It’s Kesha’s birthday, but it’s not the first time we’ve covered her birth—or rebirth, rather. In 2023, Kesha settled a longstanding lawsuit with Lukasz Gottwald, better known as Dr. Luke, leading to her regaining control over her own voice and work. She started a record label, released a single called “Joyride,” and got to work on Period, her first independent project, which released last year. Kesha has spoken of this time as a second-coming, a period of change and renewal in her life.
In December 2024, mid-rebirth, Playboy caught up with Kesha for a fashion film inspired by Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, a stunning dedication to her newfound freedom. Here, we’re revisiting Kesha’s on-camera interview that accompanied the film. You can watch the interview in full below, and find the Kesha Fashion Film here. And check out some behind the scenes photos from the shoot.
Playboy: A lot has happened since The Only Love Tour. How do you feel now compared to back then?
Kesha: I feel like a completely different person. I feel reborn. I feel like I’m doing everything for the first time again, which is strange because I’ve been doing it for about 15 years. But everything looks brighter. Everything feels different, everything sounds different. It feels like I’m living a whole different incarnation and I’m lucky enough to get to do this all over again. I remember the first time my music was blowing up and I was just a kid, so I’m really excited to get to be doing it again. I’m trying to really appreciate every second of this.
PB: How does it feel to finally have full control over your voice and complete creative freedom in your projects.
Kesha: It feels really weird to have this freedom. It feels exciting. I feel tentative. I feel overjoyed. I feel nervous, I feel giddy. I feel like a little kid. I feel like a little kid experiencing everything for the first time. It’s a really beautiful thing. I try to appreciate all of it. I feel like I’m in a place where the successes, or even if people hate it, it’s all me. That feels really good. It’s crazy that for so long I didn’t get to dictate everything that was the perceived version of me, and it’s really exciting to be doing this all myself, writing it myself, producing it myself. Putting it out on my label. It’s pretty euphoric. I walk around sometimes and feel like I’m on Molly. Like, a lot. So I feel really good.
PB: If you had to guess, how many songs have you written?
Kesha: I write like a couple songs a day. Give or take on the day, sometimes more. I would have to do some math but definitely tens of thousands, if not more. I write all the time.
PB: Are you surprised to be where you are in your career today? Or did you always know this day would come?
Kesha: I kind of felt like that last night. I was driving home and I was blasting the Charli XCX album and secretly I’m going to be on one of the remixes and no one knows. And we had just gotten off the phone and I realized that I didn’t need anybody else’s permission to make art anymore. I cried a couple happy tears. I think I got so used to not being free that I forgot what freedom felt like. So, it’s a really exciting adjustment period and now I’m going to work really hard to make sure no artist gets in the position ever again. So I’m excited to see what the future with me in it will look like, because I’m about to fuck some shit up.
PB: What’s the difference between “Tik Tok” Kesha and “Joyride” Kesha?
Kesha: “Tik Tok” Kesha was really naive and innocent, and “Joyride” Kesha is aware and in control. Like I feel like a dominatrix speeding down the freeway at 120 mph in latex—and it feels really good.
