Freedom Day: Kesha’s Voice Is Her Own Again After 19 Years

“Freedom, I’ve been waiting for you. Everything’s changed now…”

It’s a big day for Kesha, the artist formerly known as Ke-Dollar Sign-Ha, to say the absolute least.

After a long, difficult, deeply painful legal battle with a certain music producer, the 37-year-old singer-songwriter is now formally Free as of Wednesday (March 6).

In other words: her legal and contractual obligations are complete (she signed to her former label Kemosabe Records at the age of 18 in 2005), and she’s now free to reclaim her voice as her own, on her own terms, after nearly two decades.

“First day I’ve owned my voice in 19 years. Welcome,” she announced on social media.

With a new website (keshaiswaitingforyou.com), a mailing list sign-up, her Spotify page collaboration credits finally getting tagged properly, and an ethereal teaser armed and ready to go, Kesha’s clearly prepared to embark on a new musical chapter to meet this particularly historic moment.

“Animals. I’ve waited for this day for more than half of my life. All of my adult life,” she wrote in an accompanying newsletter to fans. “There is so much more that I have to say, and experiences we have to share.”

“This is the time for our joy ride. We made it… and I wasn’t alone thanks to each of you. Thank you,” she continued.

“So much is on the horizon…But for now…Freedom.I’ve been waiting for you.”

In addition to the teaser video, Kesha went live on her Instagram to celebrate and, through tears, played one of her new songs.

“Live for the heartbreak, it gets my bills paid / Thank God you walked out that door / Baby, you’re delusional / Thinking you can never find something that’s as beautiful / Someone with a love like mine,” she sings on the track, presumably called “Delusional,” complete with a soaring pop chorus that genuinely feels like a throwback to an era from long, long ago.

Kesha’s wavered between defiance and self-empowerment, pain, depression, grief and tongue-biting rage across Rainbow, High Road and Gag Order, all of which were released amid seven years of headline-making legal turmoil. But everything has changed now, and it’s hard not to feel the sheer relief pouring out through that live stream. This joy ride is entirely overdue. Hop in…

Congratulations, Kesha. Let the new chapter begin.

Photo credit: Brendan Walter