For a long time it seemed as though the party music legacy of Kesha had been irreparably tarnished–was it all manufactured? Did she want to be portrayed as a party animal at all? With this new single and album, she intends on taking back that wild persona on her own terms, saying she wants to “revisit her roots of pure debaucherous joy”. “Raising Hell” achieves that with its bouncy beat and upbeat lyrics. Big Freedia’s ad libs add to the overall joyous tone of the song. 

“Raising Hell” definitively is not a return to old Kesha, though. The tone is a departure from Rainbow, but there’s still an element of gravity to it. Beneath the joyous energy, there’s still an underlying theme of being freed. She’s no longer constrained to a strict, produced image–Kesha can be a party girl if she wants to, but she can also talk about her own feelings and desires. 

A lot of songs that are supposed to be “empowering” for women or LGBT people or any other minority group seem to fall flat. Oftentimes, it seems like artists are paying lip-service to these groups to sell records or manufacture a certain image of themselves. Kesha is certainly not in this ilk of creators–she’s been an open proponent for the LGBT community long before it was a safe career move, and now she’s creating music that is legitimately reassuring for women. It’s wonderful to see a person come out of such an awful experience of abuse and sexual assault and regain control of her image and career. 

The music video for “Raising Hell” serves as an allegory for reclaiming and reinventing her old persona–at first, she’s serving as a puppet under a controlling man, performing a role that she’s shown to be uncomfortable in. Ultimately, she ends up killing the man, a stand in for Dr. Luke, her old producer, and finding more freedom despite having to face consequences. It’s great to see someone who’s been through so much come back with ferocity and vivacity.

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Almost immediately, Swift exits the scuffle and dives right into the song’s annoying radio-friendly pop she’s been spitting out ever since she left the country genre. Her lyrics are along the same lines you’ve been hearing on Top 40 since the dawn of the ‘10s: she’s having a tough time making it work with her boyfriend, but she also understands she’s part of their problem, all that jazz. Following our reintroduction to T-Swift’s post-country-pre-Reputation mainstream pop brigade, Urie hops out the window with an umbrella Mary Poppins-style. There’s nothing too special about his appearance; he’s just there to play the boyfriend in Swift’s lyrical endeavours.

“ME!” checks all the boxes of a corny song and video shown to kindergartners to help them feel good about themselves, and that’s not only regarding the moment where Swift goes off-rhythm to declare “Hey, kids!/Spelling is fun!” The line “you can’t spell ‘awesome’ without ‘me’” sounds like it was ripped straight out of a lackluster PBS Kids program, not the girl whole stole our hearts more than a decade ago as a young country sweetheart.

The rest of the video is nothing but tacky, holding some less-than-exciting choreography and an overbearing amount of pink and light blue colors. If there’s anything to stop the bleeding, it’s recalling that the rest of Reputation was more textbook-Taylor than its in-your-face lead single, so the upcoming LP is likely to be a different story. That doesn’t shy away from the fact that “ME!” marks a glaring low point in the 29-year-old’s career.

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Much of the brilliance lies within the background. Black people running around in a frenzy are easy to spot behind the dancers, but there are even tinier details to miss. A video that demands to be rewatched and dissected, keen-eyed viewers will pick up on obscure bible references and Jim Crow caricatures poses, just to name a few. Even SZA makes a brief cameo towards the end, making a good case that she’ll be featured on his upcoming fourth album.

The simplicity of having Gambino and his dancers prance around in the foreground plays into a variety of interpretations. In a country that eats up black culture, the dancers could represent how oblivious some Americans are when it comes to realizing the turmoil minorities find themselves in, as opposed to the glitz and glamour on the TV screen. It could also be a jab at recent criticism towards black celebrities for getting “too political”: the crew is so concentrated on dancing, they don’t even acknowledge all the chaos happening around them. That’s the beauty of “This Is America”, at its core a deeply layered gem that only gets better and better the more times it is seen. So much so, it’s popularity on trending pages is outdone by breakdowns of the actual video.

If there’s any downside, it won’t be the same to listen to just the audio for this track. Part of me hopes it’s left off his next LP to ensure this song stays synonymous with the already iconic video, but hype for a Childish Gambino album is now at an all-time high thanks to this juggernaut lead single. Top-tier in its relevance and genius in its execution, the visuals conjured up by Glover and his Atlanta director Hiro Murai have cemented the legacy of “This Is America” as one of the greatest music videos of all time.

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The music video does a spectacular job at reinforcing that message. It features celebs from Irish radio hosts, to rugby stars, to Saoirse Ronan, a Brooklyn-native two-time Academy Award nominee.

The sixth track of Ed Sheeran’s ÷ (Divide), “Galway Girl” is an escapade through Galway, an Irish harbor city and a hub for pubs and live folk music, a major influence on his previous albums that lives again within this song.

The scenes are shot from Sheeran’s point of view as he runs throughout Galway with Ronan and a camera. It is charming from the start as he enters the first bar––O’Connors Pub in Salthill––and finds Ronan dancing with the pub regulars. It has a warm feeling of camaraderie with the added personal effects that arise from the filming style. And within a night of adventure there are always mishaps. After accidentally throwing a dart into the back of a man in the pub, they take to the streets.

The video was filmed in April causing a frenzy in Galway as fans saw Ed Sheeran and Saoirse Ronan running through the streets of their hometown. The two came upon some Irish street dancers who seemed quite surprised by their appearance. Ronan even joined them dancing. As they continued their venture through the streets, coming upon musicians and other locals, they took the time to stop, sign autographs and take photos. It was heart-warming and rang with honesty and joy.

In a funny scene which Ed Sheeran has commented on, “She really took the p*ss out of me,” they arrive at a tattoo parlor and Ronan writes “Galway Grill” on his arm before a tattoo artist inks over it. That is the name of a restaurant in Epcot Center that serves Guinness and potatoes, not the name of the song. The prank was taken in good taste and has become a story to tell.

They moved on to the last pub of the night where they took to dancing, drinking, and unfortunately running into the dart victim who unceremoniously punched Sheeran in the face as the bar watched on in shock. He gets knocked out and wakes up to Ronan in an attic apartment where they embrace and watch the sun rise over the ocean from the small balcony.

“Galway Girl” definitely shows Ireland’s city of Galway as a friendly, welcoming place. From an outsider’s perspective, it’s quite the enticing destination. Who’s to say? Maybe you’ll see a wild Ed Sheeran walking along the streets.

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