Kesha on the Life Advice She Got From Beyoncé and Rick Rubin

Singer-songwriter Kesha rose to pop stardom with cheeky songs about partying and obsessive love. Her latest album, “Gag Order,” is more experimental and came about through a process she compares to trauma therapy. 

“It’s really taking all of my darker thoughts and the mental gymnastics of being a human and trying to make it into a sound, which has been my goal the entire time making this album,” she said. “To get a 360 immersive experience of the inside of my head.” 

The title is a sly nod to her yearslong legal battle with the music producer Dr. Luke, which the two parties recently settled. Kesha declined to comment further for this article but has said that she wishes “nothing but peace to all parties involved.” (A representative for Dr. Luke also declined to comment.)

Working on the album with music producer Rick Rubin was a career highlight, even though it required Kesha to revisit painful memories: “I would like, scuba dive down into all these emotions and then at the end come up for air.” 

Kesha, who was born Kesha Rose Sebert in Los Angeles and raised in Nashville, currently lives in Los Angeles. Here, she talks about her favorite memory from being in the studio with Rubin, watching “Vanderpump Rules” for self-care and her songwriting process.

When do you get up on Mondays, and what’s the first thing you do after waking up?

9:30, 10. I say hello to all my cats. One of them is Mr. Peeps. I wrote the song “All I Need Is You” about him. He likes to sleep on me, so I wake up with a 20-pound boulder on me every morning. 

What do you like for breakfast? 

I’ve been making tea and having a smoothie. 

Do you meditate or journal? Are there other ways you find space to reflect? 

I try to do 20 minutes of meditation in the morning, then 20 minutes later in the day. Writing songs is kind of my journaling. I’m always jotting down notes in my phone. I have a journal right next to my bed full of the most random ideas. 

What do you do for exercise? 

I love doing yoga. I’m also starting to do ninjutsu, and I’m going to start surfing this summer. 

What’s your beauty routine like?

I have seven drawers full of beauty products. I use Augustinus Bader and SkinMedica and Peter Thomas Ross and Biologique Recherche. It’s a little bit of an addiction.

What about self-care?

I love taking bubble baths. I also sometimes watch the “Real Housewives” or “Vanderpump Rules” on an outdoor projector from my hot tub while I make s’mores in my backyard. I started to get into tarot reading, trying to harness my psychomagic powers and truly lean into the fact that I am a witch. 

When you’re writing or recording music, how do you know you’re done with a song? Is there a lightbulb moment? 

The past three years, every time I would listen to one of these 13 songs, there would always be a note in the back of my mind: Turn up the background vocal or put a little bit of compression on the vocal. When I listen to a song and I have no notes, that’s when it’s done.

Tell me about working with Rick Rubin. How did producing this album feel compared with your past work?

It was such a beautiful experience. I really felt like I got to sit with someone who’s a master at their craft and is so grounded and so kind. And he made this incredibly safe space. He provided a stable ground to jump into the emotions. 

Do you have a favorite memory or moment with him? 

There’s one part of the album where I say in the next life, “I wanna come back, as a house cat.” I have a video of him sitting there singing it over and over—the master of music production singing about wanting to be a house cat.

You’ve mentioned a lot of hobbies throughout our conversation, do you have any we haven’t touched on?

I like to try to feed the squirrels outside my house with popcorn. Is that a hobby? And gardening.

Do you have anything you consider your most prized possession?
I have this one lamp I found in a thrift store in Pennsylvania. When I walked by it, I just knew it was my soul mate lamp. The next day I came in. I was on tour. I was like, “This is my soul mate lamp. I have to have it.” It wasn’t for sale. I was like, “Please reconsider, I want to be buried with this lamp.” Then my guitar player, Ted, volunteered to give up his bunk for the night for my soul mate lamp. That’s where my lamp slept when we were on tour.

Can I ask what the lamp looks like?

It’s this golden baroque lamp with these rainbow prisms all over it and flowers. It’s probably from the ’20s. It’s as tall as I am, and there’s multiple levels to it. I put red light bulbs in it. I have a weird lamp obsession.

What are you reading and watching?

I’m reading “The Spiritual Journey of Alejandro Jodorowsky,” the creator of “El Topo.” He’s made all these films that I love, he made a film called “Holy Mountain” that was really influential to me. And he really is diving into this whole idea of psychomagic, which is something I’ve never heard of before and I’m now going down this obsessive journey with him in this book.

What’s one piece of advice you’ve gotten that’s guided you? 

Beyoncé once told me, keep a circle of good people and weed out snakes in your life. And Rick Rubin told me art is where you put the madness.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.