luke and Max Martin (best known for their work with Katy Perry, Pink and Britney Spears,) who, if the rumor is true, actually had Ke$ha drop out of high school to work with them.  It’s really nothing ground breaking.  They run her voice through the digital matrix, loop and over dub her so much that when she’s not sounding like Avril or Bunny D, she sounds like Max Hedroom. There’s enough profanity to earn her one of those coveted parental advisory stickers and her disdain for men unless they are servicing her is a bit overdone and contradictory when sandwiched in between her heart sick break up songs.  But what’s good for the goose I suppose.

Anyway, unless you are a 19 year old college girl with a taste for hard liquor, casual sex and partying til you puke, you probably won’t like this, nor should you.  But the college crowd will enjoy.  It’s a nice soundtrack for beer pong.

  out of 5

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