High Road

If “Rainbow,” then, was the tremulous tone of Kesha in a funky fugue state, her newly released “High Road” is the sound of reclamation and abandon, of finding her form and shedding old skin, of locating exactly where the party’s at in 2020, then tearing apart the dance floor with a pick axe and a tough, glam-pop-hop roar. With that, Kesha not only claims independence and free-forward motion, but shows, again, that she sounds like no other female on the pop charts.

High Road works because of Kesha’s self-assurance and self-possession.

The genre-hopping leads to the odd stumble here and there, but overall the never boring, often excellent High Road finds Kesha returning to the party on her own terms.

As the f-bombs scatter and sloppy seconds diss tracks land hard, Kesha’s integrity and emotional depth leans in too. She may be a Malcolm Tucker of chart pop but there is so much symbolism – and often raw courage – in Kesha’s creative reclamation of her self, it can be dizzying.

Overall, ’High Road’ is an overwhelmingly triumphant pop offering that sees Kesha back at her best and having shit tons of fun while doing it.

On the excellent High Road, she fuses all her passions together—the road she’s traveling in the title is a spiritual path, but it’s also “high” in the earthier sense.

Relentlessly entertaining--a vessel for the impressive vim and vigour of an artist who is many things, but never a bore. [Mar 2020, p.115]

High Road appears to have bridged the gap between then and now with flair. Although we heart Kesha the party girl, we love the heart and soul she always pours into her music. A nonchalant and welcome return.

It’s the album equivalent of someone who can finally handle their liquor. Someone fresh out of their 20s and contemplating life via moments of late-night melancholy, as opposed to worrying implosion.

Nothing about this record feels forced but instead encapsulates Kesha’s outlook on the crazy and weird rollercoaster that is life itself.

Those mottled sounds make High Road Kesha’s least consistent album to date, at least sonically. But there’s a clear emotional through line. ... With High Road, Kesha has found a way to double back and carve out a comfortable, if not happy, middle ground.

At the album's wildest and dirtiest moments, there's a sense that her heart isn't quite into the revelry. Still, those moments are few and they're overshadowed by the sheer joie de vivre of Kesha feeling the freedom to be so silly she doesn't care if she falls on her face.

High Road is fun, frilly, and fanciful – and Kesha has more than earned this moment. It suits her.

Kesha is reconnecting with her former self. High Road is unmistakably the work of the same glitter-pop artist who tore up the charts in 2009, but with a new sense of underlying self-awareness.

The rootsier material is often fantastic, which shows up the goofier stuff even more. Kesha has balanced tender country songs with blinging pop throughout her career, but you may wish for ‘High Road’ to stick to one lane.

High Road feels strained, scattershot, and loaded with tension, like someone trying to portray freedom and free-spiritedness–even a recovered sense of identity–who isn’t quite there yet.

Kesha is in transition, searching for that balance that can give her music meaningful identity in the future. High Road’s few shining moments — the vulnerability of her ballads and the wild sparks sprinkled throughout — suggest that balance is imminent. High Road is ironically (and unfortunately) a low point in Kesha’s career.