Kesha: Male singers who party are ‘rock & roll,’ women are ‘train wrecks’

Kesha

Kesha has been making a slow and steady media return after her rehab stint for an eating disorder. She was initially admitted for 30 days but decided to stay in treatment for 2 months. That should speak to her committment to get better. I’m curious to see if and how her music changes after she’s taken steps to get healthy. She certainly won’t be working with Dr. Luke again. She publicly shamed him for fat-shaming her, and he fully deserved it.

Kesha wrote a lengthy new essay in the latest print edition of Elle UK about her healing process. The full scanned article can be viewed here, but I’ve excerpted the better parts. Kesha emphasizes, “I felt like part of my job was to be as skinny as possible.” She also talks about how pap photos and cruel internet commentary accelerated her downward spiral. That really sucks. I remember a certain set of bikini photos, and the things people were saying were really uncalled for. Kesha was not only being shamed by her producer, but she couldn’t even log onto the internet without seeing negative stuff about her body. Kesha’s essay also gives us more insight into her previous statement about wanting to try and be pretty instead of stunt queening:

On entering rehab: “As I lay in the tiny, bare room, crying and clutching a stuffed lion that Mom had given me, I was worried what people would think. I was battling an eating disorder — but I knew people would assume I was here for other things. I’ve written songs about partying, but my dirty little secret is that I’m actually incredibly responsible. I take my music and career very seriously, and certainly didn’t land in this situation from partying. I imagined people making up stories at a time when what I really needed was support.”

She grew up “different”: “In 2005, I was signed by a record label. Suddenly, it was OK to be different. I had fun with my style. I wore my hair in a mohawk and did my make-up like Alice Cooper. If someone called me pretty, I’d sneer and smear more glitter on my face. I didn’t want to be just pretty — I was wild, crazy and free. I talked about sex, about drinking. When men do that, it’s rock and roll, but when I did it, people assumed I was a train wreck. I played confident but still felt like an outcast.”

Her paranoia: “The music industry has set unrealistic expectations for what a body is supposed to look like, and I started becoming overly critical of my own body because of that. I felt like people were always lurking, trying to take pictures of me with the intention of putting them up opine or printing them in magazines and making me look terrible. I became scared to go in public, or even use the internet. I may have been paranoid, but I also saw and heard enough hateful things to fuel that paranoia.”

On helping others: “I knew I was ready to leave when I’d gained enough confidence to get on a plane knowing there would be paparazzi at the airport at the other end. I was right – they were there. But this time, when I saw the pictures, I felt OK. I’m not fully fixed — I am a person in progress, but I want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem. Even I need to be reminded that we are who we are. And when I say that, I f—ing mean it, now more than ever.”

[From Elle UK]

Kesha’s right about the difference in attitudes towards male and female singers. Men can sing about carrying around loads of condoms and cracking bottles, and it’s cool. Women who do the same receive a vastly different response. Kesha sounds like she’s on the path to repairing herself, and I hope she still continues to sing about her favorite topics. I don’t think she really brushes her teeth with Jack Daniels, but she was having fun with lyrics and stereotypes.

Kesha also has a new-ish boyfriend, Brad Ashenfelter. They’ve been secretly dating for several months. Kesha says she loves his beard: “I’m not into guys who are very high-maintenance. That’s like my thing. I don’t want them to take longer to get ready than me!” Kesha met Brad through her stylist who is dating his friend. He is a blogger and supported her through rehab. I think this is Brad in both photos, but there might be some conflicting tattoo evidence.

Kesha

Kesha

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet & WENN

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32 Responses to “Kesha: Male singers who party are ‘rock & roll,’ women are ‘train wrecks’”

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  1. QQ says:

    Ah Good for her for speaking out and getting herself together, and for bagging her her mythical scruffy dude (lol she has so gone on about this beard fetish of hers!)

  2. Tapioca says:

    She kinda has a point, but when Adam Levine or John Mayer talks about his sex life everyone calls him a feminine hygiene product. Male rock stars only really get a pass if they’re actually good!

    • paola says:

      Exactly! Just think of Charlie Sheen, Gerard Butler or that sort of trashcan that Kelly Osbourne is dating now.
      between Charlie Sheen and Lindsay lohan i’d stick with the latter. At least she doesn’t have babies (yet) and she is not an embalmed corpse.

    • GoodNamesAllTaken says:

      I agree, her point doesn’t apply to everyone, but the overall attitude is certainly there.

      • Lucy2 says:

        This- there are men called out for their behavior, but as always, it’s harsher for women.

    • Adrien says:

      Why yes, good point, tapioca. I don’t understand why Adam and John are called Summer’s Eve product while Jack White is given a pass. I mean they (Adam and John) have no history of assaulting a fellow musician, they are not violently abusive to their girlfriends. Never heard any of their gf’s filing a restraining order against them.

  3. qwerty says:

    She’s totally right

  4. It is what it is says:

    I really like her, I hope she stays strong!

  5. Jayna says:

    I feel bad. I remember a photo being posted of her in a bathing suit and I said she had an odd body shape. I didn’t call her fat but I did comment. To think I was one of the ones that made her feel bad makes me ashamed.

    • amanda says:

      Don’t be ashamed! You’re a lot better than most, so do/say juvenille things and have no conscience over it. Atleast now I’m sure you’ll think twice about saying a nasty thing about someoene’s body. I’m not Kesha, but I’d imagine she’d be happy to hear you say this, as it appears her speaking out on the issue is to raise exactly the point you made 🙂 You’re a human being, and not perfect, but I suspect you’re one of the better ones 🙂

  6. LAK says:

    It sounds like she was acting how she thought a rock star should act when she hadn’t figured herself out.

    The problem when you are stuck with an image before you know yourself, compounded by the ongoing media/your publicist narrative, it can really screw with you.

    Glad she did, without fanfare and sounds like she knows who she is and even if she were to act per her previous image, she’d have the self knowledge that it was an act and the commentary wouldn’t hurt as much.

    That said, she shouldn’t google herself. It’s not healthy for anyone’s self esteem.

  7. Hannah says:

    She’s got a good point. For instance Courtney love is ridicule and shamed for the same behaviour that makes her male colleagues rock’n’roll.
    She really hasn’t done anything that the Rolling Stones, and several generations of make rock stars didn’t do. But somehow Courtney is viewed as a trainwreck.

    • blue marie says:

      I agree with you in sentiment but Courtney Love IS a trainwreck, it’s part of her charm. (at least for me anyway)

      • Hannah says:

        She is no more of a train wreck than Keith Richards and countless male rock star is or was.
        I’d like to say I am not a fan of Courtney by the way she just seems like a good example of someone who has lead the same lifestyle as the boys but has been shamed for it. I am a patti smith fan myself 🙂

  8. Lex says:

    I love her pastel hair! Such pretty shades.

  9. snowflake says:

    go kesha! we’re supporting you!

  10. Adrien says:

    I really like Kesha now. I agree with what she said. I know lots of people who romanticized Doherty’s drug problem and rocked on to Libertines and Baby shambles b’c of that. He’s a rockstar, he’s supposed to behave like Keith Richards and Kurt Cobain. Meanwhile, Amy was relegated as tabloid fodder b’c of her troubled life when in fact she was more talented than Peter. In fairness to Peter, he is a talented songwriter but I doubt if his followers really see that. They romanticized his lifestyle.

    • kri says:

      She is another one I’m rooting for. To stay in rehab for two months is more than enough to prove that she really recognized her issues and was committed to getting help and doing the work. I admire her very much for that. It makes me nuts when celebs go to rehab for 2 weeks. Good luck Kesha.

  11. poppy says:

    she needs to stop looking at pap pictures of herself and definitely not read the comments. there is always going to be something unflattering.
    she really needs to stay away from the idiot hack that is dr. luke. there are plenty of producers that are better AND decent human beings. he is awful.

  12. Cupcake says:

    I like Ke$ha.

  13. maybeiamcrazy says:

    I wish her the best. Her music grates me but that’s my problem. The fact that she stayed in rehab because she wanted to shows that she is very aware of her problems. I am rooting for her.

  14. Naddie says:

    I am curious to listen to her songs, since I always found her music awful, to say the least. I actually find hard to empathize with famous people.

    • Joanne says:

      I don’t know why people are so critical of Kesha’s music. Past Lives is one of the most beautiful love songs of all time. And stuff like Wonderland, While You Were Sleeping, Animal, etc. is amazing. She does well with critics for a reason.

      • EM says:

        Most people only know the songs they hear on the radio which thanks to Dr Luke’s stupidity happen to be her weakest. Many people are surprised when they find out Kesha sings ballads and sad songs. They think she only does generic party stuff when she mostly doesn’t. If she’s managed to break her contract with him her next single will be radically different.

  15. moirrey says:

    “Log onto the internet”? Isn’t that an archaic phrase from the days of dial up? No one does that anymore.

  16. Lauraq says:

    She’s lying about not partying. Back before rehab, she would brag about throwing up in people’s closets and waking up at stranger’s houses.