2009–2011: Animal and Cannibal
Kesha performing live on tour in 2010. Her aesthetic on stage was deliberately unsophisticated.
Soon after, Kesha signed a multi-album deal with
RCA Records through Dr. Luke's imprint, after negotiations with
Lava Records and Flo Rida's record label,
Atlantic Records as well.
[13] Having spent the previous six years working on material for her debut album,
[22]
she began putting finishing touches to the album with Luke and Max
Martin. She had accumulated over 200 songs which forced her to increase
the tracklisting from the intended twelve songs to fourteen.
[22] The album was executive produced by Luke, who produced the majority of the songs with combinations of Martin,
Benny Blanco and
Ammo.
The album is primarily of the electropop genere with beats and synths,
marking a shift in sound for Luke from then on from his signature
pop-rock productions, which he attributed to Kesha who was adamant that
there be no guitars used on the record.
[23] Animal debuted at number one on the
Billboard 200 when it was released in January 2010, usurping
Susan Boyle's album which had spent five consecutive weeks at the top, receiving three quarters of its sales from digital sales.
[24] It was certified platinum in the US and had sold two million albums worldwide by September.
[25] Animal received mixed reviews from music critics;
[26] Rolling Stone summed the album up as "repulsive, obnoxious and ridiculously catchy."
[8] First single, "
Tik Tok"
topped the charts in eleven countries and set the weekly record for the
most digital downloads of a female artist and became the second
best-selling single in a week in the US, after "Right Round", by
shifting 610,000 copies.
[27] "
Blah Blah Blah", "
Your Love Is My Drug" and "
Take It Off"
were released as the album's second, third and fourth singles,
respectively. All three songs achieved similar commercial success each
reaching the top ten in Australia, Canada, and the US.
[28] Kesha's deliberately unpolished aesthetic and juvenile stage persona,
[10][29] which she described as her own personality "times ten",
[30] quickly made her a deeply polarizing figure.
[29][10] Some of her critics found her output to be unsophisticated,
[10] while others felt that she was manufatured and lacked credibility.
[31][32][33]
Kesha performing on her first headlining tour in 2011.
Kesha also featured on two top ten singles by
Taio Cruz and
3OH!3, through recommendations by Dr. Luke, in May.
[34]
Kesha's former managers from DAS Communications Inc. filed a lawsuit
later that month, seeking $14 million from Kesha and $12 million from
Luke for commissions on her RCA Records deal, alleging that she had
extended the deadline for them to get her a major record label contract
and squeezed them out of her career under pressure from Dr. Luke.
[16]
Kesha launched her own lawsuit in October, citing the Talent Agencies
Act, asking the California Labor Commissioner to declare her contract
with DAS void because it had acted as an unlicensed talent agent while
procuring work for her in California, where only licensed agents can do
so.
[35] Kesha held a benefit concert on June 16, 2010 where all proceeds went to aid victims of the
May 2010 Tennessee floods from her hometown Nashville.
[36] She raised close to $70,000 from the event.
[7] She also donated 1,000 pounds (450 kg) of dog food to a local animal shelter for pets abandoned in the flood.
[37] She was a supporting act on the summer North American leg of
Rihanna's
Last Girl on Earth Tour and was awarded
Best New Act at the 2010
MTV Europe Music Awards in November.
[38][39] Animal was re-released with a companion extended play,
Cannibal, in November.
[40] Seven months later, the set was certified gold by the
RIAA.
[41]
The new collection of songs was released because of Kesha's desire to
have enough songs to extend her one hour sets to two hours.
[42] Lead single, "
We R Who We R" became only the 17th song to debut at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, three weeks before the album's release.
[43] With two number ones and four top ten hits, Kesha was named Hot 100 Artist of 2010 by
Billboard, with "Tik Tok" topping the year-end chart.
[44] "
Blow"
charted in the top ten on the Hot 100 in early 2011. As of June 2011,
she has accumulated almost 21 million digital single downloads in the US
alone.
[45] Kesha embarked on her first headlining world tour,
Get Sleazy, in the spring,
[46] telling
Billboard that she would be demonstrating a different side to her musicianship, playing multiple instruments.
[47][48] The tour was expanded with a summer leg due to the first leg selling out and spanned three continents.
[49] Kesha co-wrote Britney Spears' top three single, "
Till the World Ends" and was featured on the official remix along with
Nicki Minaj.
2011–present: Second studio album
Kesha began writing for her second studio album while on tour.
[50] She intends to make a "
cock rock" album inspired by 1970s rock and describing her experiences touring the world,
[51] a departure from her first two electropop albums where there were few guitars to be found in the production.
[52] She explained the rationale to
MTV,
"I just want to capture some of the true essence of what rock and roll
is, and that's just irreverence and sexiness and fun and not giving a
f---."
[50]
While her album will still feature productions from her main
collaborators Dr. Luke and Max Martin, she said in an interview that she
also wanted to work with other producers and was reaching out to the
Dust Brothers.
[52]
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