Kesha has released her first independent single after parting ways with producer Dr. Luke’s record label.
The Tik Tok singer celebrated America’s Independence Day on Thursday by dropping Joyride, a track she debuted at Brooklyn’s Planet Pride over the weekend.
Joyride marks a return to her earlier electronic pop sound, reminiscent of songs like We R Who We R and Tik Tok.
The track references the 2004 teen classic Mean Girls with the lyrics, “Get in, loser, for the joyride,” and the quotable words, “You want kids? Well I am mother.”
Before the track dropped, Kesha told her X followers, “I couldn’t have made it through without all of you. now we joyride.”
She celebrated its release on Instagram by posting a video of her singing along to the song in a dressing room with drag queens. After the track ended, she screamed and told her fans, “I love you.”
Joyride marks Kesha’s first release as an independent artist following her departure from Dr. Luke’s Kemosabe Records following a lengthy legal battle.
Kesha sued Dr. Luke, real name Lukasz Gottwald, in 2014, claiming that the music producer had drugged and sexually assaulted her in 2005, and he responded by suing her for defamation. He claimed Kesha fabricated her allegations to get out of her recording contract.
After a nine-year legal battle, they settled the case out of court in June 2023, with Kesha saying at the time, “I am looking forward to closing the door on this chapter of my life and beginning a new one. I wish nothing but peace to all parties involved.”
The 37-year-old was released from her Kemosabe record deal in December 2023, months after dropping her final contractual album Gag Order. However, she noted in February that she wasn’t free to release new music until a certain date.
