搬運(yùn)自：微信公眾號(hào)【評(píng)論搬一堆】（在原文基礎(chǔ)上添加了英語(yǔ)原文與排版調(diào)整）

翻譯：Jayleen Zhao

審譯：Emma.Z

排版：Spencerc

The celebrated pop star’s fourth album attempts a return to the carefree party pop that defined her early career.

它給人的感覺(jué)不是繼續(xù)前進(jìn)，而是逃離

Kesha is a vocal supporter of underdogs and outsiders; she stands up for LBGTQ rights, women’s rights, the environment, songwriters, and gun control in a time when all are being threatened. She sews every seam of her brand with inclusivity and empowerment (“keep glowing, ur a fuckin rainbow,” she tweeted to a fan who came out as transgender). After years embroiled in a?legal battle?with her former producer, Dr. Luke, whom she?accused of physical abuse and sexual assault, Kesha transformed her pain into the country-rock reckoning?Rainbow?and an?emotional 2018 Grammys performance?supporting the #TimesUp movement. In her colorful universe, you are believed and accepted, doused in glitter and moral support, perpetually reminded that neither tragedy nor socio-economic status define you, and encouraged to be your baddest Bitch self. It’s hard not to root for Kesha.

這位著名流行歌手的第四張專輯嘗試著回到她早期無(wú)憂無(wú)慮的派對(duì)流行音樂(lè)風(fēng)格。Kesha為弱勢(shì)群體和不被看好的人們聲援；在一個(gè)所有人都受到威脅的時(shí)代，她為L(zhǎng)BGTQ的權(quán)利、婦女權(quán)利、環(huán)境保護(hù)、詞曲作者的權(quán)利和推行槍支管制挺身而出。她用包容和賦權(quán)的方式展現(xiàn)她的風(fēng)格(“繼續(xù)閃耀吧，你就是彩虹，”她在twitter上對(duì)一名變性人粉絲說(shuō))。Kesha指控前制作人Dr. Luke對(duì)自己實(shí)施身體暴力侵害和性侵害，他們打了多年的官司后，她將自己的痛苦轉(zhuǎn)化為這張鄉(xiāng)村搖滾專輯《Rainbow》，并在2018年格萊美頒獎(jiǎng)典禮上深情獻(xiàn)唱，她還支持“TimesUp”運(yùn)動(dòng)。在她豐富多彩的世界里，你會(huì)收獲信任和包容，浸潤(rùn)在光輝和道德支持中，并且時(shí)時(shí)刻刻提醒著你，悲劇和社會(huì)經(jīng)濟(jì)地位都不能定義你，鼓勵(lì)你成為最真實(shí)，最酷的自己。誰(shuí)會(huì)不支持這個(gè)充滿正能量的Kesha呢!

Yet very little of this determination, maturity, or depth comes through on her fourth album,?High Road, which regresses from?Rainbow’s?clear-eyed courage to?Animal-era party-pop. It’s a tough pivot after everything that’s gone down, and she recycles the same innocuous frameworks she wielded a decade ago: that getting high and sleeping around don’t make you a bad person, that women are multidimensional (“You’re the party girl/You’re the tragedy/But the funny thing is I’m fucking everything,” she sings). Triteness aside, it would’ve been relatively easy to get behind an album of unfettered Kesha revelry, but?High Road?feels strained, scattershot, and loaded with tension, like someone trying to portray freedom and free-spiritedness–even a recovered sense of identity–who isn’t quite there yet.

然而，在她的第四張專輯《High Road》中，這種決心、成熟或是深度卻幾乎沒(méi)有體現(xiàn)出來(lái)。這張專輯既沒(méi)有《Rainbow》的鮮明有力，又達(dá)不到《Animal》時(shí)期的派對(duì)流行風(fēng)格。一切痛苦的事情發(fā)生后，這便成了一個(gè)支柱，她重復(fù)著她十年前創(chuàng)造的框架，嗑藥和濫交不會(huì)讓你成為壞人，這樣的女人是多面的（"You’re the party girl/You’re the tragedy/But the funny thing is I’m fucking everything”，“你是派對(duì)達(dá)人女孩/你真是一場(chǎng)悲劇/但搞笑的是我不在乎任何東西”她唱到）拋開(kāi)內(nèi)容陳腐不談，在一張無(wú)拘無(wú)束的狂歡中應(yīng)該很容易感受到輕松，但是《High Road》讓我們感覺(jué)緊張、漫無(wú)目的、滿心煩躁，就像有人試圖描繪自由和自由精神——甚至是恢復(fù)身份認(rèn)同感——她還沒(méi)有完全做到。

“My Own Dance,” effectively a “TiK ToK” sequel, is the album’s closest thing to a centerpiece and lays out the challenge she faced: “So the internet called and it wants you back/But could you kinda rap and not be so sad?” Kesha is correct that our demands are unfair, but then she goes and fulfills them, insisting that she’s conforming by choice (“Hey! I don’t do that dance! I only do my?own dance!”). This puts the listener in a confusing position: Are we to feel guilty or celebrate? It might be less uncomfortable if it felt like she’d made peace with her decision, but the song is coated in indignation: “I feel like I’m nothing/Somedays I am everything/Caught up in my feelings/Bitch, shut up and sing.”

“My Own Dance”實(shí)際上是“TiK ToK”的續(xù)集，也是這張專輯中最接近內(nèi)核的部分，并展現(xiàn)了她面臨的挑戰(zhàn): “So the internet called and it wants you back/But could you kinda rap and not be so sad?”（“噢/互聯(lián)網(wǎng)在召喚/在召喚你回來(lái)/噢你能不能嘻哈一點(diǎn)/別這么不堪？”），Kesha說(shuō)的沒(méi)錯(cuò)，我們的要求是不公平的，但她還是去滿足了這些要求，并堅(jiān)持說(shuō)她是自愿遵守的，“Hey! I don’t do that dance! I only do my own dance!”（“嘿!我不是你想要的那款/我自己放縱自己管!”）。這讓聽(tīng)者處于一種困惑的境地：我們應(yīng)該感到內(nèi)疚還是應(yīng)該慶祝？如果她能平靜地接受自己的決定，或許就不會(huì)那么不舒服了，但這首歌充滿了憤怒：“I feel like I’m nothing/Somedays I am everything/Caught up in my feelings/Bitch, shut up and sing.”（“有時(shí)候我感覺(jué)我一無(wú)是處/但有時(shí)候我又主宰萬(wàn)物/深陷在自己的情緒里/噢小妞，閉嘴唱歌吧?！保?/p>

This sense of uncertainty permeates the album, making it feel distant and erratic. Kesha has always covered a range of moods and styles—deep confessionals, party bops, twangy folk songs, bits of goofy banter—but?High Road?dials this up to an almost frenetic state, yo-yoing between tear-jerking ballads, overwrought empowerment anthems, and head-scratching moments of ironic nonsense. For every bizarre one-off (the chiptune inspired “Birthday Suit,” the lascivious “Kinky,” or the oddly childlike “BFF”), there’s a frothy, generic pop anthem pulling her back to the middle: “Little Bit of Love,” co-written by Nate Ruess, feels entirely anonymous.

這張專輯中的不確定感使它聽(tīng)起來(lái)仿佛很遙遠(yuǎn)且飄忽不定。Kesha總是能應(yīng)付各種各樣的情緒和風(fēng)格——深刻的懺悔、派對(duì)狂歡、有節(jié)奏的民謠、一些滑稽的玩笑——但是《High Road》把這些都調(diào)到了近乎瘋狂的狀態(tài)，在催人淚下的民謠、過(guò)度緊張的賦權(quán)歌曲和令人頭痛的諷刺廢話之間搖擺。專輯中有很多風(fēng)格怪誕的歌曲（芯片曲調(diào)的“Birthday Suit”，放蕩的“Kinky”或天真爛漫的“BFF”）除了這些空洞的、泛泛的流行歌曲還有位于專輯中間這首與Nate Ruess合寫(xiě)的“Little Bit of Love”，聽(tīng)起來(lái)毫無(wú)特色。

She seems determined not to let you get too close. Enveloping emotional moments are often interrupted by puzzling production choices and lyrical contradictions. “Raising Hell,” a spirited ode to celebrating and forgiving yourself, featuring?Big Freedia, is deflated by an insufferable horn synth that blares like a?Major Lazer?song. “Shadow,” an immersive piano ballad that exhibits her empathy and sheer vocal strength, is punctuated by a sour, flippant interlude (“If you don’t like me you can suck my—”, she chants). Even the title track, which attempts to frame her reaction to trauma as considered and mature, is itself defensive and sarcastic, stumbling from escapism into stoned denial. This is what makes the album’s hard-partying premise so difficult to accept: It doesn’t feel like moving on, it feels like running away.

她似乎下定決心不讓你靠得太近。飽含情感的時(shí)刻常常被令人困惑的作品選擇，和抒情中的矛盾打斷?！癛aising Hell”是一首與Big Freedia合作的激昂頌歌，歌頌慶祝和原諒自己。但它卻用一種令人難以忍受的號(hào)角合成器壓抑了這份激昂，這種合成器發(fā)出的聲音就像Major Lazer的電子樂(lè)。“Shadow”是一首沉浸式鋼琴民謠，展現(xiàn)了她的同情心和純粹的聲音力量，中間穿插著一段酸澀、輕描淡寫(xiě)的過(guò)渡（“If you don’t like me you can suck my—”，“如果你不喜歡我就請(qǐng)你滾開(kāi)”她唱道）。就連帶有防御性和諷刺性的主打歌，也試圖將她對(duì)創(chuàng)傷的反應(yīng)框定為深思熟慮和成熟的表現(xiàn)，從逃避現(xiàn)實(shí)變成了自欺欺人。這就是這張專輯的硬派風(fēng)格讓人難以接受的原因：它給人的感覺(jué)不是繼續(xù)前進(jìn)，而是逃離。

There’s no question Kesha is capable of assured, sincere truth-telling. “Resentment,” a stunning confessional featuring?Brian Wilson?and?Sturgill Simpson, is so personal and emotionally generous that it actually feels healing, leaving you to marvel at how arresting her voice is when you can actually hear it. The lightly mystical “Cowboy Blues,” which mentions her three cats, therapist, and tarot card reader, feels relaxed and spontaneous, as if she’s writing it right in front of you. When it swells into an all-together-now dive bar singalong, lit up by whistling?ooh-oohs?and?sha-la-las, you remember that Kesha is the rare songwriter who can funnel big, existential ideas like destiny and chance into the casual story of a night out in Nashville. These aren’t hell-raising, stadium-sized bangers about blacking out and acting up, but they are at least about?her. As anyone who has wrestled with self-acceptance understands, often the most rebellious thing you can do is be your unvarnished self.

毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)，Kesha有能力保證并真誠(chéng)地道出真相?！癛esentment”是一與Brian Wilson和Sturgill Simpson合作的令人驚嘆的懺悔歌曲，非常個(gè)人化，情感也很豐富，有一種治愈感，當(dāng)你真實(shí)地聽(tīng)到Kesha的聲音后，你會(huì)驚嘆于她的聲音是多么的迷人。略帶神秘色彩的“Cowboy Blues”提到了她的三只貓、治療師和塔羅牌占卜，讓人感到放松和自在，仿佛她就在你面前寫(xiě)著這些東西。當(dāng)Kesha吹著口哨，唱著“oh-ooh -ooh”和“sha-la-las”的時(shí)候，你會(huì)想起Kesha是一個(gè)不可多得的詞曲作家，她能把像命運(yùn)和機(jī)會(huì)這樣宏大的、與人類(lèi)存在有關(guān)的的想法注入到納什維爾夜晚無(wú)憂無(wú)慮的故事中。這些并不是鬧著玩，像體育場(chǎng)館那么大的，關(guān)于忘卻和行動(dòng)的東西，但至少都是關(guān)于她自己的。任何一個(gè)糾結(jié)于自我接受的人都知道，通常你能做的最叛逆的事就是做最真實(shí)的自己。