On Ke$ha, gender, and rock 'n roll performance art

Jonathan Bogart has a great piece in the Atlantic this week, calling pop singer Ke$ha "the last great rock star":

"It's only the latest and most blatant of Ke$ha's many salvos against the rigid gender lines that have defined popular music. Taylor Swift's sometimes pining and sometimes catty guitar-pop, Carly Rae Jepsen's giddy bubblegum, Rihanna's alternately seductive and sullen R&B, and even Lady Gaga's high-camp club stomp all derive from long-standing female pop traditions, from Madonna and Whitney Houston to Dusty Springfield and Diana Ross. Ke$ha can swoon and seduce when she wants to, but her primary persona is made up of of the struts, sneers, and self-possessed sloganeering that have long been the domain of male-dominated rock and roll."

As much as it pains me to say it, I like Ke$ha. I'm pretty sure she's in on the joke. And as much as there have been plenty of women before her who've strutted and preened as well as the boys (Patti, Joan, et al.), she's still fully ensconced in the world of "pop" music, which is, let's face it, not exactly known for its deconstruction of gender. At least compared to harder or more subversive styles of punk and rock.