A Ke$ha "Tik Tok" Lyrical Analysis

Kesha- oh excuse me, Ke$ha- is a Los Angeles raised "singer"-"songwriter" who is exactly 9 days older than me. Her hit "Tik Tok" was released August 2009 and has since reached number 1 in five countries, as well as rocked the Itunes top 10 countdown for nearly the last seventy thousand years (or so it would appear to me.)

I am a lyrics kind of girl. I like songs that have interesting turns of phrases, cool word flow, unusual and unexpected lyrics. But I can enjoy most pop music (which typically lacks these three qualities.) I can enjoy pop music especially when that enjoyment comes on a dance floor with a drink in one hand. If a pop song has a good beat I can respect it enough to dance it out. However, Ke$ha of the dollar sign has lyrics that are so astounding (not bad or good, just astounding) one drink is usually not enough.

Let's do a little breakdown of #1 viral iTunes "song," Ke$ha's "Tick Tock":
Intro Verse:
Wake up in the morning feeling like P. Diddy 
Grab my glasses, I'm out the door  I'm gonna hit this city (Lets go)
Before I leave, brush my teeth with a bottle of Jack
Cause when I leave for the night, I ain't coming back
I'm talking - pedicure on our toes, toes/ Trying on all our clothes, clothes
Boys blowing up our phones, phones
Drop-topping, playing our favorite cd's
Pulling up to the parties/ Trying to get a little bit tipsy 

Firstly, P. Diddy's name always makes me laugh. Ha- P. Diddy. But anyway, what DOES P. Diddy feel like in the morning? (Ke$ha makes me ask myself). Well, since the first thing she does is grab her glasses, maybe P.Diddy is feeling a little far-sighted? Hey, I don't judge, but that doesn't seem so rock star to me. It's funny because the line" wake up in the morning feeling like P.Diddy" sounds she's commanding me to do so, but how can I if I don't know how he feels beside his apparent need for glasses? Honestly, Ke$ha. Smoke and mirrors.

Let's talk proper dental hygiene: brushing your teeth with a bottle of Jack? Maybe not the smartest.  Even if it were okay to brush your teeth with alcohol (alcohol is a cleaner, after all), a whole bottle just seems like an excessive amount of liquid. And then there's the whole backwash situation- Ew. But maybe, JUST MAYBE, Ke$ha is using the whole brushing her teeth with Jack as an analogy. Ke$ha, at least in the intro verse, appears to be working on the metaphorical level. She feels like P. Diddy, brushes her teeth with a bottle of Jack (analogy), has a pedicure, gets tipsy. Wait, that doesn't seem like a metaphor. Be consistent, Ke$ha! Lastly, what on earth is drop-topping? I'm 22, I party, I'm hip. Should I be identifying here?

Chorus:
Don't stop, make it pop , DJ, blow my speakers up
Tonight, Imma fight Till we see the sunlight
Tick tock, on the clock  But the party don't stop, no
Woah-oh oh oh Woah-oh oh oh (x2)

Wow, that sucks. Moving on.

Verse 2:
Ain't got a care in world, but got plenty of beer
Ain't got no money in my pocket, but I'm already here
And now the dudes are lining up cause they hear we got swagger
But we kick em to the curb unless they look like Mick Jagger
I'm talking about - everybody getting crunk, crunk/ Boys trying to touch my junk, junk
Gonna smack him if he getting too drunk, drunk
Now, now - we goin till they kick us out, out/ Or the police shut us down, down
Police shut us down, down/ Po-po shut us-

Ke$ha kicks boys to the curb if they don't look like Mick Jagger. Has Ke$ha ever SEEN Mick Jagger? Don't get me wrong- he's a great rock star. But he looks like a piece of fruit that's been left out in the sun for too long and is also wearing leather pants. Major points lost for total lack of ability to rate attractiveness. But maybe the "plenty of beer" line is the cause. For Ke$ha, it seems, beer goggles are a very real thing. You've got to admit though- getting into the bar with all that beer AND without any money is pretty clever. But she would have even more beer if she didn't just kick boys to the curb because she didn't think they were Mick Jagger-y enough. Foresight Ke$ha- those boys could buy you drinks! Then after the "po-po" line (a super humorous and dorky name for the fuzz) the song goes back into the "chorus."
 
And that's the whole song. Really- that's it. The intro, verse and chorus repeat themselves in some capacity forty-nine thousand times throughout the rest of it. This is the type of pop I like to think of as "special" pop, as in it's for the special people who won't get the message the first time 'round. It's cool don't worry, you have 12 more opportunities to sing along.

On a parting note, I would like to draw attention to the artist name itself. Ke$ha has cunningly included a dollar sign in her name, thereby changing the "s" in her lawfully given (but still made up-sounding) name of "Kesha" to include a dollar sign. With this action, Kesha is demonstrating that she is literally "money," or pimping, or cool. Another metaphor; perhaps you are operating on a deeper level after all, Ke$ha. But there is only one person in the world that has the right to include symbols in his name. And he had thirty top 40 singles, produced ten platinum albums, loved jump suits, and sang a song about purple rain. You've got to earn it, Kesha. You've got to earn it.