Kesha

Kesha Rose Sebert is an American singer and recording artist from the pop, dance, electropop and electronic scenes. She performs under the mononym Kesha and was formerly styled as Ke$ha. She has been active as a singer since before 2005.

Career

Her breakthrough comes in early 2009 after appearing on Flo Rida’s number one single Right Round. She later supports Calvin Harris on tour in the UK and tours with Mickey Avalon in the United States. She also performs at Madison Square Garden for the Z100 Jingle Ball, appears among the acts announced for the 2010 revival of Lilith Fair, and presents at the 52nd Grammy Awards.

Her debut album, Animal, is released in the United States in 2010 and debuts at number one after selling 152,000 copies in its first week. The album is seven years in the making and draws on more than two hundred songs, with fourteen included on the final track list. Its lead single, TiK ToK, gives her first solo number one and reaches the top spot in New Zealand, Canada, Australia, Norway and the United States, becoming the first number one of the 2010s on the Billboard Hot 100. The single also sets a female download record, becomes the second best-selling single in a week after Right Round, and later breaks the record for the highest weekly radio airplay plays. Her second single, Blah Blah Blah featuring 3OH!3, charts in the top 10 in four countries.

In 2010 she releases the EP Cannibal, which includes the chart-topping single We R Who We R. It debuts at number one and becomes her third number one hit. Her second album, Warrior, follows in 2012 and includes a collaboration with Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips. In 2013 she releases Timber with Pitbull, which becomes her fourth number-one single.

In 2014 she spends two months in rehab for eating disorder treatment and appeals her sexual assault case involving Lukasz Sebastian Gottwald, known as Dr. Luke, while announcing work on a third album. Rainbow follows in 2017 after Dr. Luke is fired from Kemosabe Records. The album debuts at number one on the Billboard 200 and receives Grammy nominations for Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Pop Solo Performance for Praying. She later releases Raising Hell with Big Freedia, described as the last track of hers shipped to radio.

Her fourth album, High Road, is released in 2020 and reaches number 7 on the Billboard 200. In 2023 she releases singles for her fifth album, Gag Order, followed by the album itself and a live EP featuring tracks including Happy and Only Love Can Save Us Now. The tour for the album is initially planned under the name Gag Order Tour and later renamed the Only Love Tour after legal battles. She also appears as Queen Beelzebub in the season one finale of Helluva Boss, speaking the role of one of the Seven Deadly Sins associated with gluttony, while Rochelle Diamante provides the singing voice because of legal issues that delay the episode’s release.

In 2024 she releases JOYRIDE and later hosts a TED Talk while performing an unreleased track called Cathedral. She also releases a remix of Spring Breakers with Charli xcx. In 2025 she releases her sixth studio album, titled ., with standard edition singles including JOYRIDE., DELUSIONAL., YIPPEE-KI-YAY., BOY CRAZY. and THE ONE.; a deluxe version follows with additional tracks, remixes and collaborations with JADE, T-Pain, Slayyter and Rose Gray.