Warrior | Ke$ha

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Ke$ha, a name that was spread up and down the Billboard Hot 100 chart two years ago with singles off of her debut album and subsequent EP, Animal and Cannibal, has begun to reappear on the charts with a new release, Warrior.

During its first week of release, Warrior sold 85,000 units, a sales tally that is surprisingly unimpressive from an already-established artist such as Ke$ha. However, many people will agree that Ke$ha sells many more singles than albums. Her singles are strong enough to sell, but not convincing enough to direct the general public to buy an entire album.

“Die Young” was released last year as the lead single for the album, and eventually peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. At first, I was completely annoyed by the song, simply because it sounded so cliché. But since it was released, it has grown on me immensely. I don’t like the song in the sense that it’s creative, (because it is far from creative), but in the sense that it is just a feel-good song that makes listeners want to dance.

Last month, the song dropped significantly on the charts after the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary. Many radio stations pulled “Die Young” from rotation after the shooting, although the tragedy has no correlation to the song.

But really, does anybody expect any different from Ke$ha? She has never really strived to make herself look professional or artistic. She has said in multiple interviews before the release of Warrior that she wanted this album to show the general public that she has vocal ability. Seriously? Let’s be honest: Ke$ha burst out on the scene as the party girl who woke up in a bathtub and has a strange obsession with glitter. She’s not going to transform into a vocal goddess anytime soon.

Ke$ha tried to write some rather meaningful songs on Warrior, such as “All That Matters (The Beautiful Life)” and “Out Alive,” but they both turned out as rather catchy pop songs with simplistic lyrics, because again, she’s Ke$ha; nobody can take her seriously. “Wonderland” is another attempt from Ke$ha to be a deep songwriter, but instead of sounding like a nice pop song, it turned out to be a cheesy ballad about how she misses living in her car

The second single to be sent to radio stations from Warrior is entitled “C’mon.” The song is yet another typical Ke$ha song, featuring extremely weak verses and bridge, while the chorus is a bit more exciting. “C’mon” is just as cliché as “Die Young,” but doesn’t have the catchiness that “Die Young” had. The song is far from a highlight on the album, but I’m sure it will prove successful on pop radio, simply because everything sounds the same on pop radio.

One of the best songs from the albums is called “Supernatural.” The chorus and bridge of the song are extremely impressive. The chorus is slower in comparison to the song’s verses, and is stripped down to a few electronic instruments, while the verses and bridge contain an explosion of dubstep and electropop elements. The bridge is primarily instrumental, and could be considered the equivalent to the breakdown of a Skrillex song, with Ke$ha’s overly-autotuned voice spiking through the instruments in random variations.  

Overall, Warrior is a catchy pop album. Was it impressive in any extent? Not really, but then again, I wasn’t expecting much from an artist like Ke$ha. I can say, however, that it was an improvement from her last two releases. For anybody who is looking for a good album to dance to, Warrior is a must-have. However, somebody on the market for a creative masterpiece better keep searching.