Ke$ha - Warrior

Well album number two has arrived and I'm kinda excited to hear what she's going to deliver. The first single "Die Young" leaves me a little cold to be honest but it's still a decent pop ditty just not as good as I expect for a Ke$ha single. The album does work up a little dance-floor sweat with the opening track and title track "Warrior" that has a smoking synth bass rhythm that propels the track to near epic status. Ke$ha drops "C'mon" which is that unadulterated dance party fun that makes me adore her sleazy genius. The song has a great groove and a memorable chorus which will make this song a surefire hit song at pop radio.

The sophomore slump for Ke$ha doesn't look like it will take place as it does for so many artist that have massive breakout debut albums. She is average good at times on the album but she trumps most of her competition because average Ke$ha is pretty damn good. "Thinking Of You", "Crazy Kids", "Wherever You Are" are all those average type of songs for her. I'm not overly crazy about any of them but they could bring her success again at pop radio with little effort. When she duets with the ancient punk icon Iggy Pop on "Dirty Love" and she blazes the vocals with a little dirty grit you know Ke$ha means it when she sings 'I want your dirty love'.

The softer side of the pop songstress is a nice change up on the song "Wonderland" that I really like a lot and Ke$ha writes a good ballad that has a hook and isn't just silly goo. These songs are plenty in the pop world but good ones are very few. This is one of those rare gems that doesn't make me want to drink cyanide because it's so bland and boring. The long leaked "Only Want To Dance With You" makes the album which is a good thing because the song is immediately memorable and fun. She adds another sing-a-long number to her repertoire.

With another dance-floor smasher and a Euro club track along with a pseudo ballad ala R&B slow jam she concludes a solid second album that doesn't set the world on fire but it has enough going for it that I will enjoy listening to it. There are some songs that will take up space on my I-Pod for sure and will get plenty of spins. There is a bonus track version of the album via I-tunes and the extra content comes in the form of four extra tracks. This is usually a bad thing for most releases but not here. "Last Goodbye" is nothing special but "Gold Trans Am" is a great cheerleader stomp song that blends into a near perfect chorus. The louder this song is the better it gets and the more I play it the more I like it. "Out Alive" is pretty much "Die Young" but then the sweeping electronic sounds of "Past Lives" is another nice change up for Ke$ha and as far as bonus tracks go we get two good ones one that's OK and one unnecessary song. But still better than a lot of the bonus material we seem to get all the time now.