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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
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
While this isn’t technically a comeback, it feels like Kesha the bona fide pop warrior is back and stronger than before.
80
She’s a fully rounded artist with a huge amount to offer.
80
It is ... relentlessly entertaining - a vessel for the impressive vim and vigour of an artist who is many things, but never a bore.
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.
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
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.
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
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
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.
70
High Road is an admirably unkempt pop album.
70
Kesha is a truly awe-inspiring artist, and continues to push through to produce something nuanced, interesting and fun.
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.
60
High Road is closer to the classic stompy bangers of her first two albums. Happily, she’s also re-embraced her boozin’, badass party girl persona.
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 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.
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.
High Road is extremely messy and disjointed but more than anything it feels like Kesha is on top of the world jumping from idea to idea, from old sound to new sound, with little care in the world. It's a weird album and not every moment works, but it's weirdness and sense of complete creative freedom make it a lot more likeable than it would have been otherwise.
However it's her worst album tbh, don't get me wrong the album is decent and feels like an artistic achievement for Kesha now that ... 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
There are few songs that begin to border bangers but I can't get let myself go to enjoy them.
BEST: My Own Dance, Raising Hell, Cowboy Blues, Resentment, Kinky, BFF, Father Daughter Dance
WORST: Tonight, The Potato Song (Cuz I Want To)
Contributions By
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Track List
| 1 | Tonight 3:15 | 73 |
| 2 | My Own Dance 2:41 | 60 |
| 3 | Raising Hell 2:49 feat. Big Freedia | 72 |
| 4 | High Road 3:19 | 71 |
| 5 | Shadow 3:33 | 68 |
| 6 | Honey 3:21 | 72 |
| 7 | Cowboy Blues 4:00 | 68 |
| 8 | Resentment 2:52 | 74 |
| 9 | Little Bit of Love 2:22 | 73 |
| 10 | Birthday Suit 2:56 | 60 |
| 11 | Kinky 3:25 | 68 |
| 12 | The Potato Song (Cuz I Want To) 3:33 | 55 |
| 13 | Bff 4:11 feat. Wrabel | 58 |
| 14 | Father Daughter Dance 2:37 | 69 |
| 15 | Chasing Thunder 3:41 | 70 |
Total Length: 48 minutes
Year End Lists
| #19 | / | The Young Folks |
| #35 | / | Idolator |
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Added on: October 22, 2019