Kesha Wasn’t Stunned She Obtained ‘Re-Canceled’ for Jeffrey Dahmer Lyric (Unique)

Lots of Kesha’s early hits have seen resurgences in recognition over the previous couple years — due to TikTok.

Lengthy earlier than the video sharing platform formally launched in 2017, the pop star, 38, first coined the distinctive spelling of “tick tock” for her chart-topping 2009 debut single, “TiK ToK.” A number of years and extra top-10 hits later, Kesha’s watched a few of her songs earn second lives on the app and spark discourse within the course of.

“It is simply an attention-grabbing time the place that may occur now,” Kesha tells PEOPLE on this week’s concern. “It is a trippy factor to witness, and it is so cool, and I find it irresistible. I am connecting to a complete completely different viewers that wasn’t even alive after I wrote the songs.”

Considered one of her first observe to go viral on TikTok was 2010’s “Cannibal,” a fan-favorite from the EP of the identical title regardless of not getting launched as an official single on the time. The tune sparked a dance pattern in 2020, centered across the second verse — together with the lyric, “Be too candy, and you will be a goner / I am going to pull a Jeffrey Dahmer.”

Two years later, curiosity in Dahmer’s cannibalistic crimes spiked as a consequence of Netflix’s 2022 sequence: Dahmer — Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. Some listeners started talking out in opposition to Kesha’s lyric, and her mother, Pebe Sebert, a cowriter on the tune, defended her on the time.

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“Oh my God, I obtained re-canceled for the Jeffrey Dahmer lyric,” says Kesha, who wasn’t stunned by the response. “It was a controversial lyric.”

She declares, “If some individuals aren’t offended by what I am doing, I am most likely not doing an excellent job of being a pop star.”

Past “Cannibal,” songs from Kesha’s catalog together with “Take It Off” and, extra lately, “Your Love Is My Drug,” have gone viral on TikTok. She welcomes the listenership — from outdated and new followers alike.

“I really feel like the best way individuals are consuming music is so completely different than it was, and can most likely proceed to get much more completely different. Nevertheless it’s a stupendous factor to observe a tune you wrote, God, 15 years in the past, and have seven-year-olds now relate to that tune,” she says, particularly referencing “Your Love Is My Drug.”

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Now, Kesha is gearing as much as launch her new album, . (PERIOD), by her personal Kesha Data on Friday, July 4. It is her first undertaking for the reason that finish of each her authorized battle with Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald and her long-held contract with Sony Music, and he or she feels extra liberated than ever.

“For this chapter I actually wished to seize the moments the place I felt liberated, protected, blissful, playful, sizzling, attractive, however all of it was coming from a complete place; I really feel very entire,” she says. “Now all of my power will get to focus again on my true objective—serving to individuals really feel seen, cherished, protected and f—ing entertained as hell. My energy is all again in my fingers, and I’m excited.”

For extra on Kesha, decide up the most recent concern of PEOPLE, on newsstands in every single place Friday, or subscribe right here.