Details: How are you going to celebrate the release of your album Animal?
Ke$ha: I want to take everybody I love to Medieval Times or something ridiculous like that.

Details: What do you do to get ready for shows?
Ke$ha: I usually, like, get my game face on, and then I draw dollar signs all over my body and my bandmates, and then I smother myself with baby oil and dump a bucket of glitter on my body. We have to buy glitter by the pound.

Details: Do you have any tattoos?
Ke$ha: I have five tattoos. But actually two of them are fading at the moment because I got them from my friend with, like, a safety pin and a pen two months ago. So two of them might not be tattoos in about a month.

Details: Were you in prison two months ago?
Ke$ha: No, I had just finished my record, so that night we got a little crazy, and we thought it was a really good idea to give each other tattoos to symbolize such a special event in my life. So he gave me a cross. Or one could call it a t. Or an x. And then this is pretty embarrassing, but—it’s fading—my friend tattooed YEAH! on my foot.

Details: What was the first tattoo you ever got?
Ke$ha: The first tattoo is an anchor I got when I snuck into Cuba when I was 18. I got that because we were hanging out with this guy, and he was like, “If you give me five dollars, I’ll give you a tattoo.” So I’m like, “All right, fine.” He gave me an anchor tattoo because I’m a diver.

Details: I read that you were once kicked out of Prince’s house. Where else have you been escorted out of?
Ke$ha: Oh, God, so many places. I went to a club opening with Katy Perry about a year and a half ago. I saw David Spade, and I always thought that he was, like, so sexy in Joe Dirt. I just think rednecks are so hot. So I was like, “Oh, my God, this is my big chance! He’s, like, my No. 1 if-I-could-I-would. David Spade, let’s do this!” But then he kind of brushed me off, and I was like, “Oh, hell no.” So I stole his bottle of whiskey and ran to the bathroom, and then they came and found me and threw me out.

`I`d like to challenge Susan Boyle to a televised glitter gun duel,` Ke$ha twittered today.

Ke$ha and Susan Boyle are battling it out for the first number one of 2010.

Hits Daily Double is predicting that the Ke$ha debut ‘Animal’ is on track to dethrone Boyle’s ‘I Dreamed A Dream’ although it will be close. Both albums are heading for sales of around 105,000 – 115,000 next week.

Susan Boyle ‘I Dreamed A Dream’ has been number one in the USA for 6 weeks and has sold more than 3 million.

Ke$ha ‘Tik Tok’ has so far sold more than 2 million downloads.

Like Boyle, Ke$ha had a big year in 2009. After appearing on Flo Rida’s number one hit ‘Right Round’, she released her debut single ‘Tik Tok’ in August, 2009.

Ke$ha is your average, everyday Valley Girl. She grew up in San Fernando Valley and is the daughter of single mother, singer/songwriter Pebe Sebert.

She has been singing since the age of 17 (she is 22 now) and has appeared on a number of other people’s songs over the years.

Ke$ha co-wrote ‘This Love’ for the Veronicas. She sang background on Britney Spears ‘Leather and Lace’ and she appears in the Katy Perry video ‘I Kissed A Girl’.

We shall know the results of the Ke$ha vs Boyle battle by mid next week. Whether she wins or loses to Boyle doesn’t matter. “Susan Boyle knows how to party,” she twittered later in the day.

Urban pop singer Ke$ha released her debut album ‘Animal’ this week to much ballyhoo. But the ingénue, who had a hit with the electro party anthem ‘TiK ToK’ and sang the chorus hook on Flo Rida’s smash ‘Right Round,’ first brushed with fame several years ago when she and her family were featured on the Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie reality TV vehicle, ‘The Simple Life.’

“That was my mum’s idea. She just decided to call [the show's producers] because she’s attracted to interesting, different experiences,” Ke$ha tells PopEater. “They chose us because we’re the most eccentric family in all of Nashville.”

For her part, Ke$ha is unimpressed with the program. “We were hanging out at their house a little bit,” she says dismissively, recalling that the show included Hilton hooking up on a date. “It was with some guy. It’s all for TV, whatever. I went out two nights later to a gay bar and saw him dancing around topless with another man. That’s reality television for you.”
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Ke$ha rocks the socks off the audience at The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien on Wednesday (January 6) in Los Angeles.

The 22-year-old singer performed her smash hit “TiK ToK,” which is currently the #1 song on iTunes. And what’s sitting right below? Oh, Ke$ha’s new song “Blah Blah Blah” featuring 3OH!3!

After Ke$ha’s performance, she showed Conan what was studded on her t-shirt: CONAN + K$ = BFF. And then Ke$ha attaches a feather onto Conan’s head for sh–s and giggles.

“I feathered Conan!!!!!” Ke$ha said after taping her performance. “SUCCESS!!”

Tik Tok singer Ke$ha has a wild side. She admits she once found her way inside Prince’s house – and got kicked out.

“I got his address, and snuck under the fence. I inevitably got in, and walked in on him having band practice. I left my CD for him and then got ousted.”

Now that Tik Tok is the #1 single and her debut album, Animal, is in stores, has she heard from him?

“Not yet,” she shrugs.

The high school dropout gets cagey about being a role model, but offers words of wisdom.

“There are certain things young girls can look to me as a role model for – I’m not saying everything,” she says. “I do think it’s an important thing that happiness and the amount of money you have are mixed. There’s absolutely no correlation, because the happiest times of my entire life have been when I didn’t have $2.”

Who’s her celebrity crush?

“Shakira is really hot,” the performer born Kesha Sebert says.

What about her real-life crush?

“No. Boys are too difficult. Who’s got the time?”

The Tennessee native gets creative when asked for her fashion inspiration.

“I am inspired to dress like African safari animals and/or Keith Richards,” she tells me.

And favorite designer?

“I dig through the garbage.”

Karli from the Block caught up with pop sensation Ke$ha at Jumbo’s Clown Room in Hollywood for her album release party. Ke$ha’s debut hit “Tik Tok” sold an impressive 610,000 copies making it the biggest selling single week of a song ever by a female artist. Watch the interview via YouTube below.

Not long ago, frat-boy antics were for, well, boys. But 22-year-old Ke$ha, the electro-upstart behind the hit “TiK ToK,” is here to let the world know that loutish drunkenness and sexual harassment aren’t just for fellas anymore. On her debut, she calls herself a pimp, brags about a “Party at a Rich Dude’s House” and tells one hapless love toy, “Don’t be a little bitch with your chit-chat/Just show me where your dick’s at.” It’s repulsive, obnoxious and ridiculously catchy — thanks to songwriter-producers Dr. Luke and Max Martin, who envelop Ke$ha’s bratty raps in percolating beats and buzzing bass lines. Fear for the future of civilization, and dance.

3 out of 5 stars.

Like many musicians in Los Angeles, Ke$ha survived her lean early years by snacking on the free food offered during happy hour at myriad dive bars. But her situation was a little different. She was scavenging at the same time her voice was all over the radio — she sang the chorus hook of Flo Rida’s Right Round, one of the biggest pop singles of 2009.

“We were both working with (producer) Dr. Luke and it was an accident I was even on it,” said the young San Fernando Valley native, born Kesha Sebert, whose debut album, Animal, is out on Tuesday. “I never made any money off it, that’s why I put the dollar sign in my name as a joke. But I was happy being in that bar with two dollars in change wearing clothes I found in the garbage surrounded by people who love me.”

Ke$ha should soon be able to treat her friends to a few rounds of PBR. Her single TiK ToK, a rapturously dumb electro-pop banger was downloaded 610,000 times in its first week, the highest total for a female artist in one week since Nielsen SoundScan started tracking the figures.

Her album, Animal, which already is a top-5 iTunes album as a pre-order, tackles the evergreen topics of stalking boys who don’t like her and whether rad boots are preferable to male company. It’s all part of a master plan, she says — winning equal rights for women to abuse boys in songs the way dudes have done for decades.

“I’m just talking about men the way they’ve talked about women for years,” she said. “If you listen to LMFAO, it’s all about how women are pieces of meat. I find that stuff funny, so I want to do it back to them.”

Ke$ha may be a complicated woman, but the impression she leaves with her flurry of “babes,” jingly bracelets, and heavy-lidded I’ve-been-sexing-all-night eyes, can pretty much be summed up with a line from her song: “Wake up in the morning feeling like P. Diddy.” A bold statement, but Ke$ha herself is far from timid.

Her image is that of a constantly tipsy, vaguely crazy, and sporadically talented rock star—and it seems to be working for the public. After appearing on Flo Rida’s fist-pump anthem “Right Round,” Ke$ha’s own hit single “Tik Tok” recently became both the most downloaded song by a female artist in history and Billboard’s first #1 single of 2010. With her debut album Animal dropping tomorrow (January 5), Ke$ha is definitely a woman to watch. We sat down for an interview and got her take on beards, hangover remedies and the sex appeal of quarters. It’s about to get weird…

Interview by Valeriya Safronova

#1: WHAT IS YOUR NUMBER ONE DEAL-BREAKER FOR A POTENTIAL BOYFRIEND?

Ke$ha says: Beard. It’s just really important. A man without a beard is no man, in my opinion. He has to have a beard.

Complex says: What about if it’s a goatee?

Ke$ha says: : Well it depends on the level of upkeep. Like if it’s a mustache with the curls, it’s negotiable. But definitely, facial hair is a must.

#2: WHAT TYPE OF FOOTWEAR WOULD COMPLETELY MAKE YOU DISMISS A MAN AS A POTENTIAL HOOK-UP?

Ke$ha says: Probably white tennis sneakers. They’re just really gross. They make my skin crawl.

#3: WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE RAP ALBUM?

Ke$ha says: Beastie Boys’ License to Ill. The president of my company compared my music to a combination of Madonna and the Beastie Boys. I grew up on the Beastie Boys and I’ll watch their videos and they’re just so funny, and they’re just having such a good time, it’s infectious.

Complex says: How do you feel about the Madonna comparison?

Ke$ha says: I’m down for that too. She’s a babe. She really paved the way.

#4: WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE COMFORT FOOD OR HANGOVER REMEDY?

Ke$ha says: Just start drinking again.

#5: WHAT’S THE MOST EFFECTIVE APHRODISIAC FOR YOU?

Ke$ha says: Like what makes me wanna do it? Aside from a great beard? This is really weird: quarters. Like a bucket full of quarters. If I feel a bucket full of quarters—I don’t know why, I think it’s like the pirate side of me—I wanna make out with dudes. It turns me on.

Complex says: How often do you put your hand in a bucket full of quarters?

Ke$ha says: Well, just because my ex-boyfriend had a laundry machine and when he took out his bucket of quarters, I was just like, “Whooo! Let’s do it!” So weird.

#6: WHO IS A CHILDHOOD CRUSH THAT YOU CAN’T BELIEVE YOU HAD?

Ke$ha says: Well, see, my number one—still to this day—is David Spade, circa Joe Dirt. It’s really embarrassing, but I’m kind of proud…and I would still hit that.

#7: WHO IS YOUR FEMALE CRUSH?

Ke$ha says: Probably Kate Hudson in Almost Famous, those days. She’s a babe.

Up until a few weeks ago, Ke$ha’s (born Kesha Rose Sebert) biggest claim to fame was singing the hook on Flo Rida’s “Right Round.” Though the song was a huge hit, the spot was uncredited (many people thought it was Ke$ha’s buddy Katy Perry) and the 22-year-old singer remained relatively unknown.

But Ke$ha was merely biding her time until she released “Tik Tok,” the first single from her debut album Animal (out tomorrow). The song instantly raced up the charts (it currently sits at number one) and she spent the holidays breaking the record for the most downloads by a female artist (she stole the honor from Lady Gaga who achieved the same feat a year ago).

Ke$ha stopped by the Out offices a few weeks ago to chat with us about her meteoric rise to fame, her country-punk influences, her new album, and why being an Animal means doing exactly what — and who — you please, be it music or partying, boys or girls:

The next Lady Gaga and Laura Marling and the saviours of guitar pop and indie – among them Ke$ha, Paperplain, the Drums (…)

KE$HA

If 2009 belonged to Lady Gaga, this year’s electro-shock queen-in-waiting is Ke$ha Sebert, a Nashville-born, LA-based wild child whose songs are every bit as brazen, attitudinal and addictive as her New York kindred spirit’s. Some have already dismissed the 22-year-old as trying that little bit too hard and failing to mask a mighty ambition, much as they did with Gaga — as if, in 2010, ambition, and an unwillingness to conceal it, could ­possibly be described as distasteful. Ke$ha’s back story is as E-numbered-to-the-hilt as her music: the daughter of a Tennessee songwriter mother who penned hits for Dolly Parton, she has written for Miley Cyrus and the Veronicas, sung backing vocals on Flo Rida’s No 1 single Right Round, and for Paris Hilton, and outsold Jay-Z and Taylor Swift on the American singles charts with Tik-Tok, which was a Top 10 hit here last month.

Collaborators on her debut album, Animal, include Dr Luke (Katy Perry, Kelly Clarkson) and Max Martin (P!nk, Britney Spears), and the finished product is stuffed full of potential hits, among them the bitchy kiss-offs Kiss N Tell, Blah Blah Blah and Backstabber, and the swooning, crush-on-you soft-pop of Stephen. Pursed-lipped musical purists would be advised to handle Animal with care: its ruthless pursuit of the killer hook, the delirious crudeness of its chord progressions and choruses, and, above all, the sheer unabashed and scandal-gathering chutzpah of the singer at its centre are likely to induce apoplexy. Anyone unburdened by such an uptight approach to music will love it, and her. Which is, of course, just the way Ke$ha wants it.

In what is traditionally a high-volume download week thanks to shiny new MP3 players under the tree and download cards stuffed in stockings, a sales mark falls by the wayside as Ke$ha’s “TiK ToK” shifts 610,000 digital tracks for the week ending Dec. 27, according to Nielsen SoundScan. That’s the highest weekly sum by a female artist since tracking began in 2003, and the second-best overall after Flo Rida’s “Right Round” sold 636,000 on the chart dated Feb. 28, 2009. Coincidentally, Ke$ha can be heard on “Right Round” as she provided non-credited vocals on the track.

“TiK ToK” eclipses the female mark set by Lady Gaga with “Just Dance” a year ago this week (419,000).

Ke$ha’s hefty download sum will ensure “TiK ToK’s” place atop the Billboard Hot 100 for a second week when that chart is released tomorrow (Dec. 31). The song previews her debut album “Animal,” which is set to hit retail on Tuesday, Jan. 5.

Here’s a look at the top five single–week download sellers along with the corresponding chart dates:

Flo Rida “Right Round” (636,000) Feb. 28, 2009
Ke$ha “TiK ToK” (610,000) Jan 9, 2010
Flo Rida “Low” (467,000) Jan 12, 2008
The Black Eyed Peas “Boom Boom Pow” (465,000) Apr. 18, 2009
Flo Rida “Right Round” (460,000) Mar. 7, 2009

Like many L.A. musicians, the singer Ke$ha survived her lean early years in the city by snacking on the free food offered during happy hour at Echo Park’s myriad dive bars. But the singer’s situation was rather different than many of her struggling peers. She was scavenging at the same time her voice was all over the radio — she sang the chorus hook of Flo Rida’s “Right Round,” one of the biggest pop singles of 2009.

“We were both working with (producer) Dr. Luke and it was an accident I was even on it,” said the young San Fernando Valley native, born Kesha Sebert. “I never made any money off it, that’s why I put the dollar sign in my name as a joke. But I was happy being in that bar with two dollars in change wearing clothes I found in the garbage surrounded by people who love me.”

Ke$ha should soon be able to treat her friends to a few rounds of PBR. Her fast-rising single “TiK ToK,” a rapturously dumb electro-pop banger that makes Katy Perry sound like PJ Harvey, catalogs an epic post-party hangover where Jack Daniels is the best mouthwash.

Her debut album, “Animal,” which already is a top-5 iTunes album as a pre-order to its Jan. 5 release, tackles the evergreen topics of stalking boys who don’t like her and whether rad boots are preferable to male company. It also showcases some surprising pipes under all that Auto-Tune.

It’s all part of a master plan, she says — winning equal rights for women to abuse boys in songs the way dudes have done for decades.

“I’m just talking about men the way they’ve talked about women for years,” she said. “If you listen to LMFAO, it’s all about how women are pieces of meat. I find that stuff funny, so I want to do it back to them.”

There was no shortage of musical moments in 2009 — and not all of them revolved around Lady Gaga, either. Artists bubbled beneath the surface, broke through to the mainstream and established themselves as unlikely forces to be reckoned with. Say what you will about the past 12 months, but you can’t deny that they were interesting.

There was Blink-182’s big-time reunion tour, Cobra Starship’s party-hearty anthems and the sleeper success of Owl City, to name just a few. Kris Allen’s underdog win on “American Idol.” Ke$ha’s out-of-nowhere ascent to the upper reaches of the Billboard Hot 100. Jay Sean extending the reach of Cash Money’s musical empire. Everywhere you looked, things were happening.

So as the year draws to a close, we decided to ask some of your favorite artists to name their favorites: songs, albums and fellow acts that they admired in 2009.

(…) Gabe Saporta, Cobra Starship

Song of the Year: “My favorite song of 2009 was ‘Tik Tok’ by Ke$ha. Especially the opening line, when she says she wakes up in the morning feeling like P. Diddy. I really connected to that sentiment because similarly, I wake up most mornings feeling like Gabe Saporta. And them I’m like, ‘Oh, f— yeah! I am Gabe Saporta.’ ”

(…) Ke$ha

Song of the Year: ” ‘Single Ladies,’ by Beyoncé. I’m feeling that so hard. Gaga had a pretty epic year, but Beyoncé’s my secret crush. She’s amazing.”

Album of the Year: “The Miike Snow record. It’s my favorite. If you haven’t heard it, you should. It’s amazing.”

Newcomer Ke$ha takes her first solo chart single “TiK ToK” to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 (2-1), set to be released on Billboard.com Thursday (Dec. 24). Ke$ha is the first female vocalist to rise to No. 1 with her debut single since Lady Gaga stormed the list with “Just Dance” in January 2009.

“TiK ToK” is actually the second Hot 100 No. 1 to feature vocals by the 22-year-old. She had a non-credited appearance on Flo Rida’s six-week chart-topper “Right Round” earlier this year. “TiK ToK” is the first single from Ke$ha’s debut album, “Animal,” which is set for a Jan. 5 release.

“TiK ToK” also moves 2-1 on Digital Songs with 221,000 downloads (up 40,000) and is the Digital Gainer on the Hot 100. The song’s weekly total is the highest sum since Britney Spears’ “3″ posted 254,000 on the chart dated Oct. 24. “3″ remains in the Hot 100 top 10, falling 9-10 this week.

Ke$ha’s move to the top bumps “Empire State of Mind” by Jay-Z and Alicia Keys from its perch (1-2) after a five-week run. In a rare chart occurrence, an acoustic version of “Empire” by Keys debuts at No. 55. Most often, different takes of a song are merged with the original versions for the purpose of chart rankings, but in the instance where a contributing vocalist (Keys) takes the reigns without help from the lead act (Jay-Z), the songs are tracked separately.

When electro-pop party girl Ke$ha sang on Flo Rida’s number-one smash “Right Round” earlier this year, she “didn’t have enough money to buy a taco.” Things are looking much better for the L.A.-born, Tennessee-raised pop singer these days. Her debut solo single “TiK ToK”—which she co-wrote with Britney/Katy Perry vets Dr. Luke and Benny Blanco—is currently a top-five hit and one of the most recklessly fun dance songs of the year.

We talked to Ke$ha about her alleged foul mouth, her public display of “bladder desperation” at a recent awards show, and what caused her to spew (for real) in Paris Hilton’s closet.

EW: Kesha is your birth name, but I’m guessing the money sign isn’t on your birth certificate. Why did you throw it in?

K: I was on the Flo Rida song “Right Round,” and I was hearing it everywhere, just all over the place. It was number one in a bajillion countries and I didn’t have enough money to buy myself a taco. So I was talking to one of my friends about it and I was like, “What the hell!” I literally had two dollars to my name, and she was like, “Whatever, you don’t need money: You’re money.” And I was like, “Yeah! I’m money!” So it’s really just me taking the piss out of the fact that I was broke while being on a number-one record. It’s actually just being ironic about the whole money thing, because I actually stand for the opposite of putting a lot of emphasis on money.

EW: Would you mind being rich?

K: It’s not at all the reason I’m doing it. I wouldn’t mind it, because it just so happens that if I am a successful musician and I make good records, I might make some money, too, and that’s totally fine. And I love that I don’t have to wait tables, and I’m so appreciative for anything I do earn, but I don’t have to be greedy and gluttonous about the money I’m making.

EW: What inspired the Diddy reference ["Wake up in the morning feeling like P. Diddy"] in “TiK ToK”?

K: I used to live in this sort-of castle in Laurel Canyon. I woke up one morning surrounded by all of my hot babe friends because they had all crashed after a night out. And I woke up surrounded by babes—it was a total babe-fest—and I thought, “This must be what Diddy feels like every morning.” That was the first line of the song, and I took it in and Dr. Luke liked it.

EW: And I hear your family was on The Simple Life?

K: Unfortunately, yes, that is true.

EW: And somehow you vomited in Paris Hilton’s closet?

K: Totally separate occasion, but yes, that did happen. They stayed in my house in Nashville when I was 17. Then fast forward six months, I’m out in LA, and I sing background vocals for her second single. And then that night we went to her house and we were all dancing, hanging out. Then I got overexcited and ralphed in her closet. I thought it was a bathroom… and it just so happened not to be a bathroom. It was a closet.
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THE hottest new pop star to emerge from the States since Lady Gaga risked a spell in jail because of a desperate bid to find fame.

Tik Tok singer Ke$ha, whose real name is Kesha Rose Sebert, broke into Prince’s home in the hope that he would listen to a demo of her songs.

Fortunately for her, the surprised Purple Rain star was so impressed by her determination that he didn’t only take the tape but also decided not to call the cops.

Ke$ha, 22, admitted: “I did actually crawl under a fence to get into Prince’s house.

“I paid the gardener five bucks to help me make it to the other side.

“Then I went waltzing up the purple driveway and found the door was unlocked.

“I got inside and totally freaked out, because there was Prince playing guitar in the other room.

“I called my mum and whispered, Ke$Animal ‘What do I do, I’m in Prince’s house?’

“She was like , ‘W hat do you mean?’ be “I said, ‘I snuck into his house.’

“She told me to give him my CD.
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