Ke$ha - Warrior - *** The HEADLINE needs to be creative and have By Rob Sheffield Rolling( Stone magazine, Dec. 4, 2012) your opinion. This doesn’t have one. Yours must. Ke$ha was born to be a rock star. She's a disco queen who dresses like Axl Rose and overdoses on personality like the New York Dolls. She rules pop radio with her megasleaze boombox beats, junk-shop rags and bleached-Sabbath hair. We all know glitter girls who dress like Ke$ha, talk like Ke$ha, party like INTRODUCTION - There are opinions Ke$ha and slap the world around like Ke$ha. But it's insanely here, but not about her album. Lots of rare to see one of these parking-lot queens roll with the big- background, with some writer’s ‘voice’ league pop stars. When she's on, Ke$ha can make everyone else on the charts seem like a church lady. (Lady K has stuck her dollar sign...), Over the past three years, Lady K has stuck her dollar sign on about Ke$ha’s colorful, musical past. a half-dozen or so of this century's most brilliant radio hits, all Great details here (megasleze boombox of them sounding more or less the same, and all of them endors- beats and junk shop rags) and clearly, ing the Ke$ha Philo$ophy of Life to the point where you bitterly the author did some great research. regret all the non-Ke$ha parts of your existence. From "Tik Tok" to "Blow" to "We R Who We R," she makes each of her hits into another installment of her cartoon glam-disco telenovela, an in- credibly broad and inclusive vision of pop trash. We owe her a lot. Ke$ha crafted Warrior as her rock manifesto. As she confesses REACTION - Ke$ha has crafted War- here, "I know I'm not perfect/I know I got issues/I know that I rior as her rock manifesto. “Crafted” and got a sordid past/And yeah, some bad tattoos." She claims "Last Goodbye" was inspired by Neil Young's deep cut "For the Turn- “manifesto” are positive words. Bottom stiles." And the single "Die Young," according to producer Benny line: The author likes this album. Blanco, is her version of "old hippie rock," which is bizarre given} that to the rest of us it sounds sorta exactly like Taio Cruz. DETAIL - Lots of rock history here. The Warrior doesn't hit the giddy peaks of 2010's Animal, but it author mentions several songs which has a crackpot sense of rock history. "Love Into the Light" bites parallel/sound like other rock songs, like the prog-soul of Phil Collins circa "In the Air Tonight." (Don't “Love Into the Light” which is like “In the worry – it only takes a minute to get to the drum solo.) "Only Air Tonight” Wanna Dance With You" is a hilariously mean (and accurate) parody of the Strokes. When she brings on Iggy Pop himself for COUNTERPOINT - Ke$ha should not do "Dirty Love," her lust for life is unquestionable. ballads. Even though the author likes the Really, the one way Ke$ha could fail to rock is to get sensi- album, he makes fun of the ballads, one- tive, turn spiritual and start doing acoustic ballads about past third of the album, even comparing one lives. This only happens for about a third of Warrior, so it's safe to Owen Wilson in Zoolander. to say the great Ke$ha sincerity crisis of 2012 has been narrowly averted for now. If you're in the mood to hear Ke$ha float across REVIEW NOTE - The author has used the universe, you might get a kick out of "Past Lives" – she a lot of lyrics “I know I’m not perfect/I know sounds like Owen Wilson in Zoolander tripping on acid with spi- der monkeys. But she should ditch the ballads, because she packs I got issues” and research in this review. more of her personality into crazy-horse dance-floor screamers You have to get specific in a review. like "C'Mon," "Thinking of You" and "Crazy Kids." None of her sincerity-mongering moments rocks as hard as DETAIL - Ke$ha does dance-floor scream- "Gold Trans Am," which couldn't have taken her more than 10 ers well. Even though “Gold Trans Am” minutes to write. No sensitive poetry here – just Def Leppard- probably took 10 minutes to write, it rocks. style rap metal that goes, "Wham bam, thank you, ma'am/Get in- side my ******* gold Trans Am." And she must have scored that CONCLUSION - Ke$ha is crude and guitar solo from the first guy to answer her Craigslist "Missed cheap but that’s what the author likes C.C. De-Ville Connections" ad. Ke$ha is hardly the first rock star to discover that her crudest, cheapest, cheesiest ideas are her about her and that’s what makes her a best. In fact, that's how you can tell she's a true rock & roll child. true rock & roll child. BOTTOM LINE - The author gives this three out of five stars. It’s more positive than negative, but it’s not a total fanfest. There is plenty of critical voice here, and LOTS of specific, opinionated details.