Considering the fact that Kesha's single "Rich, White, Straight Men" was released in June of 2019 and it is now February (almost March) of 2020, I realize that I am considerably late writing this review. The truth is that the song is possibly my favorite song of 2019 (or at least one of my absolute favorites) and have therefore been meaning to review and discuss this song for some time, and with the recent release of Kesha's fifth studio album High Road (which I had planned to review, but Blogger deleted half of my review after I was almost finished with it even though I saved it, so you can thank Blogger for my not having reviewed it), I figured that there was no time like the present. When the song was released last year, I immediately loved it so much that I had it on repeat nonstop. I think that it might have even been the only song that I listened to for several days at a time; I just loved it that much. What amazes me the most about the song is how theatrical it is, unlike anything that Kesha had done up to that point in her career. The song is almost like a cabaret song and is very playful, with sounds such as a cash register opening and closing and coins hitting a surface (meant to symbolize, of course, the money that rich, white, straight men have). There is also a funny call and response between Kesha and a male voice (meant to be the titular rich, white, straight man) throughout the song, such as when Kesha sings that "if you are a boy who loves a boy, you'll get a wedding cake and all" and the man responds firmly, "Not in Colorado!" In the ridiculously catchy chorus of the song, Kesha asks the question, "What if rich, white, straight men didn't rule the world anymore?" I have seen it argued that the song imagines a utopian world in which rich, white, straight men no longer exist, but that is not quite my reading of the song. I more so think of it as imagining a utopian world in which rich, white, straight men no longer have the majority of the power. Remember that the question isn't what if rich, white, straight men no longer existed; it's what if they no longer ruled the world. My absolute favorite part of the song is when, more than halfway through, Kesha sings (in the melody of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"), "Twinkle, twinkle, little star, how I wish the world was different, where who you love and who you are was nobody's fucking business." This is referring primarily, of course, to homophobia, as does the aforementioned lyric of a boy being in love with another boy and being able to buy a wedding cake. The song is just so wonderful and creative and suggests what the world might be like if people were not systematically and institutionally ostracized for what makes them unique and what makes them human.
