Gag Order (album)

Gag Order is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Kesha. It was released on May 19, 2023, by Kemosabe Records and RCA Records. This album marks her final release under her contract with both labels, which she signed when she was 18 years old. The announcement of the album came in late April 2023, with Kesha serving as the executive producer, a role she took on for her previous two albums. She primarily worked with producer Rick Rubin, who helped her dive deep into her more vulnerable side to create the project. Other producers on the album include familiar collaborators such as Stuart Crichton, Stint and Drew Pearson, as well as new collaborators like Jussifer, Hudson Mohawke, Kennedi, and Jason Lader.
Musically, Gag Order diverges from the electro-pop sound of Kesha's previous album, High Road, and explores a range of genres, including art pop, experimental, electronic, and psychedelic elements. Additionally, the album incorporates influences from minimalism, hyperpop, soul, lo-fi, dark wave, country, and gospel genres. Kesha describes the album as a culmination of all the genres of music she enjoys.
Lyrically, Gag Order delves into darker themes such as death, depression, emotional exploitation, control, hope, and a quest for truth. In contrast to High Road, which aimed to recapture her party pop sound, Gag Order finds Kesha focusing on overcoming trauma and depression resulting from her legal battle with her former producer, Dr. Luke.
Critically, Gag Order received positive reviews from music critics, who particularly praised Kesha's vocals and songwriting, although opinions on the production were more varied. In anticipation of the album's release, three singles were unveiled: "Eat the Acid", "Fine Line", (released as a dual single), and "Only Love Can Save Us Now". A live acoustic extended play titled Gag Order (Live Acoustic EP from Space) was released on June 30, 2023. It includes four live acoustic performances of songs from the album. To promote the album, Kesha embarked on the Only Love Tour, which ran from October 15 to November 26, 2023.
Before the release of her fourth album, High Road, Billboard published a cover story about the singer stating that she already had a "gorgeous folk album that is just waiting for its moment to shine," but the release would depend on her legal battle. Kesha announced the album on April 25, 2023. It was entirely co-produced by Rick Rubin. After falling out of her craft, Rubin helped Kesha fall in love with music again and focused on making good music, rather than trying to make what would do well on the charts. "The whole process with Rick that blew my mind was being present in how I feel and making it come out into the song in a way that felt like it's reflective of the feeling, a sound that reflects a feeling," she recounted working with the producer while being interviewed by Apple Music 1's Zane Lowe. She went on to say she has never made an album simply for the art and the two never once mentioned things like singles or radio play.
The album title is supposed to reflect the situation she has been under due to the legal case against producer Dr. Luke, leaving her unable to speak or comment on it. The legal battle was initiated by Kesha who sued the producer for sexual assault and battery in 2014. In response, Dr. Luke countersued her for defamation and the case was set for trial in July 2023. However, Kesha and Dr. Luke released a joint statement stating the case reached a settlement a month before the trial. Labeled "post-pop" and "emotional exorcism", the project finds Kesha at her most vulnerable. In a Rolling Stone interview, she revealed that releasing the album feels like "giving birth to the most intimate thing" she has ever created, citing anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic and spiritual experiences of the previous three years as main influences. According to her, the record bundles up emotions "of anger, of insecurity, of anxiety, of grief, of pain, of regret". The pandemic made the singer face these emotions she had avoided dealing with, particularly around her image after years of judgment from the public. Guest appearances include her mother Pebe Sebert, her eight-year-old niece Luna on "Only Love Reprise", Neopagan leader, Oberon Zell, and Ram Dass in archival audio.
The cover art for Gag Order depicts Kesha with a plastic bag over her head. Brian Roettinger, who worked on the album artworks for Rainbow and High Road, designed the album cover and visuals for the project. The photo for the album cover was taken by Vincent Haycock. Roettinger also served as the creative director.
In the months leading up to the album's release, Kesha revealed portions of songs to fans. In early 2023, she live streamed portions of several songs on Instagram, as well as releasing versions of "Eat the Acid" and "Fine Line" onto SoundCloud, before eventually removing them. Kesha got her own hashflags on Twitter by tweeting #Kesha, #GagOrder, or #EatTheAcid. The hashflags consist of the Gag Order logo, the plastic bag from the cover art, and the green chair from one of the promotional images, respectively. Select fans who entered the sweepstakes contest after pre-saving the album were mailed an envelope containing signed posters and lyric cards for the album. A QR code on the poster led to a video message from Kesha. The official track-list was revealed on May 2, 2023; however, Kesha commented on an Instagram post indicating she did not know about the reveal. Three days later, all the lyrics to the entire album were made available for download on her official website. Visualizers for several songs were made and all were directed by Vincent Haycock. Kesha performed "Eat the Acid" and "Only Love Can Save Us Now" for Vevo Live. On June 15, 2023, she performed "Only Love Can Save Us Now" at iHeartRadio's "Can't Cancel Pride" event. To further promote the album, Kesha embarked on her sixth headlining tour, the Only Love Tour on October 15, 2023, which ended on November 26, 2023.
Both "Eat the Acid" and "Fine Line" were released on April 28, 2023, as lead singles for the album. The third single release, "Only Love Can Save Us Now", was released on May 17, 2023.
Gag Order has received generally positive reviews from music critics. Kesha's vocals and lyrics, and the ability to write about her lawsuit against Dr. Luke without directly referring to it, were met with praise. On the production side, critics felt it was missing something. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 75 based on 11 reviews. Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 7.2 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus. The album was compared to the works of Fiona Apple and Björk.
Paul Attard of Slant magazine praised Kesha's vocals and the variety of genres, but criticized the back half of the album, saying that the production is "shoddy" and underdeveloped. Helen Brown of The Independent called the album "fascinating" and gave it a perfect score out five stars. She highlighted lead single "Fine Line" and its lyrics, which she considers resonates with all survivors. The Arts Desk's Thomas Green echoed Brown's sentiments of the album being fascinating, and wrote that it's unlike Kesha's other albums. Green stated that the album is "an impressive step forward" for the artist, who "urgently" needed it. Writing for NME, Tom Stitchbury said that the album is an embodiment of someone who found her voice, despite the title.
Alex Rigotti of Clash magazine criticized Rick Rubin's production, saying his minimalist philosophy stifles many of the tracks.
Gag Order debuted at number 187 on Billboard 200 having sold 8,300 units in the US. It later re-entered at a new peak at number 168.
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Gag Order (Live Acoustic EP from Space) is the live extended play by Kesha. It is the singer's third EP overall and was released on June 30, 2023. The EP contains four live acoustic performances of songs from her album, Gag Order. It is her official last release under Kemosabe Records and RCA Records before her departure from both labels in December 2023.
Kesha released her fifth studio album, Gag Order in May 2023. The album is the singer's final album that fulfills her contract with Kemosabe Records, which she signed when she was 18. In October 2014, Kesha sued her former producer, Dr. Luke for sexual assault and battery. The producer countersued Kesha for defamation and their trial was set for July 2023. Through a joint statement, Kesha and Dr. Luke announced they have officially reached a settlement, about a month before the trial. In her statement, Kesha stated she doesn't recall everything that happened the night of the alleged abuse, while Dr. Luke continued to deny he ever raped her. Following the settlement, Kesha went on her social media and expressed her gratitude to her supporters and said she was excited for the "beautiful things to come". The next day, she announced the EP and revealed its cover art. She revealed the four tracks that will appear on the EP: "Only Love Can Save Us Now", "Fine Line", "All I Need Is You", and "Happy".
All tracks are noted as "live acoustic from space", and produced by Nick Annis and Matt Dyson.