More than 15 years after “TiK ToK” debuted, Kesha admitted she initially thought her iconic party anthem was “too dumb” to be released.
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During her appearance on The Jennifer Hudson Show earlier this week, the pop star spoke about the 2009 single, noting she didn’t expect it to become a huge hit.
“When I was writing ‘TiK ToK,’ It was weird,” Kesha explained. “Because the dumber it got, the better it got. Which was confusing, because I like to think of myself as a family intelligent human being. But it just got dumber and dumber and better and better.”
She then said, “When I listened to the final product, I was like, ‘This is too dumb.’ And it’s like 1.5 billion streams at this point.
“TiK ToK” was released in the summer of 2009 and quickly hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The RIAA has certified it 12 times platinum. It also has 14 million digital copies worldwide and is currently listed as the 68th biggest Billboard Hot 100 hit of all time.
Kesha Shares What Inspires Her Songwriting Approach and More Details About Her Upcoming Album
While continuing to speak about her songwriting process, Kesha revealed that her mother, Pebe Sebert, inspired her writing style.
Serbert wrote “Old Flames Can’t Hold a Candle to You,” which country icon Dolly Parton recorded and released in 1980.
“My mom’s a songwriter, and she taught me how to write songs since I was little,” Kesha said. “I would go to the studio with her and fall asleep in the guitar case.”
She then shared, “I would come home from school, and I’d be like, ‘Mom, this boy was mean to me,’ and she’d be like, ‘Write a song about it.’ It was, like, how we dealt with everything as a family.”
Kesha also discussed her upcoming album, (PERIOD), which will be released on July 4.
“This is the first album that I have legal rights to her own voice,” she explained. “I’m really excited for the world to hear this because I’ve been in control of everything. I’ve written every song, co-produced everything. It’s my own record label, it’s been all of my vision, all of my words, a lot of hard work, a lot of joy.”
She went on to describe the album as being “really coming back home” to herself. “[It’s] feeling what freedom really looks like, feels like, sounds like.”