Kesha Die Young: She Should Not Apologize for This Song, Despite the Sandy Hook Shooting

Culture

In late September, recording artist Ke$ha released a new tune, "Die Young," which sustained massive popularity until last week, when 20 children were killed in a senseless massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School. While it was wise of radio stations to stop playing the No. 3 hit in the wake of the shooting, Ke$ha did not need to amply apologize for her song. She wrote the song long before the unforeseeable tragedy, and she clearly wasn't advocating for death of such a terrible nature.

The 25-year-old singer tweeted about her song:

The song features lyrics which are now contentious, such as, "Let's make the most of the night because we're gonna die young."

 

The song definitely seems insensitive at the moment, but I wouldn't say it's been ruined forever because of what transpired last Friday. The truth is, the lives of young people are stolen everyday, and this was a problem long before alleged gunman Adam Lanza decided to open fire in a school. 

Ke$ha indicated that the violent message was exactly why she had initial reservations about the song. The performer went on to claim, "I had my very own issue with 'Die Yung' for this reason. I did NOT want to sing those lyrics and I was FORCED TO."

Regardless of the national tragedy on our hands, that's still not a very professional thing to say. Making excuses never gets you anywhere. Ke$ha needs to take full responsibility for her own image rather than say the people in charge of her are the real bad guys for forcing her to record something she didn't totally love. 

It's definitely for the best that a song like "Die Young," which was overplayed on the radio like many pop songs until Friday, lost millions of listeners right after the shooting; but Ke$ha should not punish herself or others for producing something like this months before a troubled young man decided to take the lives of innocent children. The song is about having as much fun as possible now (for adults who can appreciate "young hunks taking shots stripping down to dirty socks"). We all know Ke$ha isn't celebrating the deaths of murdered kids.