Kesha — Hymn
Published Nov 14, 2017
I have decided to continue my focus on music used as a medium for protest. I previously discussed Kesha’s song Praying and the strong message the stood behind it regarding sexual assault in the entertaiment business.
In Kesha’s song Hymn, released in her 2017 album, Rainbow, she promotes the ideals of self-love and personal identity to those who feel outcasted. She claims to have written this song in part for her fans who feel misunderstood or ignored in our world. She emphasises this idea in a repeated lyric “this is a hym for the hymnless”. She wrote a statment further explaning these issues relating to the creation of Hymn: “This song is dedicated to all the idealistic people around the world who refuse to turn their backs on progress, love and equality whenever they are challenged,…It’s dedicated to the people who went out into the streets all over the world to protest against racism, hate and division of any kind. It’s also dedicated to anyone who feels like they are not understood by the world or respected for exactly who they are. It’s a hopeful song about all of these people — which I consider myself one of — and the power that we all have when we all come together. … I think that one of the reasons why my music connects with people who feel like they don’t fit in is because I have never fit in either — this is why the song “Hymn” is so special to me”.
Another poignant topic that has breezed through many of her recently released songs is the idea of religion. She has made it clear that she does not have a direct definition of what religion means to her; however, she knows that it is different for everybody. She states that “For me, God is not a bearded man sitting in the clouds or a judgmental, homophobic tyrant waiting to send everyone to eternal damnation. God is nature and space and energy and the universe. My own interpretation of spirituality isn’t important, because we all have our own”.
This idea of spirituality is portrayed throught her song, Hymn, many times with the mention of heaven, sinning, and forgiviness. The tittle of the song also plays on this idea of religion because hymns are traditionally religious and used as a form of worship, but for those that do not have a religion, they would then not have the use of hymns, so this is a hymn for hte hymnless.
Kesha aims to unite people of the same-like though her music. While this song is not necessarily a direct protest to a specific cause, she is promoting the unity, empowerment, courage, and self-love — all of which relate pertinatnly to the current problems and issues in our society that feed off of the divison and hatred of others.
“When I sing the words to this song, I do so as a reminder to myself as much as anyone that we can’t let the haters and the negativity win. We know the unexplainable universal goodness in people — their innate love and light and compassion for one another — will bring us together to do great things”.
