Oh, Kesha.
It's difficult to decide whether to commend or shake your head in disbelief at the pop singer based on her song, "We R Who We R." Horrible spelling aside, Kesha actually wrote the number one debut song in response to recent teen suicides among gay youth. She wanted a track to help people be confident in themselves and stay strong despite adversity.
That's certainly a noble cause, but unfortunately the song comes off as dumb. The people she's singing about aren't ones who are necessarily intelligent or out to make positive differences in the world. They're "hot and dangerous," make "the hipsters fall in love," wear glitter, ripped stockings and hot pants and hit on dudes--hard!
Instead of targeting the song towards unique individuals with cause-focused point-of-views, she's singing about every girl in Los Angeles. In fact, she sings, "You know we're superstars. We are who we are." How someone who is being bullied or who feels like an outcast should relate to that is baffling.
Comparing the song to Katy Perry's "Firework," which was straight-up dedicated to the "It Gets Better" project, "We R Who We R" pales in comparison. The people in this song don't shine; they dance like they're dumb, they look sexified and they're sick of being so serious. Kesha's answer to alienation is to party it up, and while that makes for a sort of fun track, it's totally meaningless beyond that. Better luck next time, Kesha.
