After releasing three albums to fulfill a recording contract with her accused abuser’s label, Kesha has returned with Period, her first independently released album.
Critics have responded generally favorably to the latest from the two-time Grammy nominee, which seems to harken back to the messy-pop days of 2010s Kesha.
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“It’s easy to root for Kesha, which makes listening to (Period.) — her first album as an independent artist, hence its July 4 release date — such a blast,” writes Rolling Stone‘s Maura Johnston. “Bookended by pensive moments, (Period.) is a frisky pop record that delights in throwing things at the wall and seeing what sticks — while also getting a kick out of any mess that might result from a less-than-successful toss…. Kesha’s taste for pop experimentation is in full flower on (Period.).”
Similarly, Alexis Petridis of The Guardian found Kesha to be flourishing, surrounded by new collaborators who have allowed her to tap back into the kind of art she made her signature early on in her career.
“The songs are all really strong, filled with smart little twists and drops, and funny, self-referential lines: ‘You’re on TikTok / I’m the f–king OG,'” he writes. “You get the sense of the massed ranks of collaborators – including everyone from regular Father John Misty foil Jonathan Wilson to Madison Love, who counts Blackpink and Addison Rae among her songwriting clients – really getting behind her to make Period a success. Kesha, meanwhile, plays the part of Kesha 1.0 to perfection: for all the lurid lyrical excesses, it never feels as if she’s trying too hard. And why would it: she’s returning to a role she originated.”
But while most of the critics writing about Period note its efforts to tap back into prime Kesha, some like Slant’s Paul Attard characterize the album as more effortful than successful.
“The title of Kesha’s sixth studio album — her first to be released independently — suggests that the singer is pressing a symbolic reset button,” he writes. “Throughout Period, though, Kesha seems torn between resurrecting the unruly spark of her early work or continuing in a more introspective, experimental direction, a la 2023’s Gag Order. The results are, at times, perfectly listenable, but the sheer amount of visible flop sweat pouring from these 11 tracks is nothing short of distracting. Rather than sounding liberated on Period, Kesha feels caught between what the kids now call ‘eras,’ unsure of which bit to fully commit to.”
Ironically, Paste‘s Sam Rosenberg felt that the newly liberated Kesha had put out music that felt more constrained than her previous, more experimental efforts.
“Given the media frenzy Kesha had to endure with this lawsuit, one would expect that the project she would make after finally parting ways with RCA and Kemosabe would be more daring, refined, and cathartic than anything she’s made before,” he writes, “It’s a shame, then, that her sixth album isn’t really any of those things. … Despite being touted by Kesha herself as an embodiment of liberation, . (Period) ironically feels like an album you’d expect from an artist being pressured by their label to cater to the masses rather than one made on the artist’s own terms.”
Period releases on July 4.
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