Why I Heart Ke$ha

My life, at least as it was, depended on music.  It completely defined me as a teen and young adult, and I loved knowing about and seeing new bands throughout college and my twenties.  Well, now I am in my mid-thirties, have a daughter, and feel little connection to most music I hear.  I don't feel like listening to angsty music because I am too old to be angsty, and the same goes for angry or poppy music.  I don't know.  I can't peg what I like anymore.  Sure, I still listen to most of my old music, but often it brings back unwanted memories or feelings I had but don't need to have any longer.  I'm amazed at authors my age or older who are always blogging about current music.  I can't decide if I feel like they need to get over it or if I need to get back in it.

But, no joke, I LOVE Ke$ha.

She is not at all the type of music I would have listened to if I were the age at which her music is targeted (presumably, middle schoolers).  I was already into "alternative rock," as they called it back in the late 80's.  And GnR.  I totally would have made fun of the girls who liked her.  But now, I think she's kind of genius.  There are so many young, female singers who use sex sex sex to sell sell sell whether or not they have anything else to give.  And while Ke$ha can certainly be provocative, she does it in such an ugly way that it's completely subversive.  Behold:

Would Katie Perry look like this?  Even Lady Gaga seems to need to look pretty when she's looking weird.  But Ke$ha loves to look ugly!  She wears blue lipstick.  It's brilliant.  Here's another one:

Even for Maxim she has to be kind of gross!  And this video for the totally addictive song "Your Love is My Drug" is the cutest!  What is with the scuzzy dude with a beard?  That's hilarious!  What young woman wants to be with this hairy man, and yet there Ke$ha is all over him!  And in her other videos (all of which I watched while my husband was at the library and my mom took Romy out of the house.  A+ for using my time wisely) the dudes are just as odd. Of course she's not actually ugly, she's gorgeous, but I love that she isn't afraid to look wacky in an un-beautiful way sometimes.

Musically, I find her a fun car ride listen.  Her lyrics are ridiculous, but so over-the-top that I don't quite worry about kids trying to be her.  Really, any kid that tries to brush their teeth with a bottle of Jack is questionable in many respects, the first of which being how did they even get a bottle of Jack?  Something about Ke$ha reminds me of Cyndi Lauper, which is quite possibly one of the highest compliments a person can receive in my book.  I may actually go out and purchase one of her albums.  Do you think they have it on cassette?

And because I love Ke$ha-- a contest!  Just comment below with a love her or hate her comment (be nice, please), and you can win this entire pack of my friend, Liz Mason's zines.  She and I used to publish a zine together called cul-de-sac, and then she branched out into her solo effort called Caboose, with her most recent a MASSIVE book-like zine called Britney Spears 101, all about, you guessed it, Britney Spears.  In Liz's words: "Caboose is a perzine (that's "personal zine") written, edited, published and distributed on a "when-I'm-good-and-ready" publishing schedule by Liz Mason. The most recent issue is Caboose #7: Britney Spears 101, which reconstructs pop stardom, consumerist empires, obsession and public scrutiny through the lens of the editor's battle with cancer."  Good luck!  It's an excellent prize package for sure!