Period (Kesha album)

. (pronounced Period) is the sixth studio album by American singer and songwriter Kesha. It was released on July 4, 2025, by her own independent label, Kesha Records. It marks her first project since departing from RCA and Kemosabe Records in December 2023. She primarily collaborated with producer and songwriter Zhone, who worked on five of the album's tracks. Other producers on the album include her mother, Pebe Sebert, Stuart Crichton, Stint and Hudson Mohawke, as well as new collaborators like Rissi, Pink Slip, Nova Wav, Jonathan Wilson & Drew Erickson. Musically, Period sees a return to Kesha's pop roots, with elements of other genres such as polka, EDM, country pop, soul, hip-hop, Europop, house, electro, hyperpop, and disco. A deluxe edition of the album, subtitled ..., was released on July 8, 2025.

Critically, the album received generally positive reviews from music critics, who felt the album was a fresh start for Kesha, although opinions on some of the tracks saw them sounding dated. The album was supported by the release of five singles: "Joyride", "Delusional", "Yippee-Ki-Yay" (featuring T-Pain on the single version), "Boy Crazy", and "The One". To further promote the album, Kesha embarked on the Tits Out Tour in July 2025.

From 2014 to 2023, Kesha had been embroiled in a legal battle with her former producer, Dr. Luke. She had originally sued him for sexual assault and battery, then he countersued for defamation. The lawsuit halted Kesha's career for a few years and she had filed a preliminary injunction in 2016 to be released from her contract with RCA Records and Kemosabe Records which she signed when she was 18. She was denied the injunction and has since released three more albums under the label. Her fifth and final album under the labels, Gag Order, was released in May 2023. Her lawsuit was set to go to trial in July 2023, but a settlement was reached a month before the trial date, thus ending the near decade long suit.^[1]

In December 2023, it was officially reported that Kesha had parted ways with both RCA and Kemosabe, as well as her management team, Vector Management. "In need of a fresh start in my life, we have parted ways, but I will remain forever grateful for the run we had," Kesha said in a statement to Variety.^[2] She signed with a new management team, Crush Music, in late February 2024.^[3] In an interview with V Magazine, Kesha had hinted about music saying there is a day marked when she is free to release music.^[4] She was officially allowed to release new music independently in March 2024 and she had started writing three songs a day.^[5]

Kesha's independent record label, Kesha Records, entered a distribution deal with Alternative Distribution Alliance, owned by Warner Music Group, in September 2024.^[6] In her 2025 Paper interview, Kesha stated this is the first album she truly felt "free" both creatively and legally. "I'm really trying to embody freedom in every way possible. I'm trying to allow myself to feel what freedom feels like, because it's been almost 20 years for me."^[7] She stated her goal for this album was to "create a safe space for people to feel fully embodied and liberated. That's what this album stands for, that's what [she's] going through personally." While accepting the Visionary Award at the Center annual dinner, Kesha says "[she] wanted to walk into this album cycle being a completely empowered, fully healed, and unbothered cunt".^[8]

In a July 2025 interview with Billboard, she described the album as her second chance and a way of reclaiming her joy, stating: "I waited for this moment my entire goddamn life". She further detailed that compiling the album's track list was one of the hardest parts of the album's process.^[9] The album features guest appearances from T-Pain, Slayyyter, Rose Gray, and Jade.^[10]

Musically, the album is described as a "frisky" pop, hyperpop, and disco record, with influences from several other genres such as Europop, country pop and house.^[11][12] The album contains a total of 11 tracks on the standard edition. "Freedom", the opening track that runs about six minutes, is described as a "wistful meditation" that transitions into an 80s jazzy house dance and disco track.^{[7][12][5][13]} The song finds Kesha singing about embracing freedom.^[14] The lead single, "Joyride" is a blend of electropop,^[15] dance-pop,^[16] synth-pop,^[17] EDM^[18] and polka.^[19] The song has hyperpop^[20] and polka^[15] influences utilizing accordions, heavy synths, and modulated vocals.

The third track, "Yippee-Ki-Yay", is a twangy hip-hop^[13] and country-pop number that drew comparisons to Shaboozey's "A Bar Song (Tipsy)". The song fuses acoustic guitar, percussion and clap snares as Kesha belts out a chorus about spending time with friends around a bonfire and buying a new car.^[14] "Delusional" is an "emotionally charged" pop^[21] power ballad, showcasing Kesha's vulnerability.^[22][23] Lyrically, the song sees the singer confronting an ex who seems unable to face up to reality.^[24] The Europop track "Red Flag" sees Kesha welcoming chaos and complications over boredom while she sings over a pulsating synth-pop beat and hand-clapping.^[25] "Love Forever" is described as a mid-tempo retro disco composition utilizing vocoders.^[26][27] The fifth single, "The One", incorporates horns that drew comparisons to Panic! at the Disco's single "High Hopes".^[28] Lyrically, the song is about overcoming relentless heartbreaks only to truly find oneself sees the singer reflecting on her stardom and success.^[29][30] Mary Chiney of Beats Per Minute saw this track as a standout from the album, praising the "essential elements of a solid pop song".^[14] The fourth single, "Boy Crazy", is a "high energy" hyperpop and Europop anthem that sees Kesha singing from the perspective of a horny and wild-hearted femme fatale.^[31][12] The electro^[27] number "Glow", sees glitchy, auto-tuned vocals from Kesha over an 8-bit synth.^[11][27] The sultry, mid-tempo house, soul, and electro blended track "Too Hard" is described as an "euphoric" love song.^[32][13] The closing track, "Cathedral", is a piano ballad that centers around self-love and treating her own body like a temple.^[5][27] Kristin S. Hé of NME called it the "spiritual sequel" to Kesha's 2017 single "Praying".^[12]

On March 6, 2024, a video titled "Kesha is waiting for you" was posted on her YouTube which contained a snippet of a new song.^[33] In 2024, Kesha held her first TED Talk, speaking about songwriting and how it impacted her life. There, she debuted the closing track of the album, "Cathedral".^[34] On March 19, 2025, all of Kesha's album covers were changed to have a large pink circle covering them on streaming platforms.^[35] The album's title, stylized with the punctuation mark, cover art, and track list were unveiled on March 27, 2025, the same day her single "Yippee-Ki-Yay" was released.^[36] The dot ended up being the album's logo and will be released on July 4, 2025, exactly a year after her lead single was released. The album was available as six vinyl variants.^[37][38][39]

To promote the album, she embarked on the Tits Out Tour, along with pop-rock band Scissor Sisters, on July 1, 2025. Slayyyter and Rose Gray serve as the opening acts.^[7]

The lead single, "Joyride", was released on July 4, 2024. This marked her first release after parting ways with Kemosabe and RCA Records.^[40] "Joyride" became her first song to chart on the UK Singles Chart since 2017, while also reaching the top-ten on three component charts in the United States, and has accumulated over 100 million streams on Spotify.^[41] The song impacted contemporary hit radio on August 30, 2024.^[42] A music video was released on November 20, drawing inspiration from the Kill Bill film series.^[43][44]

On November 29, 2024, she released the second single from the album, "Delusional".^[45][22] The use of generative artificial intelligence for the single's artwork was criticized; however, the artwork was updated in 2025.^[46][47] On March 24, 2025, Kesha announced the third single, "Yippee-Ki-Yay", a country pop track, released on March 27. Unlike the album version, the single version of the track features T-Pain.^[48][49] The song was released with the pre-order for the album. It impacted US radio stations on April 16, 2025.^[50] "Boy Crazy" was released as the fourth single on May 16, 2025;^[51] two days prior to release, Kesha posted the song on her Vault, a site where artists can connect with fans and post demos, group chat.^[52] A music video was released on June 17, 2025, which contained a reference to the Last Supper.^[53]

Kesha, Slayyyter and Rose Gray released their collaborative single "Attention!" on June 20. Although "Attention!" does not appear on the original tracklist for Period, its presence in Kesha's campaign is marked by the signature pink period motif, suggesting it may be a bonus track.^[54] It was included as the fourteenth track on the deluxe edition. On June 25, "The One" was announced to be released as the fifth single on June 27.^[55]

According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Period received "generally favorable reviews" based on a weighted average score of 75 out of 100 from nine critic scores.^[57] Prior to the album's release, Maura Johnston of Rolling Stone gave the album a four out of five stars.^[11] Kristin S. Hé of NME called the album her "sleekest" one yet since her 2010 extended play, Cannibal.^[12] The Guardian's Alexis Petridis saw the album as a "fresh start" for Kesha after her lengthy legal battle and opined all the songs are "really strong, filled with smart little twists and drops, and funny, self-referential lines".^[27] Matt Collar of AllMusic opined that the album is a "bold declaration" that's been in the making for the singer, whose had a "rough decade". He stated the album was fun and "effervescently" inspired.^[13] Mary Chiney of Beats Per Minute praised Kesha's vocal range but felt some of the songs such as "Glow" and "Cathedral" made the album feel uncohesive.^[14]

In a more mixed review, Paul Attard of Slant Magazine felt Kesha seemed "torn" between recreating the spark of her early work or continuing in a more introspective, experimental direction like her previous record, Gag Order (2023), and found some of the tracks "distracting".^[26] Paste magazine's Sam Rosenberg criticized many of the tracks, calling them "lazy, obnoxious, and dated".^[58]

Credits adapted via album liner notes.^[60]

• ^{^[c]} indicates a co-producer
• All track titles are stylized in all caps and with a period at the end,^[61] except for "Attention" which has an exclamation point at the end.
• On Spotify, an altered version of the standard album is available, with the single edit of "Yippee-Ki-Yay" featuring T-Pain listed as the third track.^[61]