Much like the way ‘Vulgar’ energized last summer with a chaser of ‘Popular‘ (before the summer all went wrong), this season’s surprise gay jam comes courtesy of Kesha, whose ‘Joyride’ is stampeding across all the social media trendsetting scenes. It’s providing the precise level of stupidity and ridiculousness – the very breath of fresh air – that this moment requires. Having fallen into a bit of a funk lately, I’m doing what I can to stay emotionally afloat, and this nonsensical ditty was designed as an escape, led by an ear worm that’s crawling about in my head and driving me absolutely crazy.
ARE YOU A MAN?
Cuz I’M A BITCH
I’m already rich
Just looking for that MMMMM…
THIS PARTY SUCKS
I’m ’bout to ditch
Don’t even try to give me shit, I’VE EARNED THE RIGHT TO BE-BE LIKE THIS
Oh, you say you love me? THAT’S FUNNY.
WELL SO DO I..
That’s the kind of hubris for which I was once hailed, hated and harried. That’s the cheeky side of me that once charmed and seduced and thrilled. If it was all in my mind it was no less successful for its escapist salvation. And that’s the sort of spirit that seems to have slowly drained from me over the last year. Sometimes the silliest trifle of music brings us back to ourselves.
I’m just looking for a joyride, JOYRIDE
I’m just looking for A GOOD TIME TONIGHT
Baby, I want you to rev my engine ’til you make it purrrr
KEEP IT KINKY, but I come first
Beep beep bitch, I’m outside. Get in loser for the joyride.
Making every motherfucker turn
Fell from heaven no, it didn’t hurt
Beep beep BEST NIGHT OF YOUR LIFE
Get in loser for the joyride
Joyride
GET IN LOSER for the joyride
Blaring the music in the air-conditioned confines of my Mini Cooper, lip-syncing this song saucily and trying to convince myself that it’s all super-duper, summer passes more swiftly than I think I want it to pass. I’m not sure if I’m happy or disappointed by that. Last summer I just wanted to speed through it.
Keep your eyes ON THE ROAD
A LABEL WHORE but I’m BORED OF WEARING CLOTHES
You want kids? Well, I am mother
DON’T EVEN TRY TO GIVE ME SHIT, I’ve earned the right to be-be like this
And so summer heals – in a sunny day, in a silly song, in a simple swim. You laugh again because you can, and there are still funny things in this joyride of a world. Maybe your laughter isn’t as loud or as long as it once was, so you turn up a song like this as high as it will go, until you can’t hear yourself think those bothersome thoughts. You lean into what silliness you can find, grasping at whatever easy comfort or fun falls like a feather from the sky, and you pray to not go through something sad again, knowing what a futile prayer it will eventually prove to be. You lead with a laugh, desperate to trigger happiness, even if you have to enter from the end, even if your laughter is false and forced; sometimes the physical act is enough to elicit an echo of all the happiness that real laughter once inspired.
Joyride, joyride
I’m just looking for a good time tonight
Baby, I want you to rev my engine ’til you make it purrrr
Keep it kinky, BUT I COME FIRST
Beep beep bitch, I’m outside. Get in loser for the joyride.
Making every motherfucker turn
FELL FROM HEAVEN no, it didn’t hurt
Beep beep best night of your life
Get in loser for the joyride
