Kesha, at this point, is anything but a stranger to the collaboration. In point of fact, her entire career was founded on being uncredited as the featured artist on Flo Rida’s “Right Round” in 2009 (just one of many musical slights in Kesha’s storied traumas from the front lines of the recording industry). From working with 3OH!3 (whatever happened to them?) on the now especially uncomfortable to listen to “Blah Blah Blah” (lyrics approved by Dr. Luke–even if Benny Blanco was the one who produced it–include, “I wanna be naked and you’re wasted”) to The Flaming Lips on “2012 (You Must Be Upgraded)”–mind you, this was before Wayne Coyne became all about working with Miley Cyrus–there’s no musical genre Kesha hasn’t tapped in her explorations with other artists.
Her expansion into a more rock-ified version of pop would also expand on “Dirty Love” featuring Iggy Pop and “Boogie Feet” featuring Eagles of Death Metal. That Kesha favors a bent of the decidedly trash rock nature no doubt stems from her southern roots (which also occasionally incites her to dabble in country, as is the case with her remake of Dolly Parton’s “Old Flames Can’t Hold a Candle To You” on Rainbow). And they are roots that she has only chosen to further embrace post-(semi) freedom from Dr. Luke. It is a liberty made evident by the fact that she has become increasingly self-assured of her own artistry as opposed to letting the negativity of Dr. Luke’s comments (centered primarily on tearing down her appearance with such comments as “you look like a fucking refrigerator”) affect how she approaches tone and composition during the recording process. To that end, a remixed version of The Struts’ “Body Talks” is a natural fit for Kesha in her new era of confidence and rock n’ roll-oriented bawdiness.
In keeping with the surrealist vision Kesha usually enjoys employing for her own videos, The Struts saturate the backdrop in yellow and red sparkliness as glittered fruit and ice cream (and a poor Yorick skull for the modern age) make their frequent cameos throughout. Making practical use of the bananas in particular, lead singer Luke Spiller and Kesha proceed to talk the lyrics to one another in copacetic unity. With a backbeat that would make The Strokes (who Kesha has previously worked with on “Only Wanna Dance With You”) endlessly proud, the frenzied nature of the track gives license to the notion that even when you try to hide the way you feel, your body and its unrestrained language can never conceal the truth (just like one of the few available photos of Kesha with Dr. Luke indicating the extent of her uncomfortableness).
Lips talking from an ass (giving literal meaning to “talking out your asshole”) persist in adding to the dreamlike imagery–of the ilk one imagines was the result of watching too many 80s videos. Kesha’s costumes, in fact, remind one of what Elvis would look like had he survived the 70s and made it to the subsequent decade (though there is a dash of Bowie to her aesthetic as well, especially with that star around her eye). And yes, Elvis knew all too well the value of letting his own body talk during a time when moves as scandalous as his were deemed practically more sinful than sex itself.
Like an anthem for the repressed introvert, The Struts and Kesha goad, “You can pretend you don’t want it now/But I read the signs from your head to your toes/Yeah, you don’t need to say a word ’cause/Ooh, ooh, your body talks.”
Unfortunately, certain elements tend to get even more on the rapey side, like, “Yeah, you know, oh, you’re into this/Yeah, you can try to hide it, but you know you can’t deny it/Ooh ooh, your body talks, your body talks.” Okay, but like just because a girl is angled in your direction doesn’t mean her body is “talking” to tell you, “Fuck me.” It’s something of a strange irony, then, that Kesha should be singing along so gleefully considering her #MeToo experience, yet one can’t let such sexual allusions ruin her entire life, or singing potential–considering that’s about 90% of the content of most music.
With special effects that seem directly pulled from both The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” video and the intro to The Brady Bunch, the dynamic between Kesha and Spiller grows progressively playful throughout, as each one challenges the other to get more bombastic in letting their moves do all the talking.
Culminating with some very “Blow” video vibes as Kesha sits regally in an ornate chair holding a standard gold pimp cup, she poofs into thin air–leading the band to quickly realize they’re nothing without her presence as they summarily close up shop and walk back outside to ensure that a long enough shot of a Durango is made to pay for all these special effects.
Though Kesha might have gotten her start in the dance/pop arena, it has only become more apparent over the years of her latter career that she is, at her core, of the Joan Jett persuasion, with Spiller noting, she’s “a real rock and roller at heart really. When you talk to her about her music and stuff, she loves the Stones. She loves a lot of great British bands. So I think we naturally connected and she heard the song and that was it really.” And thank God or whoever for that, for we all needed a bit of an auditory cleanse from her not so “Good Old Days” with Macklemore.
