The pop music-as-recession indicator final boss has arrived: Kesha and T-Pain have released their first-ever collaboration, the countryfied single “Yippee-Ki-Yay.” The record follows early singles “Delusional” and “Joyride” as the latest preview of Period, stylized as the punctuation mark (.), the forthcoming sixth studio album from Kesha, out July 4, which happens to be Independence Day.
“It’s a two for one at the dollar tree/Double cup and straight gasoline/Look around and the only ten I see/Is this barefoot baddie from Tennessee,” Kesha sings with backing from T-Pain. “Gonna two-step stomp down a cowboy’s street/Music good and the liquor is cheap/Pretty thing in his tight blue jeans/Good God, damn, yee-haw.”
The two artists teamed up with producers Pink Slip and Nova Wav for the single, which feels like a sibling record to Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” and Pitbull’s folktronica Kesha collab “Timber.”
The new album marks Kesha’s first since 2023’s Gag Order, her final contractual album under Dr. Luke’s Kemosabe Records and RCA Records. Period (.), will be released on Kesha Records, the independent label she launched in 2024 with distribution from Warner Music Group’s independent distribution arm ADA Worldwide. She plans to announce an extensive tour supporting the album soon.
“My name has become synonymous with transparency, integrity, and safety, and I want to ensure that these values are upheld for myself and any future artists signed to my label,” Kesha said last year. “Music has the power to connect the world, and I aspire for my work to be a beacon of light and goodness. I am excited to take control of my narrative and rewrite my story in the music business.”
Gag Order proved to be a healing final chapter before Kesha launched into this new section of her career. In 2023, she told Rolling Stone: “I felt a little guilty about making dance-y songs, fun songs, and songs about going out and getting drunk with my friends. And then I realized I don’t have to live under a dark cloud forever. No one’s telling me to be happy. I earned my happiness, and it’s OK to be happy. And hopefully that’s inspiring to people. I’m a survivor of shit, but it doesn’t mean I have to be defined by what I’ve been through for the rest of my life.”
