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Glitter and Hoo-Ha: Inside Ke$ha’s ‘My Crazy Beautiful Life’

Ke$ha my crazy beautiful life book

It might be a stretch to include Ke$ha’s My Crazy Beautiful Life (Touchstone) among this year’s outpouring of musician memoirs. Truth is, the book, released November 20, is billed as “photo journal and scrapbook.” As far as, you know, words go, we’re mostly looking at a series of short captions. It’s a fan book. But for both fans and casual Ke$ha observers, there are some fun and revealing tidbits sprinkled amongst the photos of the pop star onstage and off, past and present. We’ve collected our favorites below:

This Love: The 25-year-old singer, born Kesha Rose Sebert in Los Angeles, is close with her mom, Pebe. That bond is extra tight given her paternal circumstances. “Before I was born,” writes Ke$ha, “my mom wanted to have another child, but she didn’t want to be in a relationship. Because some sperm banks had reportedly been infected with HIV, my mom decided to ask some of her friends to try and get her pregnant.” That “some” is key. As a result, “I’ve never known for sure who my father is, and I don’t want to know.”

Secret Weapon: Ke$ha explains that her older brother Lagan introduced her to some formative, and perhaps surprising, musical influences. “He schooled me on rock and roll, punk, and hip-hop. He introduced me to Fugazi, Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth, Beck, OutKast, and Tennessee garage rockers Greg Oblivian and Jay Reatard.”

We R Who We R: Despite her uncertainty about her father’s identity, Ke$ha knows that music runs in her blood. “My mom is an amazing songwriter,” she says about Pebe Sebert. “She’s written beautiful songs for artists such as Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash.”

Unglued: Our girl still has some very strong feelings about a particular decorative substance. “I love glitter. I’m not just saying that. I really really love glitter. I think everything should sparkle and shine. But it’s also useful: when you have glitter on and you make out with someone, it stays on the person for days. It’s like marking your territory.”

True Love: Say what you will about her music, but you can’t deny Ke$ha’s patriotism. “I practice my right to freedom of speech and freedom of expression every day. But this sense of personal independence isn’t the only thing that I love about my country. Here are a few of my favorite things that remind me of America and start with the letter b: boys, baseball players, boots, butts, blood, boobs, and, of course, beards.”

Strange Love: The book features a series of photos of Ke$ha on vacation to the Galapagos islands, a place she’s always wanted to visit. Why? “The Galapagos seemed like a place trapped in prehistoric time, and y’all know I love that shit.”

Former Over-Exposed Blonde: Writing about her new album Warrior, Ke$ha shares that, with help from her mom and producer-songwriter Kool Kojak, she co-wrote a song ‘inspired by my car, called simply, ‘Gold Trans Am.’ It’s a metaphor for my hoo-ha.”