Kesha reveals she spent 'millions' of dollars in her decade-long fight against Dr. Luke and how she's still fighting against her 'party girl' image
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Kesha is opening up about her decade-long legal battle with her former producer Dr. Luke in a wide-ranging new interview.
The 37-year-old singer (born Kesha Rose Sebert) filed a lawsuit against the producer (born Łukasz Sebastian Gottwald), 50, back in October 2014.
The lawsuit included numerous allegations including sexual harassment, sex-based hate crime and employment discrimination.
The singer and producer fired several other lawsuits back and forth until they finally came to a settlement in June 2023.
Now Kesha - who just recently launched her new TED Talk called The Alchemy of Pop - is opening up about how much she actually spent fighting Dr. Luke.
Kesha is opening up about her decade-long legal battle with her former producer Dr. Luke in a wide-ranging new interview.
The 37-year-old singer (born Kesha Rose Sebert) filed a lawsuit against the producer (born Łukasz Sebastian Gottwald), 50, back in October 2014
'I’ve spent almost 10 years in litigation and millions of dollars in legal fees,' she said of her legal fight with Dr. Luke.
She first broke out 15 years ago with her hit single TiK ToK, which she said cemented a 'party girl' image that just wasn't true.
'Looking back at the music that I started with, which was full of irony and kind of went over people’s heads, I feel like I got labeled as a party girl and very unintelligent, and that’s a stigma I’ve been trying to fight against my entire career,' Kesha said.
In fact, she was on track to attend Columbia University, but her record label requested that she, 'drop out of school and get my GED.'
She added that she was, 'in the International Baccalaureate program,' and she, 'wanted to go to Columbia to study Psychology and Comparative Religion.'
Kesha ultimately started her own record label, where she released her new independent single Joyride on July 4.
When asked about having the rights to her own voice back, Kesha hinted that she may be trying to fix litigation around this issue.
'It’s wild that a human being can lose the rights to their recorded voice in perpetuity in the universe,' she said.
'I’ve spent almost 10 years in litigation and millions of dollars in legal fees,' she said of her legal fight with Dr. Luke
She first broke out 15 years ago with her hit single TiK ToK, which she said cemented a 'party girl' image that just wasn't true
Dr. Luke with Kesha in January 2014 - 10 months before her first lawsuit against him was filed
'Looking back at the music that I started with, which was full of irony and kind of went over people’s heads, I feel like I got labeled as a party girl and very unintelligent, and that’s a stigma I’ve been trying to fight against my entire career,' Kesha said.
'First of all, changing litigation around that is something that’s on my radar, so if this makes it into the interview - if anybody’s reading this - I would love to connect because it’s atrocious that’s part of the business of making art,' she began.
'That’s my first thought - and second of all, I have to say, currently I’m really excited to build a safe space for artists because creation and fear cannot co-exist. When you’re in a state of fear, you cannot create, and I know this from personal experience,' she added.
'I’m really excited for Kesha Records to expand and grow in all the ways that people would think, but also in unexpected ways because I’m currently looking into the tech space and I’m looking to find partners who have the values that I align with,' she said.
'So, in addition to the traditional record label model, I’m also looking to the future and I’m looking for some really creative, boundary-pushing, innovative tech creators that want to change how the music business works and bring a new level of transparency to the whole business. So, I’m in a really exciting space right now.
