Ke$ha inhabits the electropop genre with her debut album Animal and its followup companion EP Cannibal so thoroughly that it's easy to assume she's limited to it. On the contrary, what makes the unreleased Ke$ha library so fascinating is how widely diverse it is in terms of genre, sound and (to a slightly lesser extent) content. The singer clearly enjoys experimenting with electronic studio sound generally reserved for more underground dance music than mainstream, although she's not afraid to pull out the guitar and unleash a gut-wrenching live ballad when the going gets rough.
What stands out throughout the sizable collection (I've obtained something north of 70 unreleased cuts) is not only Ke$ha's considerable knack for songwriting but an eagerness to explore a wide variety of styles, from low-key country to hyped-up techno to garage band rock to dirty club hip hop and more. Even several early cuts of some of the tracks that ended up on Animal suggest that Ke$ha's original vision underwent some cleansing prior to the album's release, presumably to avoid the need for a sales-damaging Parental Advisory content sticker. I, for one, found my appreciation of her skyrocket upon discovering the singer's defiantly honest, direct, bluntly sexual, uncensored persona that shows all throughout her unreleased songs with such veracity that it never comes off as pandering.
For the first three-quarters of a minute, the song sounds like the lost sibling of "Boots & Boys" and "V.I.P." (all three songs are the work of twin Australian producers Mim and Liv Nervo), with Ke$ha sizing up her record-slinging prey with the same inflection as when she lobs zingers at the VIP or discusses footwear. Suddenly, just as you start to ponder the possible dual meaning of "feeding me this hot track," a tell-tale "wubwubwub" appears and is instantly gone...then once more a few seconds later. Finally, as Ke$ha launches into the titular lyric of the chorus, the track morphs into a full-on pop-dubstep club thumper that would leave an Eskimo sweaty by the time it departs two and a half minutes later.
So I hereby bestow upon you this gift, one of the major cards in my hand with this whole convincing-the-world-that-Ke$ha's-actually-a-genius thing that I simply couldn't hold onto any longer. I should warn you, though: once you let Ke$ha's dubstep into your life, not to mention Britney's "Freakshow," you may find it harder to get terribly blown away by the dubstep flirtation of Britney's "Hold It Against Me." Fortunately, there's a good likelihood Femme Fatale will have more up its sleeve for us once it finally arrives. In the meantime, "drop this track!"
Ke$ha - "(Fuck Him) He's A DJ" (Original Unreleased Version)
Pop Goes the Dubstep (Part 1): Britney Spears - "Freakshow" and "Hold It Against Me"
Pop Goes the Dubstep (Part 3): Maroon 5 - "Moves Like Jagger" (feat. Christina Aguilera)
Read more on The Ke$ha Project here!