Ke$ha vs. Lady Gaga

[Jase]

This is a debate that while, maybe not controversial, I feel quite passionately about (even if it is trivial, lol).

Who do you think is "better", overall, Kesha or Lady Gaga?
Mind you, I am speaking more than just vocal quality. Although, if I may point out, Kesha actually has a singing voice - she was trained as a country singer.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFev_mbzTak

While make no mistake, I think Lady Gaga has incredible vocals, I don't think the argument can be made that Kesha cannot sing, just because she chooses to release music where her voice is processed.

Second, I think Kesha has FAR superior lyrical abilities. That was her career before becoming a vocalist. The song posted above is just one example. You can find other unreleased tracks on youtube, google search, etc. A notable song written by her might be "This Love" by The Veronicas. Although, Kesha has a version of it as well.

Besides "deeper" lyrics, most of us are accustomed to her "party" type lyrics. But you have to admit, they are fun, catchy, and she is very smart and conscious when she writes these tracks.
She even tackles some interested subjects; take the songs "Blah Blah Blah" and "Boots and Boys". Kesha uses these songs to combat what the rap genre and many male artists are famous for; objectifying woman. And she has fun with it.

Whereas I feel that, oftentimes, Lady Gaga writes songs like... well... This:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=93zIeUrJrTg

But to compare to Lady Gaga, let me take two songs with similar meanings. Lady Gaga's Born This Way and Kesha's We R Who We R.
They are both about accepting yourself, having fun, acceptance, and even God.
Lady Gaga, though... To be blunt, was FAR too overbearing in her attempt. It just screams, "I AM YOUR GAY ANTHEM!"
And, as a gay man, I find that very off-putting.
She tries to force to much at once, and it comes off as a bit desperate.

Whereas in We R Who We R, Kesha, I feel, is more subtle. She manages to fit in an acceptance by God in one line, and have a lingering affect, rather than having it become a beaten horse.
Her song focuses more on self love, giving a kind of "F You" to the haters, and is all around much more fun, lyrically and beat-wise. With Lady Gaga, we are getting lectured. With Kesha, we are among accepting friends.

What are your thoughts and opinions?

[aka Heidi (Away)]

To be honest with you, I'm not huge on either of these two. I suppose I'm out of that generation or that music just doesn't appeal to me. I can't really make a huge statement about which is "better", but here is what I do think from what little I am exposed to them:

I definitely like Lady Gaga more. Like I said, from what I've seen, Kesha is more "party" while I feel like Lady Gaga is a lot more "accept yourself". When I think of Kesha I think of getting drunk, going to parties, and somehow dousing myself in glitter. Though Lady Gaga is an oddity (to say the least) I do really think her lyrics are more than just getting wasted and making a mess of yourself at a party.
Again, there may be some Kesha songs that I have never heard that are about being yourself and accepting who you are. Still, I feel like all her songs have an underlying theme of party/drinking/etc... which really turns me off.

About the religious aspects of their songs - to be honest, I'm a little offended by this. To go from singing about God (in whatever way) to talking about having sex and drinking... well, it's a little off-putting to me. Their "religious" songs aren't actually about God - I feel like that presence in the song isn't about worship or anything that religion dictates. It's sort of like a facade, or just something they threw in there to "level out" their craziness. Judas (Lady Gaga) is probably one of my least favourite songs out there. Mainly for the reason that she is glorifying Judas, not to meantion talking about Jesus/Judas is an underlying sexual way. It really bothers me - not only because I am Catholic, but because I think it's a form of disrespect. I feel like we've talked about this somewhere before, but maybe I'm mistaken!

Overall, I prefer Lady Gaga over Kesha... though I'm no fan of either. Lady Gaga, to me, is more about accepting yourself while Kesha is just glitter/sex/party/drink/whatever. I suppose it's what you take away from the lyrics, though, and everyone has their own interpretation.

Also - about Kesha and Lady Gaga "writing" their lyrics... is it actually them writing the songs? Or is there someone behind the scenes that's selling them these songs for a pretty profit. I imagine that's the case with big stars, but again, I'm a little oblivious to details like that!

Edit: Wow, I totally wrote "prophet" instead of "profit"... that's what I get when I talk about religion!

[Ange Keating]

I'm going to elaborate more on why I think Ke$ha is better than Lady Gaga when it's not almost midnight, but I wanted to quickly answer Heidi's question. Ke$ha had a career writing song lyrics for other artists like The Veronicas, Miley Cyrus, Britney Spears, etc prior to her singing career. So yes, I'm pretty certain she writes her songs for the most part unless that has changed. Can't speak for Gaga though.

And I also suppose music will always make someone angry, no matter what. Judas doesn't really bother me solely because I see the video being done through a more 'artistic' perspective, rather than Gaga maliciously using it as a tool to blatantly disrespect Catholics. I'm not saying that you're saying that, but I've heard some people take it way personal.

Also as a preface, I'm usually into old rock, alternative, and some pop, Kesha being one of my guilty pleasures. I do like Lady Gaga as well, but I think Kesha just does a much better job in general.

And hah, typos happen! xD

[Aly]

Neither. I do not like either XD

There was a day, though, last week where girls were randomly dressing up like Ke$ha on my campus. I still don't know why.

[Hello Holly]

To be honest, I adore both of these women. I love Lady Gaga, so fucking much. She is my Queen and love her to pieces, but I also maybe more quietly love Ke$ha. She's great, she has an amazing singing voice, which I think sometimes people forget (or choose to), and she's actually a pretty top notch lady. I remember her being on the radio at some point, saying something along the lines of why because she sings that she parties and has fun, does that make her a train wreck and a slut? At that point my respect for her rocketed and I've loved her greatly ever since.

I take everything Jenna Marbles says with a pinch of salt. I used to love her, find her hilarious, up until the infamous "slut shaming" video she did, where she "claims" to not slut shame, but her video is filled with it. Because of this, I now don't particularly like her, nor do I take everything she says into account. She really lost my respect with that.

But overall, I adore them both. I would possibly pick Lady Gaga over Ke$ha probably because I've loved her longer and have drawn her quite a bit which increases my liking of the person apparently, but I don't think I could really choose. Both women I find to be fantastic and strong and wonderful brilliant ideals for young (and older) people. I think they're both painfully talented, and wonderful singers. I honestly adore them.

[cat.]

I don't respect Ke$ha for the fact that she glamorizes poverty. I know she grew up struggling: it makes it more disgusting in my eyes for someone who has been through those significant hardships to sell it to the public by covering it in glitter and the idealization of "youth." Being poor is great when you can turn it on and off for the sake of persona. It's not so great when you're actually experiencing it. Someone who lived life in poverty should know better than to walk the thin line of raising awareness for it and its exploitation.

As for Lady Gaga, I don't really know much about her. I haven't been keeping up with her music or interviews, so I can't say anything on her.