Entertainment

2014 Will Belong to Ke$ha

by Kaitlin Reilly

2013 was been the year for the lovely ladies of pop. Miley Cyrus terrified us with — and then made us sing along to — her chart-topping hits like the heartbreaking "Wrecking Ball" and the party-worshipping anthem "We Can't Stop". Beyonce dropped an album as stealthily as possible (and still managed to rock the world). Katy Perry made some (pretty generic) musical choices with her album Prism (and dated John Mayer, which is a different issue all together) but still managed to take over Robin Thicke's summer anthem "Blurred Lines" on iTunes. And, of course, 17-year-old Lorde shocked us all with her big voice and coolest-girl-ever attitude. Basically, females ruled 2013. But one voice who got considerably less attention than ever this year? The Queen of Dirty and Glitter, Ke$ha.

Sure, Ke$ha released some good songs this year — most notably, her collaboration with Pitbull, the oh-so-overplayed "Timber" — and "Die Young." But while Ke$ha fared well on the charts, we didn't hear too much about this fiercely independent pop star this year. While we were used to Ke$ha's party-girl image already, Miley Cyrus stole the show with her "Look at me!" performances and her wild red carpet looks. In terms of music, electronic dance songs stormed the charts in addition to the usual players, and Ke$ha didn't seem to have a place on our radar. Her music, though well received, didn't seem to bring anything new to the table.

But maybe that's about to change. Ke$ha's latest music video "Dirty Love" brings back the Ke$ha that we know and love. And while the video is typical Ke$ha fare — lots of colors, glitter, and dirty places — the song is actually pretty fantastic. The album version — off of Warrior — features Iggy Pop, but the video version is pure Ke$ha.

Move aside, Miley. Ke$ha's back on your tail.