The world of popular music is a fast-paced one. Artists rise up and fall off the top singles list daily. For example, a synthpop single like “Fireflies” by musician Owl City can be, and often is, knocked from the number-one spot by a punny sexual anthem such as BedRock by rap ensemble Young Money. However, through all of these movers and shakers, one bright star by the name of Ke$ha has, of this writing, managed to hold onto the number-one spot of top downloaded songs on the iTunes Store up until very recently with her single “TiK ToK.” As of this writing, “TiK ToK” is holding up at number-three on the charts, and another song of Ke$ha’s by the name of “Blah Blah Blah” is holding its own at number-eight. However, there is a quite a large amount of controversy brewing up with this up-and-coming artist. From her unique and promiscuous style to accusations of plagiarism, the 22-year-old singer-songwriter has been propelled to stardom, with many bumps along the way.

Ke$ha (spoken as KESH-uh, dollar sign and all), which is the performing name of a certain Kesha Sebert, was not always in the limelight, of course. Originally born in California, young Kesha moved with her mother, a singer-songwriter (the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, understandably), and her two brothers to Tennessee at a young age. Encouraged by her mother, Kesha learned to sing and write songs and began releasing demos of her material. After dropping out of high school, Kesha became involved with music producers Dr. Luke and Max Martin and began to further her career by recording new material. To support her low income, Kesha began temporary work as a waitress and telemarketer. Desperate to spread her music as far as possible, the ballsy singer sneaked into the home of the artist currently known as Prince, all to hand him a demo CD. Needless to say, she was promptly forced to leave, but not before leaving her disc behind.

Kesha continued to spread her musical influence, as well as continue to perform many notable faux pas. For example, after singing background on a single by Paris Hilton, she vomited in the heiress’ closet. Hardly a graceful move the future star, but certainly an excellent ice-breaker. The big break for the emerging starlet came when she appeared as backing vocals on the single “Right Round” by Flo Rida, a performer originally from (you guessed it!) Florida. However, although the single became successful, Kesha refused any performing credit or monetary compensation for her part in the recording, wanting to achieve fame on her own merit.

After being signed by RCA Records, Kesha began to prepare her debut album, Animal (released January 5th, 2010). The album was said to over seven years in the making, and Kesha wrote over 200 songs for the album, trimming down to a measly fourteen by the release. Soon, Ke$ha (adopting her dollar sign, which she claims is “ironic”) was world-famous, her dream finally achieved. News outlets NPR, New York Daily News, and the New York Times all gave the budding songstress press coverage. However, reception has not been all positive. The Maine Campus ran an op-ed piece categorizing the young artist as a “thief,” comparing her lead single to other electropop influences, most notably Lady Gaga and Uffie.

Kesha’s style and demeanor have also been called to attention. Granted, the lyrics to many of her songs including various unsavory references, including sexual, and those relating to alcohol, drugs, and recreational partying. The singer’s image is also considered unique, as she is often perceived as unkempt, with disheveled hair, arms covered in Sharpie ink, and admitting that she purchases clothing items from the homeless. Needless to say, although some despise her for her controversial style, many love her for the very same. The singer is also with the hip, “tech-savvy” crowd, constantly updating her status on Twitter, maintaining social profiles on Facebook and MySpace, and video-blogging on YouTube. Of course, the young starlet has far to go, as this is just her debut album, but there doesn’t seem to anything stopping her from achieving even higher success with a potential sophomore album.

Ke$ha’s debut album Animal has sold over 152,000 copies after being released January 5th, 2010. You can download it right now at the iTunes Store, or find it in tangible media form on Amazon.com.