Kesha is counting down the days until she can release new music after leaving Dr. Luke’s record label.
“I’ll say … to all my fans, all my animals, this has been a ride. I’ll say that there is a day — although I won’t say the day — but there is a day marked on my calendar when I am free to release music,” Kesha, 36, told V magazine in an interview published on Saturday, February 17. “So just know that she is out here in the woods writing and singing till 4 in the morning, ferociously. I am being a feral wild woman out here. So just know that.”
News broke in December 2023 that Kesha had parted ways with Dr. Luke’s Kemosabe Records. Her most recent five albums, including 2023’s Gag Order, were released under Kemosabe.
“I’ll say this: I’ve never felt happier, more excited, more at peace and had such a purpose in my entire life,” the pop star added to V. “And I feel like I have earned the right to be this happy for sure. So letting that be … I am loving every minute of what feels like a brand-new and very exciting chapter.”
Kesha’s label departure came shortly after she and Dr. Luke, 50, agreed to settle their defamation lawsuit.
The “Tik Tok” singer claimed in 2014 that Dr. Luke had allegedly assaulted her in 2005 after she woke up in his bed “sore and sick with no memory of how she got there.”
Kesha filed a lawsuit against the producer, claiming that he threatened to “shut her career down” if she mentioned the alleged incident.
Dr. Luke denied the claims before filing a defamation suit against Kesha. His lawyer told Us Weekly at the time that Kesha’s allegations were part of a “campaign of publishing outrageous and untrue statements.”
Kesha dropped her lawsuit in August 2016, choosing instead to focus on suits that could end her recording contract.
Kesha first tried to end her recording contract (which she signed at age 18 in 2005) with Kemosabe in 2015, asking a New York court to release her from the deal because she believed her career would suffer “irreparable harm” if she had to wait for the sexual assault lawsuit to be resolved before her next album could be released. Sony called her assault claims a “transparent and misguided attempt to renegotiate her contracts.” Her request for an injunction to end her recording contract was denied in 2016, and she appealed the decision later that year. She lost that battle as well.
In March 2017, Kesha’s third attempt to get out of her recording contract was rejected by the court. “With respect to the Prescription Agreement, signed in November 2008, Gottwald’s allegedly abusive behavior was foreseeable,” the judge said.
Meanwhile, Dr. Luke proceeded with his defamation suit against Kesha. They were scheduled to go to trial in New York in July 2023 but reached a settlement instead.
“While I appreciate Kesha again acknowledging that she cannot recount what happened that night in 2005, I am absolutely certain that nothing happened,” Dr. Luke wrote via Instagram in June 2023. “I never drugged or assaulted her and would never do that to anyone. For the sake of my family, I have vigorously fought to clear my name for nearly 10 years. It is time for me to put this difficult matter behind me and move on with my life. I wish Kesha well.”
Kesha later noted via her Instagram that she was looking forward to many “beautiful things to come,” including new music.
Dr. Luke has since rebounded professionally by producing under aliases like Tyson Trax and Made in China. Nicki Minaj’s “Super Freaky Girl,” Latto’s “Big Energy” and Doja Cat‘s “Say So” are among his recent hits, and he was named ASCAP’s Pop Music Songwriter of the Year award in May 2023.
