Pop Psychology: P!nk and Ke$ha prove unlikely heroes for pop with anthems for empowerment

In times of crisis, we turn to our heroes. Sometimes they look enormous and fantastical, battling evil with magic swords and superhuman determination. Sometimes they look perfectly ordinary, showing surprising courage in the face of adversity.

And yes, it is true, sometimes they look like Ke$ha.

It is, I’m sorry to remind you, finals week, which for many of us counts as a crisis. But to put things in perspective, there is a much more insidious, infinitely more harmful crisis that has come to bear in the recent string of suicides by gay teenagers.

This one is a crisis of identity, of self-worth, and we are fortunate that the unlikely heroes of pop music have responded in the way that only they can. This is one of those times when melody and rhythm and the relatively few words of an artist can transcend entertainment and become something truly important.

Selling Ke$ha as an important artist is like selling Krispy Kremes as a nutritious meal, but with her latest single, “We R Who We R,” and the accompanying, glam-tastic video she released last week, she has earned that label. Directly inspired by the recent suicides, the song is an anthem of empowerment, told in the typically straightforward, sarcastic voice of the Ke$ha ouvre.

“You know we’re superstars / we are who we are,” she sings in the chorus, and its genius is its simplicity. Rather than make a song aimed specifically at inspiring gay teens, she has made one that raises up anyone who wants to listen. Whether or not she thought about it during the writing process, “We R Who We R” sets aside our differences and celebrates the superstar within us all.

But the be-glittered one is not alone in this fight ““ in fact, P!nk made an even better go at it with a single for her greatest hits album released just two weeks earlier. “Raise Your Glass” may not have been written with the victims of homophobic bullying specifically in mind, but it is nonetheless just the kind of rallying cry these times call for.

P!nk has always managed to own the “outsider” label better than any of her pop star contemporaries, maybe in part because she doesn’t have an overly impressive voice, or because she’s never been quite as successful as Britney or Beyonce.

Mostly, though, it’s because she’s made a point of exposing her own flaws and embraces a rebellious mentality that seems genuine even when she’s selling millions of albums. And “Raise Your Glass” is her clearest, most successful thesis statement yet, finally fully embodying the thematic center around which her career has been dancing.

“So raise your glass if you are wrong / in all the right ways,” the chorus goes, and it’s not just the best articulation of P!nk’s purpose, but also that of the outcast-celebrating “Glee.” The video does briefly feature a gay couple, but also a pair of dancing-impaired nerds and a crowd of skateboarders (P!nk engages in some sumo wrestling, too, but I’m not sure what that’s about). Like Ke$ha, she adopts a kind of equal-opportunity approach to inspiration, extending her glass to anyone who’s ever considered himself or herself marginalized.

There is nothing particularly outstanding about either of these songs, musically or lyrically speaking, and that’s part of the point. They are more relatable anthems for their simplicity, two fun and catchy songs that aim straight for the heart and the tapping feet. Amid the Black Eyed Peas’ attempt to make songs that sound like they’re engineered by robots and Soulja Boy’s campaign to make a career out of staggering inanity, P!nk and Ke$ha remind us that sometimes even pop music can be grand and triumphant ““ and yes, even heroic.

“We will never be, never be / anything but loud,” P!nk sings in “Raise Your Glass.” For the sake of anyone in need of pure, danceable inspiration, I hope that will always be, always be true.

If you believe in the inspirational power of pop music, e-mail Goodman at [email protected].
“Pop Psychology” runs every Monday.
Goodman’s blog, “The Good pick,” runs every Monday at dailybruin.com/ae