Fall on your knees
July 12, 2017 12:34 PM   Subscribe

 
same.
posted by suddenly, and without warning, at 12:48 PM on July 12, 2017 [5 favorites]


Kesha Fans Change Their Facial Expressions To Indicate Mild Surprise While Listening To Her Hit A High Note
posted by Sing Or Swim at 12:51 PM on July 12, 2017 [12 favorites]


I don't know if I would call myself a fan, although I respect her work, but this is a damned fine song and that note isn't just impressive, it's perfectly placed in the song. It's thrilling.
posted by maxsparber at 12:51 PM on July 12, 2017 [17 favorites]


Adorable.
posted by putzface_dickman at 12:58 PM on July 12, 2017


The utter lower chakra groan of feeling wronged that is Praying is such an amazing song, and I'm so glad she's finally free from Dr Luke and his bullshit. This song is great, and I've listened to that song a dozen times and never really noticed that particular bit of singing even while it affected me emotionally.

This was a fun video to watch. Thanks for posting!
posted by hippybear at 1:03 PM on July 12, 2017 [16 favorites]


It'd been a while since a song sent a shiver up my spine, but in the context of the Dr. Luke/years of label issues, Kesha hitting that note continues to do it.
posted by notorious medium at 1:11 PM on July 12, 2017 [9 favorites]


I just watched this music video.
The music isn't for me, but I am absolutely in love with how Kesha's nails match her skirt. THAT's what got me doing one of these shocked face reacts.
posted by phunniemee at 1:19 PM on July 12, 2017 [2 favorites]


Clicked the link feeling cynical, but that was awesome.
posted by defenestration at 1:50 PM on July 12, 2017 [5 favorites]


So...For those of us without any musical ears at all...what was that note?
posted by Thorzdad at 1:51 PM on July 12, 2017


I don't know if I would call myself a fan, although I respect her work, but this is a damned fine song and that note isn't just impressive, it's perfectly placed in the song. It's thrilling.

Yes. It sounds almost engineered, doesn't it?
posted by sour cream at 1:53 PM on July 12, 2017 [3 favorites]


I am not for that note -- I think of dental drill coming up to speed -- but it's interesting to watch fans fanning like that.

She's the person who that what's his name comedian guy would not hug, right?
posted by pracowity at 2:00 PM on July 12, 2017


Like I'm not a huge Kesha fan or anything, but I am a rape and sexual trauma survivor, and there's a whole lot to really love about that song. It captures, for me, the feeling that you *should* be feeling empathy for the person that hurt you, but you don't want to, and really actually you know that you don't have to because who can expect that much of a person, but you kind of wish you WERE such an amazingly awesome person, a perfect angel of a person, that you could actually be able to forgive them from a deep and true place, but you can't, and maybe, "some things only God can forgive." I collect songs like this, because I need them in order to understand myself and to love myself.

Want another one? Scissor Sisters, "Almost Sorry" is my best one.
posted by Made of Star Stuff at 2:02 PM on July 12, 2017 [34 favorites]


She's the person who that what's his name comedian guy would not hug, right?

The story is linked at the bottom of the Esquire page with this article.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 2:07 PM on July 12, 2017 [2 favorites]


There's a longer (4.28 over 2.20) edit of the video on YouTube and it may have made my bedroom very dusty when I watched it.
posted by Gin and Broadband at 2:18 PM on July 12, 2017


sour cream, you're totally right! I bet they even went so far as to actually employ an engineer to work on the song. Pop music these days; what will they think of next?!
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 2:27 PM on July 12, 2017 [16 favorites]


Kesha Fans Looked Up From Their Phones When She Hit A High Note
posted by rhizome at 2:39 PM on July 12, 2017 [1 favorite]


Its a good song Brent.
posted by WalkerWestridge at 2:45 PM on July 12, 2017 [12 favorites]


sour cream, you're totally right! I bet they even went so far as to actually employ an engineer to work on the song. Pop music these days; what will they think of next?!

The next step is to engineer an article in Esquire about the engineered song.
posted by sour cream at 2:47 PM on July 12, 2017


Mod note: Folks, if you dislike pop music, that's fine, but just skip the post please.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 2:54 PM on July 12, 2017 [34 favorites]


Metafilter Reader Struggles to See Kesha Listeners Losing Minds
Esquire Writer Delivers Clicks As Promised
posted by davebush at 3:00 PM on July 12, 2017 [3 favorites]


what was that note?

It's F6 (the highest F on a standard piano keyboard).
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:01 PM on July 12, 2017 [14 favorites]


[Folks, if you dislike pop music, that's fine, but just skip the post please.]

Oh no, I like the song. I think it's very well crafted and Kesha sings really nice.

I think the more curious aspect is the article. How did they get so many people reacting to it on video? Can you just get them by googling for "random people listening to Kesha song"? Or is it all staged? Was it, perhaps, written by people paid to promote the song?

I think marketing is an art as well; let's just say that the song hits a very high note in that department as well.
posted by sour cream at 3:05 PM on July 12, 2017 [1 favorite]


I can say that if a marketing department had happened to be in front of me when I first heard this the other day, they would have gotten something similar. Also ugly crying.
posted by hollyholly at 3:09 PM on July 12, 2017 [4 favorites]


How did they get so many people reacting to it on video? Can you just get them by googling for "random people listening to Kesha song"? Or is it all staged? Was it, perhaps, written by people paid to promote the song?

In case you don't have children or siblings in the 12-25 age range, this is a thing called "reaction videos," they record them for everything, you can find them by googling, and people have built lucrative youtube careers from them. Our 16 year old records reaction videos to instagram loops of other people doing skateboard and scooter tricks.

I'm not a Kesha fan, but watching that reaction video compilation and hearing that note over and over definitely did give me arm goosebumps a few times. Is this one of those ASMR things?
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 3:21 PM on July 12, 2017 [15 favorites]


React videos are, like, an entire genre of youtube. It's not terribly difficult to find videos of people reacting to other content. Maybe the label provided advances to some known fans/bloggers/influencers or maybe someone just searched for them after the fact.
posted by jacquilynne at 3:22 PM on July 12, 2017 [2 favorites]


WOW SO MANY PEOPLE LISTEN TO MUSIC THROUGH THEIR COMPUTER SPEAKERS
*puts hand over heart*
*cries*

posted by chococat at 3:22 PM on July 12, 2017 [8 favorites]


I love it and I'm on pins and needles to see if she can do it live.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 3:41 PM on July 12, 2017 [2 favorites]


She's in the whistle register. Here is reputably the highest non-whistle note ever recorded (wait for it at the end) ...
posted by jim in austin at 3:42 PM on July 12, 2017 [6 favorites]


This was lovely and charming (and I had a similar reaction).
posted by obfuscation at 3:56 PM on July 12, 2017 [1 favorite]


Is this one of those ASMR things?

When it's music, it's generally classified as frisson.

I got it every time too.
posted by Lyn Never at 4:12 PM on July 12, 2017 [3 favorites]


This is the most amazing new song I've heard in ages. Thanks for posting.
posted by roolya_boolya at 4:19 PM on July 12, 2017 [2 favorites]


Here is reputably the highest non-whistle note ever recorded

Ab7 - The high note in the Kesha video (I miscounted earlier, that should have been F7) was only a step and a half below it.
posted by Greg_Ace at 4:48 PM on July 12, 2017 [3 favorites]


Greg Ace: The Kesha note and similar notes often employed by coloratura sopranos are high, flat notes without vibrato. The so-called dog whistle range. The note by Mado Robin is as high or higher with full, controlled and modulated vibrato. That is the difference between singing in the classical format and making a high noise, albeit on key...
posted by jim in austin at 5:00 PM on July 12, 2017 [5 favorites]


I am clearly not the intended audience for Kesha, or Mariah Carey for that matter, because I just don't enjoy those high notes and/or register swingy things.

BUT. The fan reactions and all of you here who love it: so wonderful, so lovely, and I am SO GLAD that they and you enjoy it and enjoy her! Watching the fan reactions made my night, so thank you for that.
posted by cooker girl at 5:34 PM on July 12, 2017 [3 favorites]


Reminds me, like others, of Mariah.

I'm a music fan and a survivor and this song - especially that note - made me "look up from my phone" (actually, the note, and the song, literally brought tears to my eyes when I heard it for the first time).
posted by sockermom at 5:42 PM on July 12, 2017 [3 favorites]


I think that whistle note is so emotionally affecting for people (including me) not just because of the aural quality of it but because of the narrative power. She does it at the musical and emotional climax of the song, right after delivering the line "some say, in life, you're gonna get what you give | but some things only God can forgive". Coming right at that moment, it makes me imagine her literally melting the person she's addressing with, like, a sonic mouth ray. Comments here have pointed out that it's shrill, and I think that's the point.
posted by The Minotaur at 6:34 PM on July 12, 2017 [5 favorites]


Hitting it high, Mariah at 3:45.
posted by Toddles at 6:58 PM on July 12, 2017 [1 favorite]


My favorite Kesha 'fuck you' song is actually True Colors aka the song where I realized that Kesha can sing. When she lets go with that dramatic "Alllll my life---" 30 seconds in. Not your early 2010s Kesha. "Praying" is a perfectly good song, too, but it came as less of a shock after "True Colors."
posted by librarylis at 7:09 PM on July 12, 2017 [2 favorites]


I've never paid attention to Kesha before; I was, frankly, turned off by her styling of her name with a dollar sign in place of an "S". But I was peripherally aware of her fight with Dr. Luke, and I'm a sucker for climactic high notes. This one sounded more like a scream than a note to me, but it was on tune and totally appropriate and well placed. It's a good song, she certainly has a good voice, and I'll be paying a bit more attention to her from now on.
posted by lhauser at 7:36 PM on July 12, 2017


Hitting it high, Mariah at 3:45

For those of you still keeping track, that's a B7 - a two-octave leap from the note before, included a creditable if subtle vibrato, held for a good 4 beats, and a step and a half above Mado Robin's.
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:56 PM on July 12, 2017 [7 favorites]


Here's the discussion of the song in general from a week ago.

It's a really powerful song, and I'm glad she's finally free of both Luke and the trashy persona he forced her into.
posted by flatluigi at 7:58 PM on July 12, 2017 [1 favorite]


Just dropped another single: Kesha - Woman
posted by PenDevil at 6:59 AM on July 13, 2017 [6 favorites]


Jesus. I've now come around to thinking that Kesha is a national treasure.
posted by maxsparber at 7:36 AM on July 13, 2017 [4 favorites]


this is a thing called "reaction videos,"

I can verify this for sure. I imagine it would not be hard to compile something like this for pretty much any visual media released recently. This is one of the trends on youtube that my kids are into, and it is one of the starkest reminders that I am no longer with it, as I do not get the appeal at all.

It worked for me in this case, though. I had fun watching that.
posted by history_denier at 10:48 AM on July 13, 2017 [1 favorite]


I, for one, just wanted to thank Metafilter for continuing to deliver "classic" best of the web. It's so easy to fall down the rabbit hole of POTUSdespair. The FP continues to exist & this is wonderful. Thank you, @gwint.
posted by narwhal at 12:02 PM on July 13, 2017 [1 favorite]


Just dropped another single: Kesha - Woman

"Praying" was obviously a lot more heartfelt, and it fills a much-needed place as a pop music anthem. But it didn't do much for me, personally, as a song. This, on the other hand. This is my shit.
posted by tobascodagama at 12:28 PM on July 13, 2017 [1 favorite]




I'm so glad she's finally free from Dr Luke and his bullshit.

Unfortunately, she's not. In fact, Dr. Luke leaving Sony could make things much worse for Kesha. With Sony out of the picture, she's contractually bound to him, not the corporation.
posted by palomar at 5:17 PM on July 18, 2017




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