Kesha’s Period: An Anthem for Independence and Self-Love

Album Review by Annie Gallo This July Kesha released her first album as an independent artist under her own record label, Kesha Records. It’s an album full of dance music, some country twang, and pop music that will get stuck in your head. 

Album Artwork by Brandon Walter

The album’s name is simple, it's just ‘.’ (referred to as Period from here on out in this article). The first track “Freedom”, starts off with instrumentals of a piano playing for about 38 seconds before listeners hear the voice of the singer. Her voice is low as she sings the first words of the album “Freedom I’ve been waiting for you”. The beat drops about 2 minutes and 30 seconds into the song and it turns into a song that’s uplifting and makes you want to celebrate along with Kesha as she reclaims her freedom and sings about it.

On March 6th, 2024 Kesha posted to X saying “First day I’ve owned my voice in 19 years. Welcome.” Little did fans know that ‘Period.’ would come out a year and some months later. The most emotionally charged song with powerful lyrics on the album is “Cathedral”, which happens to be the last track. “Pain was my ritual, fear my religion. But I was the one that needed forgiving. Oh, I'm, I’m the cathedral,” she sings.

Kesha’s making one thing clear, don’t underestimate her ability to still write and sing a catchy, sometimes horny and always empowering song without a huge label backing her.

One song from the album, “Joyride” was released last July, the first song under Kesha Records. It went viral on social media platforms like TikTok with now over 65,000 videos using the song. “Joyride” starts with an unexpected accordion playing and then Kesha starts to rap and sing over the track about looking for a joyride. She sings at one point “Baby, I want you to rev my engine till you make it purr. Keep it kinky but I come first,”. 

If listeners are looking to embrace self love after a breakup , “Glow” is the song to listen to. “Got a brand new glow, yeah I’m dripping UV. I’m a star you ain’t even in my galaxy,” she raps on the track. Since the start of her career Kesha has been unapologetically herself, and this album is no different. From start to finish the album shares empowering messages about self love, being carefree, and self-aware.

Kesha is currently on a tour which is called the “Tits Out Tour”. She’s traveling across the country playing amphitheaters with a setlist that includes songs she hasn’t performed in a decade off her 2012 album ‘Warrior’.  Dates and tickets can be found here - https://keshaofficial.com/tour.