Ke$ha Day 2

[koganbot]

I was with friends at Tokyo Joe's this evening, a quasi fast-food Japanese joint, and music was piped-in, adding noise to a place already full of crowd noise. Not sure what the purpose of the music is, since it's not loud enough to help create the ambience. Perhaps by adding more noise to the noise it provides cover for people who don't want the

Comments

Re: The girl who put the FUN back into dysfunctional

[skyecaptain]

I'd agree that Ke$ha is doing something that is not "regular old partying," but I'm not sure I'd call the distinction "Extreme Partying" by any means. She hasn't pushed partying into some new area, but rather approaches partying from a bizarre vantage point, from which partying becomes "partying." Part of my fascination with her is that I still hear a party even though logic is telling me that she doesn't quite understand what a party actually is. And it's in this disconnect that I'm projecting something like sadness (here is someone rendered pathetic by their pursuit for fun -- someone who doesn't really sound like they're having any fun at all).

There's a kind of alchemy happening, wherein the content that tells me that this person has no understanding of actual joy beyond accidental weirdness or cliche (which is not something I'd ever claim of Ying Yang Twins) is still inspiring actual joy in me. There's a difference from the other Lukeites, who sound like they're dressing up (poorly, in my opinion, but that's not really the relevant thing) -- there's no "other thing" (depth thing) to compare Ke$ha to, hence this weird character just kind of sits there in the center of everything. She neither invites nor discourages the party, it just happens around her.

Re: The girl who put the FUN back into dysfunctional

[koganbot]

Instead of "extreme partying," maybe... well, I think what I'm trying to get at is that she is willing to go to any lengths and suffer any consequences to have her party, and then try to make that seem like a virtue, make the vomit the symbol of the good time. (If that's true. Still haven't delved into the words much.) A crack ho also goes to any lengths, but probably doesn't parade then parade the degradation as an emblem of the experience's fun and value. (Well, I wouldn't know. Haven't done a survey of crack ho's recently.)

So, what would be the right term for what seems a determinedly low-rent way of going to any lengths and suffering any consequences to have her party, and then trying to make that a virtue, the vomit being the symbol of the good time?

("Hungover" wouldn't fit this, but it's mediocre, so let's forget it.)

Re: The girl who put the FUN back into dysfunctional

[skyecaptain]

Hmmm. Well, what you're describing is something like a gas-huffer, really! But I guess you're also describing something like a Midas touch -- take all the ugliness and all the generally-badness (this includes cliche as much as it includes vomit) and turn it into PARTY. All signs point to party, become a feature of that party. Where most people have a party, Ke$ha seems to be in possession (or in the jaws of) a PARTY MONSTER.

So inadvertently (I presume) her generic title takes on an interesting meaning -- the party itself (not Ke$ha) is the wild animal. She's the hapless person who thinks she's controlling the damn thing, without realizing that being carried in its jaws is not necessarily the same thing as riding it.

Re: The girl who put the FUN back into dysfunctional

[skyecaptain]

This also means that in a given Ke$ha song, the subject is not really Ke$ha, but the monstrosity itself, with Ke$ha being something of a red herring in her own material.

Re: The girl who put the FUN back into dysfunctional

[skyecaptain]

Another thought -- Ying Yangs take partying to extremes, but Ke$ha turns partying into a pathology. Still not sure how the down-a-notch numbers fit in here though and think I'm being overly selective in my reading by ignoring them. The album is a bit like the Veronicas debut where the convo outpaces the album as a whole.

Re: The girl who put the FUN back into dysfunctional

[koganbot]

Or the lyrics outshout the sound in a lot of people's commentary. As for sound, "TiK ToK" and "Blah Blah Blah" are the most aggressive tracks on the album; I was surprised at how much the rest is down-a-notch.

What I'm trying to get at here, though, isn't so much how you and I perceive Ke$ha (or the discrepancy between her presentation and how we perceive her), but what her party is straight-up signifying about itself. My saying "EXTREME" might or might not be steering us wrong. The party in "Party At A Rich Dude's House" is OPPORTUNISTIC: you can trash his living room and throw up in his closet, since he can always replace his wardrobe and buy a new living room. So the party is like a tide that simply looks for where it can settle in, finding this place or that place to unfurl. (Think I'm mixing my metaphors there.) The fact that "vomit" can be a positive signifier and not as beat or rock or punk flaunting of self-destruction but as a form of vibrant life (or something?) is what I'm trying to make something of, so "pathology" isn't the right word either. "Mess" might be what I'm looking for. Ke$ha the messa.

Think of how hangovers are portrayed in popular culture: the treatment tends to be half-comic and half congratulatory (unless it's a serious TV problem movie about alcoholism or addiction). Whereas irl a hangover might be a sign of fucking up and that the person is in trouble and the body is breaking down. Ke$ha's "Hungover," uncharacteristically, goes for the irl version, and doesn't seem to fit with the album (and is the third-least-good song on there), though I suppose it makes perfect sense as a cheesy bit of abyss-staring rounding out an album full of blatant partying.

Re: The girl who put the FUN back into dysfunctional

[skyecaptain]

Actually starting to think the sensibility (of her whole thing sorta, but especially the hilarious "Party At A Rich Dude's House" even if Ke$ha's theoretically young & broke rather than young a& rich in it herself) reminds me more of the Tubes' (pre-"punk") "White Punks On Dope" than any of the other predessor so-far named, to wit:

Teenage had a race for the night time
Spent my cash on every high I could find
Wasted time in every school in L.A.
Getting loose, I didn't care what the kids say

We're white punks on dope
Mom & Dad moved to Hollywood
Hang myself when I get enough rope
Can't clean up, though I know I should

Other dudes are living in the ghetto
But born in Pacific Heights don't seem much betto

I go crazy 'cause my folks are so fucking rich
Have to score when I get that rich white punk itch
Sounds real classy, living in a chateau
So lonely, all the other kids will never know

Maybe other Tubes songs too; gotta give that more thought.

Also thinking that "Hungover," as hangdog as it kinda sounds, is probably my favorite of Ke$ha's (what are, three or four? maybe even five? I keep losing count) not-so-great ballads, which are probably in general, where she's at her most Katy Perry-like (though "Animal" sounds like she's maybe trying to do a Kate Bush thing instead I guess. And "Stephen," which is only an almost ballad, reminds me of Katy, too. So, still having trouble hearing Ke$ha as that big a leap from other suburban girl burlesques from the past couple years -- only song that really reminds of Daphne and Celeste or L'Trimm tbh is the also hilarious "D.I.N.O.$.A.U.R.," though my wife actually mentioned Northern State. Though there are moments in some songs, like e.g. that great part about a minute into "Rich Dude's House" where her voice gets all gravely and she imitates the synth hook, kinda playing drunken air guitar with her mouth. I could imagine Daphne & Celeste doing that, for sure.)

Songs I still really don't care about one way or the other: "Your Love Is My Drug," "Blind," "Dancing With Tears In My Eyes," "Animal." On the cusp of caring, maybe; we'll see: "Stephen," "Hungover," "Boots & Boys."

Btw, has anybody talked about / tried to figure out / explained / voiced any opinion whatsoever about the 3Oh!3 dude's cameo part in "Blah Blah Blah"? Maybe I should go back and re-read the Jukebox reviews. (Maybe I should meet them in the back with a jack by the Jukebox.) I can't figure out if it actually adds something or not.

Re: The girl who put the FUN back into dysfunctional

[chuckeddy]

Oops, this comment above was me, though I figure you'd have figured that out already, from the, uh, tone. And as you've probably also figured out, the album has been growing on me. (Do think she's something new, and not nearly as Gaga like as I suggest above -- and usually not Katy Perry like either. Just not all that dumbfounded by her newness, and as I think Frank suggested already re: the way she only parties-all-the-time some of the time, I'm a bit confused by people seeming to imply that she's just one thing.)

Inner CD sleeve picture with the Tyrannosaurus and manatees and cheetahs and space penguins surrounding her looks really awesome, btw. Also didn't notice until I finally opened the booklet yesterday that part of the album -- "D.I.N.O." and partly "Hungover" at least -- was recorded with Max Martin in Stockholm rather than just Luke (and others) in L.A. Haven't studied the credits in detail yet, though. (Not sure I will).

And oh yeah, my wife (who didn't like the album much at all when we were playing it in the car yesterday) also pointed out that "Back$tabber" stands out by being in a minor key.

Re: The girl who put the FUN back into dysfunctional

[chuckeddy]

(PS: Also, when I say the ballads recall "Katy Perry", it's possible that what I really mean by "Katy Perry" is "Pink.")

Re: The girl who put the FUN back into dysfunctional

[chuckeddy]

Uh...Now "Stephen" is sounding like Lily Allen in my head for some reason. That can't be right, can it? (Ann Powers called it "space-country" in her [i]L.A. Times[/i] review, which seems off to me but I like the idea. Also wondering which parts of Ke$ha's album reminded her of Big & Rich -- weird.)

Re: The girl who put the FUN back into dysfunctional

[koganbot]

I replied here on my new thread since if we add a few more posts to this thread lj is going to start nesting the subthreads, which'll make it a fucking pain in the ass to read.

Re: The girl who put the FUN back into dysfunctional

[chuckeddy]

"vomit" can be a positive signifier ... a form of vibrant life

The Dictators, 1975:

My favorite part of growing up
Is when I'm sick and throwing up
It's the dues you've got to pay
For eating burgers every day ("Master Race Rock")

Soon he threw up in the store
But if he does it anymore
I'll make him eat it off the floor ("Weekend")

Bruce Springsteen, same year, interestingly enough:

I broke all the rules, strafed my old high school, never once gave thought to landing,
I hid in the clouded warmth of the crowd but when they said "Come down" I threw up
Ooh-ooh growin' up

(Actually, looking over all those Dictators Go Girl Crazy lyrics again, maybe they had more Ke$ha in them than the Tubes after all.)

Re: The girl who put the FUN back into dysfunctional

[chuckeddy]

Oops, Bruce's grow up/throw up almost-rhyme actually '73 (his debut LP) not '75. (Not sure if the Dics were fans, or not.)

Re: The girl who put the FUN back into dysfunctional

[koganbot]

And significantly, the vomiting doesn't symbolize "suffering" or "depth." (Or anyway, I don't take it that it's supposed to symbolize suffering or depth.)