50 Fun Facts About Kesha

Which rap mogul, name-checked in the opening line of Kesha's 'Tik Tok', also speaks two short lines on the track?

P. Diddy phoned her producer four hours after the song was written and came to the studio that same day to add his lines. Since 2023 Kesha has sung a changed opening line on stage.

Which country star's 1980 number one, co-written by Kesha's mother, became a duet with Kesha in 2017?

Dolly Parton took the ballad to the top of the country chart two years after Joe Sun's original. Kesha had already covered it alone on an acoustic EP.

Kesha has said she was born with which unusual body part, which she says was then cut off?

A tail, a quarter of an inch long and vestigial, is what Kesha says she arrived with. She has called the story of losing it a sad one.

Which animated sitcom opened a 2010 episode with its entire cast lip-syncing to Kesha's hit 'Tik Tok'?

The Simpsons built the whole opening of the season 21 episode To Surveil with Love around the song, matching each gag in the sequence to its lyrics.

Which symbol did Kesha drop from the spelling of her stage name in 2014 after leaving a treatment center?

A dollar sign had replaced the S since her days scraping by as a waitress, when she adopted it as an ironic gesture. After rehab she went back to her birth name, plain Kesha.

Which rapper's 2009 number one 'Right Round' features Kesha singing the hook without a credit on its US release?

Flo Rida's single spent six weeks at number one, yet Kesha took no money for her part. She also refused to appear in the video, wanting to make her name on her own terms.

Kesha co-wrote the 2011 dance hit 'Till the World Ends' for which pop star, later joining a remix of it?

Britney Spears brought Kesha and Nicki Minaj onto the Femme Fatale Remix, which pushed the single into the US top five. Kesha had sung backing vocals for her back in 2008.

Kesha's family hosted Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie at home for a 2005 episode of which reality series?

The Simple Life had advertised for an eccentric family, and Kesha's mother answered. In the episode the two guests try to plan a wedding and set her mother up on a date.

Which 1990s teen-drama star plays Kesha's nemesis in a laser gunfight in the music video for 'Blow'?

James Van Der Beek ends the video as a trophy head mounted on a wall, after a laser gunfight that takes out several unicorns.

Kesha said her hit 'Take It Off' was inspired by a night out watching which kind of performance?

A drag show gave her the idea, she told Esquire, and the finished song became the fourth top-ten hit from her debut album.

To which Tennessee city did Kesha's songwriter mother move the family in 1991 after landing a publishing deal?

Nashville is where her mother took Kesha along to recording studios and encouraged her to sing. Kesha had been born in Los Angeles four years earlier.

Kesha appeared in the music video for which friend's 2008 breakthrough single, a year before her own first hit?

Katy Perry cast her friend in the video for I Kissed a Girl. Back in 2005 the two had sent demos to the same producer, long before either was famous.

Which 2017 Kesha album, her first in nearly five years, entered the Billboard 200 at number one?

Rainbow brought Kesha her first Grammy nominations, for Best Pop Vocal Album and for its lead single, the ballad Praying.

Which rapper co-headlined a 2013 North American tour with Kesha, then topped the Hot 100 with her on 'Timber'?

Pitbull scored his second US number one with it, and Kesha her third. The single was the first Hot 100 chart-topper of 2014 and stayed on top for three weeks.

Which Kesha single, written after a wave of gay teen suicides in 2010, debuted at number one in the US?

We R Who We R was meant as a Pride anthem, a celebration of anyone made to feel like an outsider. It was only the 17th song ever to debut at the top of the chart.

Which rapper featured Kesha on the 2017 single 'Good Old Days' before the pair co-headlined a 2018 tour?

Macklemore said he and Kesha became friends almost the instant he walked into the room. Their summer tour was billed as The Adventures of Kesha and Macklemore.

Kesha's trademark glitter makeup around her right eye was inspired by which Stanley Kubrick film?

A Clockwork Orange gave her the look, and film also shaped her first headlining concerts, which were described as having a post-apocalyptic Mad Max vibe.

Which producer signed an 18-year-old Kesha to his publishing company in 2005 after hearing her demo?

Dr. Luke was won over by a demo on which she ran out of lyrics and simply started rapping. Their long legal dispute, begun in 2014, was settled out of court in June 2023.

Which instrument, played by Paul Harrington, runs right through Kesha's 2013 collaboration 'Timber'?

Harmonica player Harrington was told to emulate Lee Oskar, whose 1978 single San Francisco Bay the dance track interpolates.

The animated sequence in Kesha's 'Your Love Is My Drug' video was inspired by which 1960s film?

Yellow Submarine, the Beatles' 1968 cartoon, inspired the sequence. Kesha said she wrote the song itself on an airplane in about ten minutes, with her mother among the co-writers.

Which 2010 Kesha song became a viral dance trend on the video app TikTok a decade after its release?

Cannibal, the title track of her first EP, took off in early 2020 and climbed into the Canadian top 40. A new lyric video was released to mark the revival.

Which lead single from Kesha's second album, co-written with Nate Ruess of Fun, peaked at number two in the US?

Die Young was written after Kesha travelled the world on what she called a spiritual journey, feeding baby lions and swimming with great white sharks along the way.

Which rap trio did Kesha credit with inspiring the half-rapped vocal delivery of her debut single 'Tik Tok'?

Beastie Boys were her model for youthful, irreverent anthems, she told Newsweek. She called her whole debut album a homage to their record Licensed to Ill.

In the 'Tik Tok' music video, Kesha is driven around in her own gold 1978 model of which American car?

Trans Am ownership stuck with her: the car in the video really was hers, and her second album includes a song titled Gold Trans Am, co-written with her mother.

In the first music video for Kesha's 'Take It Off', what do the partygoers turn into as they shed their clothes?

Stardust in bright colours is all that remains by the end. Kesha said the point was that once everything comes off, inhibitions included, we are all made of the same thing.

Which electronic act features on Kesha's 2010 single 'Blah Blah Blah' and performed it with her on American Idol?

3OH!3 member Sean Foreman also co-wrote the song, which grew out of a studio argument over whether men or women talk more. Kesha returned the favour on their hit My First Kiss.

The cover of Kesha's 2020 album High Road shows a 3D scan of her own head as which melting object?

A candle, its designer explained, stood for the idea that nothing is permanent. Kesha sold replicas of it as merchandise for the album.

Which producer co-produced the whole of Kesha's 2023 album Gag Order and, she said, created a safe space for her?

Rick Rubin never once raised singles or radio play with her, Kesha said. It was the last album she owed under the recording contract she had signed at 18.

Kesha's sixth studio album, her first on her own label, takes its title from which single punctuation mark?

A period, written as one dot and pronounced as the word, is the whole title. The deluxe edition that followed four days later is subtitled with an ellipsis.

Kesha's 2022 Discovery+ reality series followed her and celebrity guests as they went hunting for what?

Ghosts were a long-running theme for her: the show grew out of her podcast on the paranormal, and a song on her second album describes a romantic encounter with one.

Kesha's 'Tik Tok' held the female record for one-week US download sales until which singer's 2012 single beat it?

Taylor Swift sold 623,000 downloads of We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together in its first week, edging past the 610,000 that Kesha's debut managed in the last week of 2009.

Which singer was first lined up for the guest vocal on 'Timber' before Kesha recorded it instead?

Rihanna had already agreed to guest on Shakira's Can't Remember to Forget You and had no time for a second collaboration. Kesha stepped in and got her third US number one.

Which internet personality loses a dance battle and laser fight to Kesha in the second video for 'Take It Off'?

Jeffree Star attacks with a laser chainsaw before Kesha fires back from her hands. She and her friends made the video for fun, channelling 1980s films such as Tron and Labyrinth.

Kesha said her song 'Dinosaur' was inspired by an older man who hit on her as what was falling off?

His toupee was slipping, Kesha recalled, and she decided the man was prehistoric. The debut-album track sets the story to a cheerleader-style tune.

Kesha and her mother co-wrote 'The Time of Our Lives', title track of a 2009 EP by which former Disney star?

Miley Cyrus put it on the same EP that carried Party in the U.S.A., and Kesha sang background vocals on the recording.

Which brass instrument did Kesha play in her high school marching band before moving on to the saxophone?

Trumpet and sax kept her in the band at a school where, she said, her homemade purple velvet pants and purple hair stopped her fitting in. She has called herself a diligent student.

Which rock veteran, a major influence on Kesha's second album, sings with her on its track 'Dirty Love'?

Iggy Pop also joined her in a campaign against the clubbing of baby seals in Canada. She named his album The Idiot as an inspiration for the record.

Which DJ and producer brought Kesha on stage at Coachella 2016 and then released 'True Colors' with her?

Zedd offered to produce a song with her while her legal battle kept her from releasing music. Their version reworked the title track of his 2015 album.

Which network aired Kesha's 2013 documentary series My Crazy Beautiful Life, co-filmed by her brother Lagan?

MTV ran it for two seasons. The first followed her debut headlining tour and the making of her second album, and the title was shared with her illustrated autobiography.

Kesha's 2018 song 'Here Comes the Change' was recorded for a film about which Supreme Court justice?

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was the subject of the biopic On the Basis of Sex, and the single was released to promote the film.

The chorus riff of Kesha's 'Take It Off' matches which old tune, also known as the snake charmer song?

The Streets of Cairo was copyrighted by songwriter James Thornton in 1895, two years after Chicago's World's Fair staged a Cairo street attraction with snake charmers and camel rides.

Kesha's 'Praying' video was shot partly at which art landmark in the California desert?

Salvation Mountain, built by Leonard Knight from adobe and thousands of gallons of paint, hosted a shoot that took a single day. Kesha likened it to a good, long therapy session.

After a near-perfect SAT score, Kesha was offered a scholarship to which of the Seven Sisters colleges?

Barnard lost out to pop: at 17 she left school and moved back to Los Angeles to chase a music career instead.

Which member of the Beach Boys, whom Kesha called a personal musical hero, sings on her 2019 ballad 'Resentment'?

Brian Wilson shares the acoustic country ballad with Sturgill Simpson and Wrabel. Kesha shot its video herself on her iPhone, with a VHS filter added.

Kesha planned a full album, later cancelled, with which psychedelic rock band?

The Flaming Lips announced the album in 2013 under the title Lipsha, having already recorded a song with her the year before. Kesha told a fan the cancellation was out of her control.

Which veteran rock singer had Kesha write lyrics and voice a devil character on a 2011 duet for his album?

Alice Cooper met her at the 2010 Grammy Awards and guested at several of her concerts before asking. He told Billboard she was a rock singer, not a pop diva.

Which rapper delivers the post-chorus on 'Raising Hell', the lead single from Kesha's 2020 album High Road?

Big Freedia performed it with her at the 2019 American Music Awards. In the video Kesha plays a televangelist who ends up on the run from the police.

Kesha guest-starred as Annabelle, the heroine's hostile neighbor, in a 2015 episode of which CW series?

Jane the Virgin gave her the role in its second season, during the years when her legal dispute had stalled her recording career.

While in treatment in 2014, Kesha began writing her third album on which instrument a friend had brought her?

A toy keyboard was all the staff would allow, because anything with a power cord was banned. She told Teen Vogue she recorded 14 new songs during her stay.

Which animal-protection group named Kesha its first global ambassador, with shark finning among her causes?

The Humane Society of the United States later gave her its Wyler Award, which honours a public figure who raises awareness of animal issues through the media.