As someone who knows “a little something” about being subjugated by a rich, white, straight man, it doesn’t feel unnatural for Kesha to come up with a dystopian-sounding track waxing on the utopian possibility: “What if rich, white, straight men didn’t rule the world anymore?” Somehow it is still a very novel concept. But at least we’ve got Angela Merkel holding it down since British women in power tend to be shrewish rather than effective and there is no chance of a female “ruler” in America anytime soon (hate to break it to all those ladies who wore pussy hats to the Women’s March).
With Kesha in a continued embroilment with her label and how to release music (why does it need to be so damned difficult in these “modern” times?), the song was put out on YouTube with a simple gif-esque video of her flipping off the patriarchy in ripped jeans and a Stooges shirt (a sartorial choice that’s slightly antithetical to the message, but whatever, musical preference is musical preference). Met with a positive response by fans, she tweeted at her label, “hey guys sooo i hear you!! that you want my new song ‘Rich, White, Straight Men’ on streaming services..not sure how to do that personally..hmm maybe @RCARecords will help me if their not too mad bout me leaking it😂💰🤵what else do they expect from me at this point lol👽☠️🌈💖🦄.” Try to ignore the misspelling of “their.” Unlike Carrie Bradshaw. Just as you shouldn’t struggle with the unnecessary and superfluous comma in the song title.
In any case, the point is, Kesha has envisioned a wonderful place for you and me to live without a minority in power (though it appears white men have no notion that they are, in fact, the minority), one in which, “If you’re from another land, then come here/You won’t have to climb a wall (yes, you will!)/And if you are a boy who loves a boy/You’ll get a wedding cake and all (not in Colorado!)/And if you are a lady and you do your lady work/Then you will make as many dollars as the boys/Not just two thirds.”
Set to a nightmarish cadre of carnival-centric instruments, the song imitates the very cartoonish in its macabreness state of the world (though the U.S. is somehow convinced they have it worse than everyone else just because its bubble is so rarely bursted). The mocking and maniacal laughing sound effects of presumable rich, white, straight men seem to infer that Kesha’s dream will always remain just that, as women and any non-white person are kept down at heel for the arcane financial benefits of men with a lilied skin tone and fake sexual preference for women (yet, as we all know, “straight” men are still seeking affection only from their mothers).
It is likely the same laughter Kesha has heard both in real life and echoing back in her head after so many years spent in an oppressive situation, one made all the worse by having her lawsuit rebuffed as slander and negated by the one she’s “accused,” longtime producer Dr. Luke. The very rich, white, straight man who has her in this pickle of how to release music “officially” in the first place.
Whether or not this track will ever make it to “legitimate” streaming services (ergo put some cash in Kesha’s pocket for her work) remains to be seen. What is pretty apparent, however, is that this needs to be a female presidential candidate’s campaign song. Though one wouldn’t put it past Joe Biden or Donald Trump to attempt using it as a means to come across as relevant.
