Y'know, after months trying to forget about Ke$ha -- and I tried a lot -- a weird idea occurred to me. What if Ke$ha is trying play like the ancient Greek philosopher Diogenes of Sinope?
You see, both of them live in bathtubs -- yet ignore their hygiene and appearance -- and both of them follow a carefree, pleasure-based lifestyle that flouts social norms. Diogenes and people around him described his behavior as doglike -- this is where we get the word "cynic" from.
It's kinda odd, 'cause this idea came up just as K-dog started releasing
new material, like the single with a Popeye-ish title, "We R Who We R".
The
track, like everything else Ke$ha, takes different electronic sounds
and makes something predictable. You got the electro buzz along with the
faint "Pizza Cat" keys and
"gating" volume effect from '90s techno in the chorus.
I think
the reason I keep coming back to Ke$ha, though, is to pick at her scatter-brained
lyrics, such as this one: "I'm sick of bein' serious / makin' mah brain
delirious." I'm not a doctor, but the bottles of Jack and the love-sick crack might have caused the delirium -- not seriousness. She
also claims to "make the hipsters fall in love." Yeah, um, those people
will likely disown her for being in the Top 40 constantly.
Unfortunately, the point where my Diogenes idea falls apart is in her
lyricism and enunciation. Ke$ha is simply not as perceptive or as
well-spoken as Diogenes, whose rhetorical style managed to turn his
lifestyle into a long-running philosophy, instead some slacker excuse.
Hold
on. Wait. I get it now!
The phrase "We are who we are" cycles around itself --
like the snake that eats its own tail!
That's deep and totally zen,
K-dog!
