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Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Creamtastic / National Skyline Tik-Toxic: Is Kesha Nashville's Heir to Britney Spears' Throne?

Posted by Adam Gold on Wed, Jan 6, 2010 at 3:55 PM

Check it out: Justin Kase on Ellen!
 I've gotta say, seeing 2010 start with Rush Limbaugh suffering from chest pains in a Hawaiian hospital has given me high hopes for what new and exciting prospects lie waiting in the decade ahead. Another notable happening to mark the start of the tweens is the overnight success of a local(?) diva. At press time, it's Jan. 6 and, so far, the artist of the decade is (drum roll, please) Kesha. I know, I know, we spilled ink on L'il Miss Jack Daniels breath as recently as yesterday, but that's how you treat an artist of the decade, right? With her hit "Tik Tok," Kesha has the first single to top the Billboard Hot 100 in 2010--as well as setting a sales record on iTunes. What I find amusing about Kesha is that she seems to have started her artistic career where Britney Spears' shit the bed, fast-tracking past the pop-princess beginnings and delving head-first into Federline-era trash-pop and the embrace of adult excess. In this piece, posted today on The Awl, writer David Cho makes a compelling case--albeit somewhat premature--for Kesha as a potential heir to Britney Spears' throne. But is there really a vacancy? Britney Spears spent the last decade trying to make the jump from Debbie Gibson of the '90s to Madonna of the 21st century. As the entire Western world knows, things went uproariously awry and--between shaved heads and shattered childhoods--Spears was reduced to nothing more than an interminable tabloid sideshow. Or was she? Despite the chart failure of her later-aughts singles, and public perception that her creative career was in the shitter, Spears' 2009 tour grossed $82.5 million, ranking 4th on Pollstar's list of the top 50 grossing tours of the year, beating out artists such as Celine Dion, Keith Urban, Coldplay, The Jonas Brothers, Metallica, Paul McCartney and The Eagles. Couple that with the influence of her bad-girl crash-and-burn persona and it seems pretty apparent that--judging by Kesha's Cape Canaveral-style blast-off--Britney Spears is a far more influential artist than I ever anticipated. If there was ever an icon who made the world safe for Ke$ha, it's Britney. I can only describe Kesha's "Tik Tok" as an amalgam of all the latter-Aughts Top 40 trends: high-end department store beatz, Auto-Tune ad nauseam, club-life bravado and harsh attacks of synthesizers with no guitars or other acoustic instruments anywhere in sight. It's not too far removed from Spears' 2007 chart-flopper "Gimme More." While Kesha is an artist that clearly embodies the zeitgeist of pop-music production trends, I struggle to justify why I'm spending my time devoting right brain activity to such McDonald's-ized auditory what-have-you such as "Tik Tok," when there's still an Aerosmith out there to topple and Springsteen songs I haven't heard yet. The reason, of course, is that--tenuous as it may be--there is a Nashville connection, meaning that I can't treat this like I do most contemporary pop sludge and pretend it doesn't exist. Since the success of Paramore and Kings of Leon has sparked in an unending debate over whether or not we should--as Nashville's music scene--embrace successful Nashville non-country acts with proprietary allegiance, or simply call diamonds diamonds and spades spades, I think we might as well just clear the air and decide now how we're going to deal with the potential phenomenon--or phenomenal failure (time will tell which it's gonna be)--of Kesha right here and now. She may very well end up changing the image of Nashville from a singularly country music bastion to a hotbed of white-trash-electro Top 40. So my question to you is this: Do we claim her or not? Should we love or hate her because she's connected to Nashville? Is she a potential flagship artist or a potential embarrassment? Is Brentwood, Tenn., the new L.A. (or Kentwood, La.)? *Note: If Kesha's Cape Canavarel blast-off ends up being more like The Challenger than Apollo 11, this article will be hilariously dated in a few years time.

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Comments (20)

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Props to Justin cause a gig's a gig. I think Brentwood could claim this one easily. And maybe Nashville should let 'em have it. Because this may be the most terrible thing I have ever heard.

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Posted by burrito on January 6, 2010 at 4:33 PM

for all intents and purposes, Kesha seems to claim LA as her origin.
assuming she does blast off into superstardom, i think we should be so lucky if anyone even believes us when/if we bitch or boast that she grew up in Brentwood.

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Posted by casio on January 6, 2010 at 4:33 PM

Fair's fair. Taylor Swift was born and raised for the most part in PA. But she moved down here and went to my high school. We claim her, right? KoL claim Nashville, no? I suppose Ke$ha is LA's, and that sounds about right.
Also, I'm concerned for her dental hygiene. Boys aren't going to try to touch her junk anymore once her teeth fall out. Jack is not an adequate substitute for toothpaste. Anyway, fair's fair.

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Posted by d. patrick on January 6, 2010 at 4:43 PM

i dunno. listerine is mostly alcohol, anyway, right?

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Posted by casio on January 6, 2010 at 4:50 PM

That shit is laughable terrible awful. Are you guys kidding me?

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Posted by ??? on January 6, 2010 at 4:50 PM

I caught her at a 12th n Porter show with Mickey Avalon and although a little too spearmint clean for my taste buds, she does her pop thing well. Her website gives Nashville major kudos and i'm just not that much of a snob to be like "oh no, Nashville doesn't want her"
On a side note, I've got a breathalyzer on my car's ignition and got locked out one day before work. Turns out listerine is 27% alcohol

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Posted by DSN on January 6, 2010 at 5:04 PM

WTF kind of accent is that anyway? Doesn't sound very Brentwood to me.

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Posted by TobintheGnome on January 6, 2010 at 6:07 PM

its na'vi, duh.

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Posted by justin cakes on January 7, 2010 at 9:11 AM

"She may very well end up changing the image of Nashville from a singularly country music bastion to a hotbed of white-trash-electro Top 40."
That may very well be the funniest thing written on the Cream up to this point in time.

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Posted by Michael on January 7, 2010 at 11:21 AM

fuck brentwood

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Posted by Fluffhead on January 7, 2010 at 12:05 PM

we went to grade school together. catholic school. she's nashville.
but.. this is the worst thing i have ever seen.

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Posted by kita on January 7, 2010 at 12:27 PM

I dig the pop'n'lock.
I hate to admit it, but this song is incredibly catchy and a damn good pop song. I sort of like it.

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Posted by Emily (for free?) on January 7, 2010 at 3:08 PM

I've heard so much about this song and never heard it until now. It's awful and I can enjoy catchy pop tunes every now and then. This was not good.

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Posted by vlee on January 7, 2010 at 10:09 PM

I think if I hear Springsteen mentioned again, I'm going to stop reading this blog. Not that I don't like his 'Nebraska'-style songwriting... but, for crying out loud, find a different aging performer to help cornerstone your "cool" musical foundation.

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Posted by Ugh-fest on January 8, 2010 at 9:24 AM

this is toxic.

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Posted by cato on January 8, 2010 at 10:45 AM

D I N O S A U R is my jam!

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Posted by bingham on January 8, 2010 at 10:14 PM

remember when kesha's family hosted paris hilton during "the simple life"? just some useless pop trivia for you.

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Posted by i like paris, tn more than paris, hilton on January 9, 2010 at 2:15 PM

Nashville expand your musical horizon and embrace it all.

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Posted by gonecat on January 11, 2010 at 1:28 PM

haha you can embrace it all and ill embrace the good stuff. there is some good pop stuff out there today but this song is just irritating and stupid. ive heard a lot of ppl say this chick was "the greasy girl with no butt" in high school. maybe she should have stayed that way.

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Posted by ho'dad on January 11, 2010 at 5:28 PM

Stupid lyrics & horrible transcoded voice crap.
I feel sorry for the youth who listen to this garbage. They think it's actually good music, & they think the lyrics are probably cool, & want to actually do the things she says.

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Posted by WHOA! on March 5, 2010 at 8:24 AM
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