The Batlord

7. Finding You: The odd singing pattern (phrasing I guess) of this song reminds me of the Beatles, and I'm not just blowing smoke, it legit kind of reminds me of the Beatles from their latter career. This isn't the only song to bring the Beatles to mind, but the phrasing (?) is definitely what makes me think of them. That said it's what passes for filler on this album. The middle part of Rainbow honestly lets down a bit after "Praying", and its memorability somewhat hurts the flow of the album. This is a fairly great, or at least highly good album, but it's songs like this that make Kesha feel like a really good but not necessarily, truly brilliant songwriter. **** me that hurts to say, but hey, the Beatles didn't do it on their own and never really regained their brilliance after they broke up. So suck on that, Paul McCartney.

8. Rainbow: This is another song that kind of brings to mind at least somewhat 60s pop. I can't really justify that statement other than a vague feeling. I'm not gonna defend it against people who're wondering what the **** I'm talking about, but it's just kind of a thing. Her phrasing is also kind of fun and different, with lyrics that aren't necessarily mind-blowing, but still fun and uplifting. This isn't a great song, but I still can't help but kind of love it for its vague strangeness. It goes strange ways without really feeling strange.

This album is kind of that way honestly. It doesn't sound groundbreaking by any stretch of the imagination, but it still feels like a specific expression of an artist's imagination that couldn't be replicated by anyone but Kesha. This really is Kesha at her most playful and fun, and Kesha's playful sense of fun is her defining characteristic as far as I'm concerned. She's clearly having fun just making music that makes sense to her rather than catering to a vastly entertaining but still limited sound dependent on the aforementioned pop zeitgeist. Even if Kesha can do better it's clear that she's just having a blast doing her thing.

And to be perfectly fanboyish, even if it doesn't mean as much as it would to your average listener, Kesha having fun making music for the sake of having fun making music makes me happy. I like Kesha sounding happy. And this song's relentless positivity really underpins its point: no matter what's happened between Warrior and this album, Kesha is just a happy person who likes making happy music.

9. Hunt You Down: This is just one of those silly songs that perfectly encapsulates Kesha. Except that it's pop country, sort of like "Bastards" but way better. It's just simple Nashville sound country in the vein of Loretta Lynn and makes it clear that she likes Loretta Lynn. It's a sound about love with an obsessive but light-hearted twist the same as classic Loretta songs like "Don't Come Home A-Drinkin'" and "Fist City".

It has none of the bombast of Kesha's early music but is still a fantastic pop ditty that is all Kesha. I simply love how playful she is with so many songs on this album, and this is... well, not her most playful, but that says nothing as her most playful songs on this album defy description. And yes I am specifically thinking of one song that I will gush over in due time.

If you ever thought that Kesha was a one note party girl then this song, if you still needed any assurances at this point, proves that Kesha is just a pop fangirl who will go to any genre of pop that she can to have a good time at any cost.

10. Boogie Feet: This song is best girl. I've listened to it more times than I can count and if I listen to Rainbow then eight out of ten times it's an excuse to blast this track at least five times in a row. Seriously this album has a lot of places it goes beyond the usual Kesha schtick, but this song is mindlessly euphoric pop brilliance. I could listen to this song all day and be ostentatiously happy. It's just big, dumb fun that I guess kind of brings to mind her High NRG tracks of old, but without sounding anything like "Tik Tok" or "Die Young". It is an unapologetic paean to embarrassing, white people dancing. It's supposedly about being good at dancing, but it's really about dancing like a complete retard no matter what anyone thinks.

It's got sick guitar riffs or some ****, but it's all about Kesha having the absolute most fun she's ever had singing any song she's ever sung. This legit feels like the most Kesha song ever recorded. It's just so stupid, with throwaway lyrics that are a backdrop to being a ****ty, dancing idiot. And **** me is it one of the catchiest things you will ever in your life hear. It underpins that this album is not about all of her problems, it's about Kesha making the sickest pop album she possibly can, cause that's all Kesha ever wanted in the first place.

Top 5 Kesha song with ease. **** that. Top 3. Damn, top 2. ****, it competes with "Tik Tok". It still doesn't beat it, but it's that good. If you're not a fan then you're not a Kesha fan. Just finished this song entry but I'm still gonna listen to it at least two more times cause I can't not.

Kesha is a ****ing godlike pop songwriter.

@Elphenor - Remember when I used "trill" in League of Legends and you laughed? It was a Kesha reference. I know it's not a Kesha invention, but I used it cause of this song. Suck it.

11. Boots: Alright I probably listened to "Boogie Feet" at least five times, but now it's unfortunately time to listen to another song... after this one last time...

Alright finally done. This is another song that's good and fun, but not really a classic. It's about sex and ****, but just kind of a pop song. It would be a decent song on any other artist's album, but on a Kesha album it's filler. Not bad filler. But filler.

12. Old Flames (Can't Hold a Candle To You) [feat. Dolly Parton]: There have been a few songs on Rainbow that didn't quite meet my standards, but this is the worst song on the album. This makes me sad since it is probably the only time I will ever get the chance to hear Kesha sing with Dolly Parton. I mean how much of a wasted opportunity is that? Kesha simply isn't suited to this kind of weepy country ballad.

But you might think that this is just a throwaway track that Kesha as an old school country fan managed to wrangle out of an artist who just kinda said "Okay, why not?" Well Kesha's mother wrote this song, which was one of Dolly's #1 hits, so this is kind of history. Too bad Kesha really isn't suited to this song, as it honestly feels pointless.

*sigh*

Can't win 'em all. But this still links two of my favorite artists, so I can't help but feel happy.

13. Godzilla: This is absolutely the dumbest song Kesha has ever recorded, and if it isn't the dumbest song she will ever record then I will be flummoxed. It makes "Party at a Rich Dude's House" sound... alright nothing will ever make that song sound not stupid, but this song is brilliantly idiotic. It's literally about Kesha dating the radioactive lizard Godzilla who has been terrorizing Tokyo for over half a century.

I do not know how this song came to be or how much ecstasy she was on when she wrote it, but this could not possibly have been a song written sober. It's a metaphor about dating a guy who other people think a girl shouldn't be dating, but the metaphor is completely irrelevant in the face of the sheer silliness of this song.

This is legitimately one of my favorite songs on the album. It has a completely retarded, glorious chorus that doesn't even include real words, but what really makes me love this song is how on an album that includes "Praying" there is this bit of sheer nonsense that proves that Kesha is just the goofiest person you've ever met who isn't me. It honestly challenges me as a silly person to meet the challenge that this idiocy presents. Godzilla loves pizza and video games. 1v1 me, bitch.

Remember how I said that this album occasionally reminds me of the Beatles? This is this album's "Yellow Submarine". And I honestly don't know which song is dumber. And I don't care.

14. Spaceship: Another of this album's pop country songs, and with two failures and one success this song could be a sure failure, but it's easily not. It's a pretty nice 70s, Nashville sound country song (if you don't know what 70s Nashville country sound is then learn) that's not brilliant but low key and fun and sends the album off with a relaxing vibe that I would never in a million years expect to hear from a mainstream pop album. Even if Kesha isn't 4 for 4 for country songs it's still cool to hear her commit to the sound out of love.


In summation, this is not necessarily Kesha's most consistent album, which would probably be Warrior, but it is easily her most diverse and interesting. This is also not the album of an artist hobbling along without the aid of her hitmaker partner, but the transitional album of a pop master who has every chance of writing the best pop album of all-time. And even now she has still released one of the most idiosyncratic and cool pop albums I have ever heard. Even if I don't know that it is as addictive as Warrior or Cannibal , it's definitely better than Animal . I wait with baited god damn breath to hear what she does next, because it will assuredly be amazing.

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