Long before Benny Blanco added “Selena Gomez‘s boyfriend” to his resume, he was already one of the music industry’s top pop songwriters and producers. Now Kesha reveals we may have him to thank for one of the most famous lines in her signature hit.
Speaking to Vulture about some of her best-known songs, Kesha recalls writing her breakthrough single, “Tik Tok,” with Benny and Dr. Luke, the producer she later accused of sexual, physical and emotional abuse. He denied all allegations.
“I started [the song] not being quite so dumb, and then the writing room was like, ‘Make it dumber, make it dumber, make it dumber,'” Kesha tells Vulture. “Where we ended up was as dumb as I could make the lyrics.”
“After I wrote them, I was like, ‘This is too dumb, right? It doesn’t make sense to brush your teeth with a bottle of Jack Daniel’s.’ But I remember Benny Blanco was like, ‘No, it’s sick. Just don’t overthink it.’ That’s what we ended up with.”
“‘Tik Tok’ was my youth. I was a baby as an artist … [p]eople now know I’m a funny b**** but at the beginning, I think they quite literally thought I brushed my teeth with Jack Daniel’s every day,” she continues. “I’ve had that question asked to me like fifty thousand times at this point.”
“I had no idea that it would explode into what it exploded into. It felt very surreal and overwhelming in the best of ways,” says Kesha. “It all happened really fast and it was so exciting, but I had no idea how to do what I was doing. Nobody really knows. You just keep up and try to enjoy the ride.”
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