Ted Audio Collective You're listening to Ted Talk's Daily, where we bring you new ideas to spark your curiosity every day.
I'm your host, Elise Hugh.
I'm also a big fan of pop music.
Songs that are melodic pops, even if the lyrics seem cheesy or silly.
There's a kind of alchemy that happens in pop music that speaks to us because it gets at a kind of truth.
At Ted 2024, pop star Kesha shares an appreciation of the depth and the excitement of connecting through this music.
She also debuts a brand new song from the Ted stage.
Please note there is some mature language in this episode.
All that after the break.
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And now our Ted Talk of the Day.
Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the Alchemy of Pop.
What else in the world can change your mind, can change your mood, can change your entire energetic frequency in three and a half minutes?
For me, that's pop music.
And for me, that's Alchemy.
I'm Kesha, and I am a pop star.
I'm a singer, I'm a songwriter, I'm an activist, and I'm a surprisingly good scuba diver amongst many other things.
But the thing that drives me the most in this life is to write pop songs.
And let me tell you why. For me, songwriting and scuba diving are actually very similar.
When I go diving, I like to go deep.
I just jump right in that bitch.
And I am a cave diver. So I go in and I see this looming darkness and I swim right into it and I look behind every corner, I leave no stone unturned.
That's where the exciting shit happens.
When I'm writing a song, I also like to go deep.
I like to explore my deepest, darkest thoughts.
This is also where the exciting shit happens.
This is where I find my truth.
Songwriting is a direct line of communication with the truth.
In song, you can say things you can't say out loud to anybody else, not your friends, not your therapist, not your mom.
When I'm feeling anything intensely, I know it's time for me to write a song.
I don't hide from my emotions.
I dive into them. You can write a song and you cannot tell the truth, but your song will suck.
So if you would like to write a good song, you have to be honest.
You have to sit with yourself and let your truth come, whatever it is.
This sounds simple, but where it can lead is profound.
Songwriting teaches you that all emotions are valid, deserving of curiosity and deserving of a voice.
This song called TikTok, I wrote that when I was 21.
Yeah. It was way before the app.
Don't blame me. I was feeling very playful.
I was a young and nihilist.
I didn't have too many problems at the time.
That was so fucking nice.
And the dumber, the lyrics got the better the song got.
I thought these feelings, they were kind of frivolous.
They were just a guilty pleasure.
But those exact emotions that youthful, playful, pure stupidity made TikTok connect globally in ways I could have never imagined.
Now let me take you to a very different point in my life.
It was 2017 and I had to make a boundary that affected every corner of my life.
I found myself in a very ugly litigation with the same person who I had signed the rights to my recorded voice too.
I had lost the rights to my voice.
And in that, I felt as if I had lost the rights to myself.
It was very public. It was very painful.
It was very angry. So I did what I do with all my emotions and I wrote my way through it and that led me to a song called Prayin.
I hope you saw this change.
Change it. I hope you find a place falling on your knees.
Prayin. Thank you. Thank you.
So after TikTok, I wondered if anybody would connect to these ugly emotions.
Coming from me, I'm the girl who brushes her teeth at the bottom of Jack, you know.
And also who wants to listen to an angry woman turns out a lot of fucking people do.
That was the first time I was nominated for a Grammy.
It's the first time I performed at the Grammys and I've heard from many people going through their own struggles that this song helped them in some way.
I dove deep into the pain.
I didn't hide from it. I alchemized it into something healing, not only for me, but it invertantly for other people.
I'm now probably going to cry.
I'm now an drastically different point in my life.
On March 6, 2024, I've gained back legal rights over my own voice.
And with it, I newly found freedom for the first time in nearly 20 years.
It's funny how you can lose the rights to your own voice, but you can never lose the rights to your truth.
Throughout this journey, songwriting has been my therapist, my best friend, my lover, my drinking buddy, and my higher power.
It's where I can be truly honest.
And I don't claim to be an expert on much, but I've experienced over and over and over how you can create art out of emotion and through that process, not only heal yourself, but help heal others.
And I believe there's an artist in every single one of us.
Creation is just exploring.
It's becoming childlike.
It's not judging yourself.
So I encourage all of you to not be afraid of the intensity inside of you, the stupidity, the rage, the anger, the darkness, all of it, dive into it, explore it.
And I want to remind you that whether or not you are free, you are entitled to your truth.
Find your medium, whatever speaks to you, and let your truth come.
You never know who else will need to hear it.
You never know who else can heal from it.
Please don't take this for granted.
I'd like to share a song I wrote recently.
No one has heard this. This is the first time I have shared a new song since I have owned my voice as an adult woman.
So this song is called Kisidra.
And now back to the episode.
So take your time. Let it in.
Some light. It feels good.
That's all right. Touch my skin.
I'm my pain away. God forgive all my mistakes.
Maybe redemption lies in the dark.
My happy endings through my broken heart.
Hope is mad and the hearts in my mind.
Oh my God, I'm the cathedral.
Finally coming. Life was so lethal.
I'm the savior. I'm the altar.
I'm the holy ghost. Pain was my ritual.
Fear my religion. I was the one who did it.
I'm the cathedral. I'm the cathedral.
I'm the altar. I'm the cathedral.
Finally coming home. I got it.
It feels good. I'm the savior.
I'm the altar. I'm the holy ghost.
Every minute is a new beginning.
I died in the hell. Now I'm born in the moon again.
I'm the cathedral. I'm the cathedral.
That was Kesha at TED 2024.
If you're curious about TED's curation, find out more at TED.com slash curation guidelines.
And that's it for today.
TED Talks Daily is part of the TED Audio Collective.
This episode was produced and edited by our team, Martha Estefanos, Oliver Friedman, Brian Green, Autumn Thompson, and Alejandra Salazar.
It was mixed by Christopher Faisy-Bogan, additional support from Emma Taubner, Daniela Balarezo, and Will Hennessey.
I'm Elise Hugh. I'll be back tomorrow with a fresh idea for your feed.
Thanks for listening.
