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Kesha has opened up about working with Dr. Luke during a recent appearance on Monica Lewinsky's Reclaiming podcast on July 8, 2025. In 2005, Dr. Luke's Kemosabe Records signed Kesha Rose Sebert when she was 18 years old. The Grammy-nominated singer released five albums with the label before parting ways in 2023.
According to The New York Times, the two A-listers were entangled in a bitter legal battle that began in October 2014, when Kesha filed a civil lawsuit against Dr. Luke. In the court filing, she accused Dr. Luke of emotional and s*xual abuse. She also alleged that the latter had r*ped Kesha at least once after she signed with the label.
However, Dr. Luke has consistently denied the allegations ever since the lawsuit was filed.
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During her recent discussion with Monica Lewinsky, Kesha reflected on the complexity of continuing to work alongside Dr. Luke while the legal proceedings were ongoing.
“The recordings of my voice did not legally belong to me in the universe in perpetuity. To then be delivering music to someone that you’re in litigation with … they’re in control of the promotion, of the budgets, all of it, the release, everything. For years. For 10 years. That was the only way I’d get out of the deal [with Kemosabe], was if I delivered the music,” she explained.
The artist continued:
“In my mind, it just felt like the biggest head-f–k of all time. It still perplexes me, because it kind of makes no sense how the legal system could just watch this be happening and be like, ‘Yeah, that’s fine.’ It felt inhumane.”
Kesha remained tied to Kemosabe till the release of her 2023 album, Gag Order. Alluding to the decade after suing Dr. Luke, she claimed:
“Every day, all day for 10 years. I couldn’t sleep. I would just sit and think about, like, ‘Make sure you don’t forget this, make sure you don’t forget that when you’re at trial. Write down every traumatizing thing.’ Journals on journals on journals. In the shower, I would just cry and spiral down.”
In March 2024, the label finally dropped her after Gag Order didn't match the success of her past repertoire of works. Sebert recalled receiving a call informing her about the label's decision to discontinue their association with her. According to her, that moment marked a significant turning point, as she felt she was finally going to be "free."
On July 4, 2025, she released Period — her first studio album after being dropped by Kemosabe.
When Kesha opened up about her new album, dissociation with Dr. Luke's label, and more
The Backstabber singer spoke candidly about her new album, severance of ties with Dr. Luke's Kemosabe Records, and more in a March 2025 interview with Billboard. The Cannibal singer collaborated with Zhone to release the album via her independent label called Kesha Records.
Speaking to Jason Lipshutz of Billboard, she provided a walkthrough of the making of Period.
"When I was putting this album together, I wanted to reclaim my joy on my own terms. My entire life, my body of work, every song I put out, there has been some sort of energetic or contractual caveat to it, [as if it’s] not feeling wholly and completely mine. When you hear enough times how the success of what you’re doing is probably due to somebody else, you start to internalize that," she announced.
Discussing the experience of writing, executive producing, and overseeing every detail associated with Period, she said:
"That’s been a really cool experience, to feel like this is me, 100 f—king percent, for the first time in my career, at 38 years old. I have nobody trying to convince me to do something, and having me question what I want to say and how I want to say it."
She went on to explain about her latest album:
"Homecoming in a lot of ways — not only legally, to the rights of my voice, but to letting go of that internalized shame, of letting all that go and coming home to my own body, my joy, myself. "
When asked about when she began working on the album, she shared a turning point:
"I got a phone call on December 6 [2023], that said, “In three months’ time, you will be a free woman.” And from the moment I became a free woman, I had spent day and night in the studio, in this state of euphoric psychosis. I finally felt free, so the creative muse was just in me, in this flow state," she raved.
The conversation ended with Kesha discussing her future plans. The 38-year-old asserted that her current associations lay with Kesha Records, her ongoing tour, and her app called Smash. She also spoke about teaching songwriting to "as many other people as possible."
"On my tour, I want everyone to come and feel like it’s a safe place for them to play and be celebrated exactly as they are. I’m just excited to see where the world’s going to take me," Kesha concluded.
Kesha is currently engaged in her ongoing concert tour called The Tits Out Tour. Planned in association with the Scissor Sisters. The tour started on July 1, 2025, and is slated to conclude in Dublin on March 21, 2026.
