Kesha isn't exactly free, but if her newly released single "True Colors" is any indication, she's liberated enough to begin re-establishing herself as a performer rather than the woman at the center of a courthouse drama.
The embattled artist (aka Kesha Rose Sebert) has put the EDM (electronic dance music) ballad on iTunes, marking her first release in the three years since suing producer Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Gottwald to get out of her record deal on his label, claiming sexual and emotional abuse. He denies all allegations against him.
Even though the 29-year-old singer is still under contract with Dr. Luke's Kemosabe Records, on "True Colors," she teams with German EDM producer Zedd, with whom she performed at the first weekend of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in April.
"True Colors" is not the fierce battle cry you might expect from the girl who has come to symbolize female artists' fight for empowerment in a very male, very misogynistic music industry (her last full album was titled Warrior, after all).
The song is, instead, a graceful and even subdued re-entry: "I won't apologize for the fire in my eyes," she sings. "Let me show you my true colors/It ain't your rainbow."
Although the lyrics may seem timely and personal a la Beyonce's Lemonade, it should be noted that "True Colors" isn't a Kesha original: It's a 2015 Zedd track revised with her on lead vocals.
Still, as her most anticipated release -- probably ever -- it's hardly a letdown. Kesha's voice soars here, no party-posturing needed.
It turns out that the woman who once claimed in a morning-after rasp that she brushed her "teeth with a bottle of Jack" (Daniels, that is) can keep up with Ellie Goulding and Sia as a golden voice atop the blockbuster EDM track. While it's not a new role for Kesha, it's certainly a stylistic shift.
When Kesha performed the track at California's Coachella festival during Zedd's set, arriving onstage as his surprise guest, she was given a warm reception. Freeing Kesha in the music world is now looked on as a no-brainer cause, a given: Don't club baby seals, lower your carbon footprint and #FreeKesha.
The singer didn't squander the goodwill. She belted out the number, her voice brimming with emotion, as if to say, "I'm back."
"True Colors" isn't a triumph, but more like a first dip back in the pool.
Style on 05/10/2016