Ke$ha

       No matter how 'good,' relatively, your taste in music is, everyone has that one band or artist they cannot get enough of. My friend used to refer to this person as "forbidden fruit" and would walk around saying "Taylor Swift is my forbidden fruit," which was kind of funny, until she came out (erm, my friend, not Swifty), then it just got a little weird (she realized this before we did though, and decided that the term, guilty pleasure, was more socially acceptable).

       My guilty pleasure is Ke$ha. She kind of got overlooked in the whole Katy Perry/Lady Gaga era, but Ke$ha is amazing all on her own. She puts on a great show, without the incredible weirdness of Lady Gaga or the awful sweetness of Katy Perry. She's just better, overall, because she's crazy weird (without reaching the awkward stage), has some really nice songs (without being sickeningly sweet), and does whatever the fuck she wants (without being annoying about it). I kind of stomped on Lady Gaga a lot in that sentence but, really, she's just annoying. Who wears a meat dress or heelless heels (the fuck came up with that torture device; I prefer my heels to have heels)? That's the same as screaming, "PAY ATTENTION TO ME; I AM INSECURE". Ugh, Lady Gag.

       Back to the greatness of Ke$ha- if you can make a music video like this and dress up Simon Rex like this, while still writing a song like this...or this... you're pretty great; being diverse is a strength, not a weakness. And turning around from the dirty look and feel of "Tik Tok" to make something that's, literally, sparkling and bursting with color in "Take It Off," is kind of impressive (plus, if you don't feel like singing along to "gonna get faded, I'm not the designated driver, so I don't give a, I don't give a,--supreme auto-tune-- I don't give a," then you're just not fun).

       That's the point of Ke$ha, just to be fun. There is the occasional serious song ("The Harold Song," "Dancing With Tears In My Eyes"), but Ke$ha's music is more concerned with getting you to dance than in getting you to think about deeper issues. Every once in a while you need to listen to an upbeat artist like this. I know that, after an hour and a half of listening to all of her songs in my iTunes, I feel kind of great (either that or that fourth cup of coffee finally kicked in...). Either way, I cannot wait until Warrior is released December 4th.

- E