A weird bit of Kesha trivia is that, despite her pop career, she’s definitely from Nashville, Tennessee. Her demo tape had a self-written country song, and she never looked more comfortable than she did singing “Dead Flowers” in a grainy bit of footage from a Christmas Eve show at the Springwater back in 2006. (She went back there to shoot the music video for “Dirty Love,” by way of comparison.) So her performance of “It Ain’t Me Babe” at Sunday’s Billboard Music Awards—accompanied only by Ben Folds on piano and yMusic on violin—wasn’t just a return to television but something of a return to form.
Her appearance was far from a sure thing; her legal battle with Dr. Luke continues, and as recently as May 17, Dr. Luke’s record company reportedly rescinded its approval of her appearance. But a plea on her Instagram page promising that she wasn’t planning on using the stage to comment on her legal battle seems to have turned the tide:
Dr. Luke’s company allowed her to appear, and she was true to her word, not saying a single thing before or after “It Ain’t Me Babe.” But performing Bob Dylan, the furthest thing imaginable from the pop that made her famous, feels like a statement all its own.
