Kesha? This is Ke$ha. The pop star celebrated Independence Day with her first single as a free woman — and under her own label imprint, Kesha Records. On Thursday, Kesha released “Joyride,” a return to the dancey, campy pop music she entranced audiences with on Animal and Warrior.
“You want kids? Well, I am mother,” she declares in one zany lyric. “Don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t even try to gi-give me shit/I’ve earned the right to b-be like this.”
Kesha co-wrote the track with Madison Love and Zhone, who also produced the single. The track is also a taste of a “carefree Kesha summer,” according to a press release. “Rev my engine ’til you make it purr/Keep it kinky, but I come first,” she sings in the catchy chorus. “Beep-beep, bitch, I’m outside/Get in, loser, for the joyride.”
Kesha has been teasing the new music with paparazzi-taken photos of herself at gas stations and 7-Elevens holding slurpees with her single’s title. She also took photos with fans rocking the metallic blue lipstick she’d wear during her “We R Who We R” days.
“I couldn’t have made it through without all of you,” she wrote on X Tuesday. “Now we joyride.”
“Joyride” marks the first song Kesha has dropped since she settled the decade-long defamation lawsuit with Dr. Luke last summer, years after she filed a suit against the producer in 2014 alleging sexual, physical, and emotional abuse. It also marks her first release since leaving Luke’s RCA imprint Kemosabe in December.
In March, she shared a nude video of herself teasing her return with the website KeshaIsWaitingForYou.com. The singer started hinting at new music in January when photos circulated of her standing in a parking lot with a cardboard sign that bore the legend, “New music coming soon!”
The singer debuted “Joyride” during a surprise appearance at New York’s Planet Pride last month. She also played her first show as a “free motherfucking woman” during WeHo Pride at Outloud Fest, where she debuted another fittingly-named track, “Freedom.”
Kesha is set to perform at Philly’s Wawa Welcome America Festival Thursday night, before performing at Lollapalooza and in August at Mexico City’s Festival Hera. She’s also set to announce “additional dates” soon, according to a press release.