Kesha has announced a new studio album, High Road, in a fiery trailer released Monday. This will be her first album since 2017’s Rainbow.
Intercut with footage that’s made to look like a vintage travelogue, Kesha explains in a sit-down interview what we should expect from her next album. “I’ve seen the light: life is like driving across the country in a pretty small Astrovan, with your whole family in it, for 90 years,” she says. “Because I think life is a vacation from where we go when we die.”
In a statement to Rolling Stone, Kesha expanded on how the process of making High Road was different from that of Rainbow: “I feel like this time around I reconnected to the unrestrained joy and wildness that’s always been a part of me — and in this process I have had the most fun I’ve ever had making a record. I hope my fans love it as much as I loved making it — and know I always have y’all in mind.”
She continued, “On the last record, I feel like I had to address some very serious things, and now this time around I have reclaimed my love of life. To quote one of my favorite songs of all time I’ve decided to ‘fight for my right to party!’ On my own terms. I won’t be defined by my past, but I will learn from it. I am so happy, and I hope that happiness is infectious.”
The trailer includes audio snippets of songs from the upcoming record, as well as clips that look like they could be from upcoming Kesha music videos. One segment features the pop star dressed as a pink skirt suit-wearing televangelist, another shows her parading down a supermarket aisle filled with nondescript “Magic Cereal.” She later encounters an homage to the twins from The Shining.
The teaser also includes segments of Kesha’s video for “Praying,” the lead single from Rainbow that directly addressed her legal battle with her former producer Dr. Luke, who she has accused of sexual assault, battery and emotional abuse.
“When I wrote Rainbow, I was in a very different headspace,” she says. “I had to address some very serious things.” Over footage of her in the studio working on High Road, Kesha continues, “But now, on my new record, I revisit my roots of pure and utter debaucherous joy. Kesha got her balls back, and they’re bigger than ever. So have a good time while you’re on this road trip from Hell.” The trailer ends with footage of a Kesha-shaped candle played in reverse, building itself back up from melted wax.
Kesha’s last music release was the biting song “Rich, White, Straight Men,” released this past June. She remains locked in a legal battle with Dr. Luke, stemming from the 2014 suit she filed against the producer; while she no longer works directly with him on music, she is still signed to his label, Kemosabe.
This month, Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds called on other musicians to stop working with Dr. Luke until he drops his lawsuit against Kesha and releases her from her contract with Kemosabe.