High Road
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CRITIC REVIEWS
95
Throughout High Road, Kesha maintains an exciting unpredictability as every song wanders into various genres, hooks, and vocal deliveries.
90
High Road is, much like Rainbow, a letter to those who are hurting but also a reminder to dance – a testament to the healing power of friendship, of joy, of loving, of going a little wild.
83
High Road works because of Kesha’s self-assurance and self-possession.
80
High Road appears to have bridged the gap between then and now with flair. Although we heart Kesha the party girl, we love the heart and soul she always pours into her music.
80
On ‘High Road’, she searches deep and emancipates the embodiment of sheer delight. Nothing about this record feels forced but instead encapsulates Kesha’s outlook on the crazy and weird rollercoaster that is life itself.
80
Her new record, and its nods to the bleary-eyed Ke$ha of yore, embodies a reclamation of the lightness once stolen from her.
80
An overwhelmingly triumphant pop offering that sees Kesha back at her best and having shit tons of fun while doing it.
80
The singer gets back to having a good time, while continuing to look inward.
80
The genre-hopping leads to the odd stumble here and there, but overall the never boring, often excellent High Road finds Kesha returning to the party on her own terms.
70
With High Road, Kesha has found a way to double back and carve out a comfortable, if not happy, middle ground.
70
High Road is fun, frilly, and fanciful – and Kesha has more than earned this moment. It suits her.
70
It's designed to be a heady good time and it often is, even if there's a slight air of desperation in Kesha's hedonistic desires; at the album's wildest and dirtiest moments, there's a sense that her heart isn't quite into the revelry.
70
Kesha is a truly awe-inspiring artist, and continues to push through to produce something nuanced, interesting and fun.
70
High Road is an admirably unkempt pop album.
70
For most of its runtime we’re on a marvelous high where we’re at home in her world while still guessing where she’ll take us next.
60
High Road is unmistakably the work of the same glitter-pop artist who tore up the charts in 2009, but with a new sense of underlying self-awareness.
60
Kesha has balanced tender country songs with blinging pop throughout her career, but you may wish for ‘High Road’ to stick to one lane.
60
High Road as a whole is considerably hit and miss, tipping from serious to sentimental with considerable frequency, and it certainly doesn’t pack the rather ‘in your face’ punch that Animal did.
59
High Road feels strained, scattershot, and loaded with tension, like someone trying to portray freedom and free-spiritedness–even a recovered sense of identity–who isn’t quite there yet.
50
Kesha is in transition, searching for that balance that can give her music meaningful identity in the future. High Road’s few shining moments — the vulnerability of her ballads and the wild sparks sprinkled throughout — suggest that balance is imminent.
30
Kesha's fourth album, High Road, struggles to find something interesting about her new flask-toting flower child persona.
im at a loss of words. argh kesha. ARGHHHHH WHY KESHAAAA. i've never been a big fan of yours, but rainbow was IT, and you just fucked it up. congratu-fucking-lations, you just played yourself.
high road is the fourth studio from ameican singer and songwriter kesha, and wow, that was such a letdown! like, who thought releasing an album so lifeless, dry, emotionless, and "fun" after the powerhouse that is rainbow must be out of their goddamn mind. like... no ma'am, no ma'am. anyways, ... read more
high road is the fourth studio from ameican singer and songwriter kesha, and wow, that was such a letdown! like, who thought releasing an album so lifeless, dry, emotionless, and "fun" after the powerhouse that is rainbow must be out of their goddamn mind. like... no ma'am, no ma'am. anyways, ... read more
Which rational human being would ass "Tonight" as the first track? That's like looking for a restaurant and having Amy's Baking Company at the top of the list.
As always, I sadly have to announce... This is my first Kesha album. USA's "single culture" would constantly damage my experience with western artists, and even while bopping to "TiK ToK", it really wasn't enough for me to wonder what ELSE was there to listen to. After the recent events with her old ... read more
As always, I sadly have to announce... This is my first Kesha album. USA's "single culture" would constantly damage my experience with western artists, and even while bopping to "TiK ToK", it really wasn't enough for me to wonder what ELSE was there to listen to. After the recent events with her old ... read more
I was really hyped for this album, I've been a Kesha fan since Animal came out, and I remember buying the CD when it came out. Cannibal was also an album I really enjoyed, but I didn't like Warrior very much. After the long hiatus Kesha took, I started to forget about her. But that all changed when Rainbow came out. Rainbow was such a good album, I remember giving it a 100 a while back. It was one of my most played albums of 2017, and looking back at it now it isn't an amazing album (probably ... read more
On Kesha's "High Road", we start off with "Tonight". It's a horribly-inconsistent song with a cliche-as-shit refrain in the beginning, but then we go to the core of the song. Now I use the term "mumble rap" very rarely but Kesha is literally mumbling and stumbling on her own words here. Maybe it's the mix making it that way? I don't know why there wasn't a decision to retake that and the song is just a bland, messy club banger. Unfortunately, that's kinda how I ... read more
I've always been a Kesha fan so I'm not suprised I enjoyed this. There's like two albums on this. One is a surface level fun album with Kesha trying to bring back her $ days but lacking that high energy to really drive it through. The second feels like an authentic follow up to Rainbow with her country influences and more serious writing on display. Still a fun listen in general.
Faves: High Road, Birthday Suit, Raising Hell
Faves: High Road, Birthday Suit, Raising Hell
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Track List
- Tonight
- My Own Dance
- Raising Hell (feat. Big Freedia)
- High Road
- Shadow
- Honey
- Cowboy Blues
- Resentment (feat. Brian Wilson & Sturgill Simpson)
- Little Bit of Love
- Birthday Suit
- Kinky (feat. Ke$ha)
- The Potato Song (Cuz I Want To)
- Bff (feat. Wrabel)
- Father Daughter Dance
- Chasing Thunder
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Added on: October 22, 2019