On her fifth studio album, Gag Order, Kesha isn’t holding back. Having gone through the wringer by way of public lawsuits and various forms of scrutiny, she puts her anger and her hurt in full view by way of her most vulnerable body of work yet.
On one of the album’s standout tracks, “Hate Me Harder,” Kesha makes it known that she is unfazed by any of the words her alleged abusers, and pushes them to say their worst.
“If hating me helps you love yourself / Do your worst, baby, gimme hell / Hate me harder / Hate me harder / There’s nothing left that I haven’t heard / And I can take it, so make it hurt / Hate me harder / Hate me harder,” she sings on the song’s chorus.
In the song’s accompanying visualizer, she is seen singing, as a hand grasps her throat, symbolizing that she won’t keep silent, no matter what kind of hate she receives.
“I have put every ounce of my truth into this album,” said Kesha in an Instagram post upon the album’s release. “The stakes have never felt higher. When creating it with Rick Rubin, I wanted it to sound like life or death, because that’s how it has felt. I wanted to give a sound to the feelings.”
Gag Order is out now via Kemosabe Records. Find more information here.