Nearly 84 million people have watched the clip for Timber by Pitbull and Ke$ha.
I’ve watched it seven times.
Usually, my reaction would have been, “Yeah, yeah. Hot women dancing in their underwear? Seen it all before.” I’d take a moment to feel the shame of moderately enjoying a Pitbull song, and I’d move on.
But when I watched the clip, I knew a few things about Ke$ha that completely changed my perspective: That she’s in rehab, seeking treatment for an eating disorder. That she’s been bullied about her weight by her own management. And that her mother followed her into rehab, traumatised by the experience.
Armed with all those details, I watched the clip in horror. Like I was actually witnessing Ke$ha endure the pressure she feels to be perfect and sexy and taut. Like I could see the pain and anger and discomfort in her eyes. To me, in this clip, she’s a desperate woman – deeply uncomfortable with her body, sulkily going through the motions of being a hot female singer.
Watch it, and tell me what you see: A confident, carefree woman who really loves what she’s doing? Or a tortured pop star doing what she thinks is expected of her?
Every time she drags her sharp black nails down her thigh, don’t you just feel like you’ve stumbled into a private moment where Ke$ha’s forcing herself to be sexy even though it’s the last thing in the world she wants to do? There’s something so sad in the way she moves, the way she tosses her hair, the way she throws her pelvis towards the camera. It makes me sad, to go through such private suffering, so publicly.