Kesha's delivery of partially rapped, partially sung lyrics blurs genre lines for some, but the performer herself dismisses suggestions she is a rapper.
"The first time someone called me a rapper, I started laughing," she says. "I was shocked, and thought it was hilarious. But then, Andre 3000 was telling me how he thinks I'm a good rapper. And Wiz [Khalifa], who's a good friend of mine, thinks I'm a good rapper? Snoop [Dogg]? It's crazy and funny to me."
However flattered Kesha is by positive feedback from her hip-hop counterparts, her forthcoming sophomore album, Warrior, focuses on presenting the star as a legitimate singer. Kesha's previous heavy-handed use of Auto-Tune led to accusations that she could not sing. So this time around, she's held back on the voice-altering effects.
Kesha's also taking the opportunity to scale back on her party girl image and introduce her softer side -- a result of a "spirit journey" that included swimming with baby whales.
"The first record was a celebration of partying and being young, but this record's a better look at my personality," she reveals. "Whatever, I drink like a champion. But I can also do other stuff. I have a sense of humor about my lyrics. I'm not a train wreck, I'm just having fun."
"I've really just been doing a lot of thinking about life," Kesha continues. "The first record, people tore me a new a--hole, and were f--king steady on my balls, and tried to make me feel like I was such a piece of s--t. I did some soul-searching, and realized nothing I'm doing is negative, it's actually super positive. You can change peoples' mood in a three-and-a-half minute song. So why not spread positive energy and be funny? Let [the haters] be miserable. Anyone who wants to have a good time, let's f--king do this."
Warrior drops Nov. 30.
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