Kesha Kicks Off the Summer with Empowering New Anthem “Joyride”

It’s a brand-new Kesha, and she’s going big!

Fresh off the mad success of her eventual liberation from Kemosabe Records, the pop powerhouse comes through with “Joyride,” a scorching anthem of liberation and self-empowerment.

Arriving on the 4th of July, the song finds Kesha returning to her signature EDM-pop sound, capturing all of the energy of those hits that earmarked the beginning of the 2010s. “Joyride,” for example, rocks harder: it’s more of a bounding club banger, anthemic as it catches Kesha’s unceasing spirit, literally screaming in lyrics, “Don’t even try to give me s–t/ I’ve earned the right to be like this,” she sings over a flashy club beat. “Joy ride, joy ride/ I’m just looking for a good time tonight.”

This is Kesha’s first solo release since 2023’s “Gag Order,” her final contractual obligation with Kemosabe, and necessarily her first separate from the embattled Dr. Luke since that legal campaign began back in 2014.

On top of all of that, Kesha just performed “Joyride” live for the very first time in New York City on June 29 at Planet Pride. “Good news: I’m a free motherf–king woman,” she said before starting the track. “And do you know what I want to do? I kinda wanna play my first song in almost 20 f–king years … as a free motherf–king woman.”