Music | Ke$ha | The Teenager

Kesha Rose Sebert (born March 1, 1987) is known by the stylized stage name/mononym Ke$ha. She was born in Los Angeles and lived with her father for some time before moving in with her mother, a singer-songwriter, who spent many hard days bringing up little Kesha and her two brothers. After securing a publishing deal in 1991, Pebe decided to move the family to Nashville, Tennessee. This was the place where Kesha would spend part of her early years attending a music school in the neighboring countryside. Pebe often brought Kesha along to recording studios which exposed the young girl to the music of many country artists. Kesha instantly fell in love with country music greats Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton and Patsy Cline. Seeing her daughter's interest in music, Pebe taught Kesha how to write songs and in turn she started helping her mother compose lyrics.

With a little luck on their side, the Sebert family was featured in an episode of The Simple Life, as the host family. But things didn't move much thereafter, and at seventeen Kesha dropped out of Brentwood High School in Nashville to return to Los Angeles and pursue a music career. This even while she was enrolled in an International Baccalaureate program and was heading to Columbia University to study psychology.

Back in LA, Kesha was so besotted with 80's singer Prince and his music that she decided that she wanted him to produce her music. Story has it that Kesha sneaked into his Beverly Hills home after bribing the security guards with a five dollar bill and actually saw the singer face to face. However once she was discovered, she was promptly thrown out of his mansion. But she was smart enough to drop her demo CD wrapped in a purple bow with Prince himself. But sadly his Royal Purpleness brushed aside this act as that of a crazy fan. Kesha never did hear from Prince, but the incident speaks volumes about this newcomer's firecracker personality and determination.

Undaunted, Kesha decided to try other ways to reach her musical goals. She took up two jobs to supplement her career and so while she played at small gigs at night while pursuing her music career, she also moonlighted as a waitress during the day to make ends meet. Meeting with producers and composers brought her into contact with a few people who would probably give her career a stronghold.

Between 2006 and 2009, her music appeared in a variety of media, her song Backstabber (which also appears on her debut album) and Chain Reaction were used on the TV show The Hills. She also co-wrote The Veronicas' single This Love, sang background vocals for Britney Spears' on Lace and Leather and appeared in the video for Katy Perry's I Kissed a Girl.

Her fame was now spreading. 2009 was certainly the year to make it big, with just the big break still eluding her. She was finally noticed by producer Dr Luke who was so impressed that he began a working relationship with her. Due to his intervention, Kesha landed a recording on hip-hop artist Flo Rida's Right Round. Dr Luke who was producing the song brought her in as a female voice was required on the song. Flo Rida liked the sassy vocal styling so much that he invited Kesha to guest on another track Touch Me (from his 2009 album R.O.O.T.S). However she turned down an offer to appear in the video for Right Round, as it would not go with her own image and as the young singer wanted to strike it big all by herself.

Seeing her rise to popularity and feeling the time was right, Dr Luke (executive producer who has scored No. 1 smashes for Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Kelly Clarkson, Avril Lavigne, and Flo Rida) got RCA to sign Kesha onto their label in February 2009. Her debut album was now within reach.

Kesha describes herself as being "very studious" in high school;
she would attend Cold War history classes after school and achieved
near perfect SAT scores.

Kesha's styling comprises of messy hair, smudged makeup and a
wardrobe she describes as "garbage-chic". The look developed from her
being poor and trying to brand herself as best she could on a budget

Her stage look is characterized by dramatic makeup around her right eye

Kesha co-wrote the title song for Miley Cyrus' The Time of Our Lives

Kesha performed her new single Blah, Blah, Blah on the recent season
of American Idol

After working for other artistes throughout the year and also writing over 200 songs for herself, Kesha finally released her first single TiK ToK which was officially played on US radio in October 2009. It featured an unaccredited cameo appearance by Diddy who is the inspiration for the song. The party anthem sold more downloads in a single week than any female artist in history, hitting No. 1 in five countries.

Her debut album Animal was released in January this year and to date has sold 152,000 copies in its first week in the US, debuting at No. 1. Kesha's collaborates on the 14-track album are with veteran hit maker Max Martin (Pink, Kelly Clarkson and Britney Spears). The sound is an edgy collection of hard-hitting electro-pop, made all the more irresistible by a high-octane punk energy and Kesha's irreverent lyrics and attitude. Not surprisingly, the songs showcase Kesha's flair for storytelling, though her choice isn't really very interesting, it is more headed to the young crowd. Thus you have songs like Party At A Rich Dude's House and Backstabber wherein she talks about a friend who let her down. There's also one about finding out her boyfriend was cheating on her with a famous pop starlet - Kiss & Tell.

According to Kesha, "I want my music to be fun, unapologetic, quirky, humorous and interesting, but with substance behind it. I'm an emotional person underneath all my fronting. I want people to listen to it and feel like they can relate to it."

Verus Ferreira