by Nathan Hunt |

It’s a call to action. “We were born to break the doors down/fight until the end/ it’s something that’s inside of us/ it’s how we’ve always been/ Warrior/”. The title and opening track stakes a claim for Ke$ha’s sophomore album, Warrior. The follow up to her 2009 debut, Ke$ha explores a few different genres, ranging from pop to dubstep to rock ‘n’ roll.

The first single, “Die Young,” showed everyone that she still knows what she’s good at; producing dance-y, feel good music with catchy lyrics. That is not all what this album consists of, though. With an influence of dubstep on “Warrior” and “Supernatural” (that one is about getting frisky with a ghost, by the way), Skrillex would be proud.

Yet, Ke$ha knows how to take it down to a chill mood with cuts like “Love Into The Light” and “Wonderland,” both relying on the drums to carry you through the songs. Ke$ha then amps the energy back up with songs like “Dirty Love,” featuring Iggy Pop, and “Gold Trans Am,” which are both more on the rock side of the spectrum. “Gold Trans Am” is reminiscent of The Runaway’s sound of rock. I kept waiting for Cherrie Curry to scream, “Cherry Bomb!” This song is one of my personal favorites, because of how hard it rocks and also of all the raunch in it. The song talks about picking up guys off the side of the road, and she states it pretty bluntly with the chorus, “come on climb in to my golden carpet/ love you ‘til you’re seeing stars and stripes/.” That is one of the tamest lyrics in the song, which tells you something. But what else can you expect from Ke$ha?

Overall, this album has variety and incredible songs with unique lyrics, since she writes all her own songs. She utilizes the production fantastically, careful not to overdo the auto tune on most tracks. If you had previously written off Ke$ha, I would give this album a listen because it might just change your mind.