This week has been like any other, lots of black coffee, scary political news, something about Kanye West losing $5, and the usual news of a woman being harassed and controlled by a man in high power in her career.
Kesha Rose Sebert, the female music artist who has recorded hits like “Tik Tok” and “Your Love Is My Drug,” was denied a court injunction that would allow her to be released from her Sony contract, where she claims her producer Lukasz Sebastian Gottwald, also known as “Dr. Luke”, sexually, emotionally, physically, and mentally abused her.
Before you spew out words that I have been hearing from a lot of educated men, and even some women, about the case -- like “she just wants out of the contract and is making up those allegations,” said by one of my colleagues; or the statement from Luke’s female lawyer Christine Lepera in response to #freekesha: “Kesha is already ‘free’ to record and release music without working with Dr. Luke as a producer if she doesn’t want to. Any claim that she isn’t free is a myth” -- let’s get not only the at-face meaning of the facts but also the substantive meaning that exists beyond words on paper, starting by dissecting the word "free."
One of the meanings of the word, provided by Merriam-Webster, is “enjoying personal freedom; not subject to the control or domination of another.” If we look at that definition, it seems that Kesha is "free" from Luke, since she can choose to work with another producer. However, going beyond the dictionary meaning, Kesha is in no way "free" to have that music sell successfully, because of the control that the puppeteer Dr. Luke has over the pop-music industry.
Dr. Luke started his music career as the lead guitarist on "Saturday Night Live" in 1997. He then went on to co-writing pop hits like “Since U Been Gone” and “I Kissed a Girl.” He has been producing pop hits ever since. He was named one of Billboard’s top performing producers of the 2000s and Producer and Songwriter of the Year from 2009 to 2011 by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. His relationship with Kesha began in 2005 when he found her demo and convinced her to drop out of her senior year of high school and move to Los Angeles with him in his house.
The 18-year-old artist, young and hungry to make her music known, decided that may be her break and she couldn’t pass it up. However, things took a turn for the worse, which I would assume happens when some producer asks you to personally live with him with the “apparent” goal of mentoring you and reaching stardom.
According to the court documents, Dr. Luke was more preoccupied with current big artists and gave no time to mentor Kesha as he had said he would. Instead, he had time to tell her about all of the women he would take out on first dates, get them hammered so he could engage in anal sex with them. Kesha also witnessed his attempt to blackmail his wife into having an abortion, while he went out to clubs and publicly performed digital penetration on women. So Kesha was stuck in L.A. with neither the guidance nor support that she was promised but received continued intimidation by Dr. Luke from his crude sexual stories of how he treated other women.
She tried to get out of the contract in 2005 but could not get signed by Warner Brothers and was dependent on continuing her passion and making music for her income. She went back to the person that had all control, Dr. Luke, and felt as if she had no other choice but to sign with him again in 2008.
Kesha’s first allegation regarding Dr. Luke’s control was in October 2013, because she felt like she was losing creative control, which would soon turn into control of her body.
In October 2014, Kesha claimed that Dr. Luke had convinced her to take a “sober pill,” which was actually a common date rape drug, GHB; she woke up naked, confused, and in pain in a hotel room with him. He accused her for defamation and breach of contract because of her allegations. This same year Kesha checked into rehab.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Shirley Konreich justified her ruling against Kesha by saying that “Sony would suffer irreparable harm if Kesha was not compelled to abide by a contract that requires her to make six more albums with the company.” What about the harm Kesha suffered and will suffer by still working with Sony even if not specifically with Dr. Luke? He ultimately has control on what sells. Either way, it is a lose-lose for Kesha.
Many female celebrities, some who have worked with Dr. Luke, showed their support towards Kesha, including Miley Cyrus, Kelly Clarkson, Demi Lovato, Taylor Swift, and Adele. Miley Cyrus unfollowed Dr. Luke on Twitter, Kelly Clarkson tweeted she had nothing nice to say about him, Demi Lovato tweeted a picture about rapist statistics, Taylor Swift donated $250,000 to Kesha, and Adele publicly supported Kesha while accepting a Global Success Award. I cannot tell you with confidence that Kesha is telling the truth, nor can I tell you she is lying.
But I will tell you confidently that sexual harassment towards women in the workplace is real.
Men controlling industries and having power over women is real. Both are not OK.
This is not only a further example of women being oppressed by men in the workplace, but it is exactly why millennials are hopping on the "we need revolution" bandwagon. This is a classic story of the power of, in this case, pop music in the hands of one. Dr. Luke is the puppeteer, and the court has only given him more tools to make his puppets sing and sell what he wants.
