• Record Label: RCA
  • Release Date: Dec 4, 2012
User Score
8.1

Universal acclaim- based on 309 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Negative: 29 out of 309
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  1. Jan 15, 2013
    4
    I don't really apreciate Ke$ha as a singer and her songs are a sloppy and some of then doesn't even make since . But in comparation to her past albuns this is a much better album.
  2. Jan 18, 2013
    5
    I'm gonna be frank here: I can't stand any commercially released songs I've ever heard from Kesha (I refuse to use the dollar sign) until checking out this album in full. I say "commercially released" songs specifically because of 2 non-album tracks that've leaked online called Goodbye & Feels Like Rain that showed Kesha's true abilities as a great singer-songwriter. Now whether these areI'm gonna be frank here: I can't stand any commercially released songs I've ever heard from Kesha (I refuse to use the dollar sign) until checking out this album in full. I say "commercially released" songs specifically because of 2 non-album tracks that've leaked online called Goodbye & Feels Like Rain that showed Kesha's true abilities as a great singer-songwriter. Now whether these are from before fame or between albums I don't know, but what I do know is that her talent, from what I'm hearing/assuming, is being squandered by the big record label so they can churn out another cash cow pop star. Which is a shame really, because she has a lot of potential to do good musically. Fortunately Warrior is, to an extent, a step in the right direction. Sill, while it does show some more personal & introspective songwriting on tracks like Wonderland, Love into the Light, Last Goodbye & Past Lives, trashy generic party fuel like Die Young, C'Mon & Crazy Kids still festers in her "sound". And it's not always one way or the other. For example, the title track Warrior has a great rousing chorus about freedom & empowerment that jarringly devolves into a crappy non-musical club beat with much more generic & uninspired lyrics. Repeat this 4 times & the song's over. Die Young is musically a terrible ripoff of Good Feeling, which was already a bad song that already stole/sampled from others & while it's more tolerable than stuff like Blah Blah Blah, it's still along the same lines of suckiness. And C'Mon, while not as bad on the surface as Die Young, is pretty much more of the same. Next is Thinking of You, which like Warrior has a nice chorus with good lyrics with bad verses/pre-choruses that lessen its impact. In the chorus she's heartbroken over her boyfriend cheating on her & having trouble getting over it. It's executed well with a nice melody & believable lyrics. The problem comes in everywhere else, where she sounds so obnoxious, snarky & overall unlikable on a near-Want U Back level that I just can't be on her side anymore on the matter. Crazy Kids is easily the worst song on the album, with nauseating lyrics/music on a self-parody level. Wherever You Are is probably the most positively consistent song on the album at this point, mainly due to the more sweet & sincere-leaning subject matter. Still though, a few questionable lyrics & severe overproduction (even worse than usual) in the chorus keep it from being a total success. Of course one of the more talked-about songs here is Dirty Love, which features punk rock pioneer Iggy Pop. Now an interesting thing about this song is that even though the subject matter is explicitly sexual like some other songs either, I can't help but enjoy it. Whether it be the more rock-influenced sound, great-sounding chorus or Iggy's signature tongue-in-cheek lyrical wit, it finds plenty of ways to hook me in. Call it a guilty pleasure I guess. Wonderland epitomizes the potential I was referring to earlier. It's a piano-driven, almost country-esque ballad about longing for a return to your wild youth. And while it kinda contradicts other songs here subject matter-wise, this comes off as much more sincere & genuine. It also notably features The Black Keys' Patrick Carney on drums. Let's hope her next album is full of songs this good. Continuing this streak of good songs, Only Wanna Dance With You is probably the most straightforward rock song on the whole album, mostly influenced by The Strokes, complete with Dr. Luke doing a good impression of Julian Casablancas. Another solid track that while not showing as much depth as Wonderland, is still very fun & enjoyable. Supernatural has a similar problem as Warrior in that it has a great chorus that's let down by everything around it. While this song is sex-centric, not an uncommon theme here, it's done in a more refreshingly sensual & epic way, to which the verses & pre-chorus immediately go "LOL NO" & take a turn for the generic & trashy. While All That Matters (The Beautiful Life) is tolerable, it's just another throwaway party jam that does absolutely nothing for me. Not offensively bad, just... there. Love into the Light (along with Past Lives) is one of the least commercial songs here musically, featuring a pounding drum beat & a grand/epic arrangement with full instrumentation & lyrics that, while a bit on the generic side, do have an earnest sounding message of love & acceptance. And on an album like this, that's certainly a treat. Last Goodbye has a nice building structure with good melodies & what I think are a banjo & mandolin (overproduction kinda drowns them out). Lyrically it basically gets right what Wherever You Go & Thinking of You were trying to do but ultimately fell short at. Next we have Gold Trans Am, which while having some cool rock elements, fails horribly lyrically. Out Alive awkwardly jams generic club stuff into an otherwise decent social commentary message about greed & wastefulness. Score: 59/100 Expand
Metascore
71

Generally favorable reviews - based on 19 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 19
  2. Negative: 0 out of 19
  1. 80
    Ke$ha too reaches for a savage base pull, lifting from the low-end, high-reward arena rock spectrum, a place of soaring peaks and valleys that still float above heads even at their most subdued, music meant to be blasted from towering stacks of speakers, so the stage appears bookended by the Willis Tower and the John Hancock Center and that finds its artistic beauty in the sheer size and ferocity of its scope and emotional appeal.
  2. Mojo
    Dec 17, 2012
    60
    The naff raps and Auto-Tuned gloop can't spoil the addictive rush of the air-punching, get-pissed-destroy-a-bus-shelter anthems that abound here. [Jan 2012, p.93]
  3. Q Magazine
    Dec 11, 2012
    60
    Warrior, a moderate improvement of her disappointing debut Animal. [Jan 2013, p.106]