Kesha faces up to depression after battle with Dr Luke on new single ‘Praying’

The returning star faces up to her struggles with 'hopelessness and depression'

Kesha has returned with an emotional comeback single following her battles with former collaborator Dr Luke. Check out the new song ‘Praying’ below.

Squaring up to her demons, Kesha says that the powerful piano ballad “channels her feelings of severe hopelessness and depression.”

In an open letter to Lenny about the inspiration behind her first single in four years, Kesha wrote: “I’ve overcome obstacles, and I have found strength in myself even when it felt out of reach. I’ve found what I had thought was an unobtainable place of peace.

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“This song is about coming to feel empathy for someone else even if they hurt you or scare you. It’s a song about learning to be proud of the person you are even during low moments when you feel alone. It’s also about hoping everyone, even someone who hurt you, can heal.”

She continued: “I know that I was never abandoned by my fans, my animals, or my family, but when you are depressed — really, truly depressed — you feel like you have nothing. Even having my kitties sleeping next to me in my darkest of hours couldn’t bring me light. It is in these moments when even the most cynical among us are forced to turn to something other than ourselves — we turn to prayer, or something like it. You look past your shame, past your desire to hide, and admit you need help.”

Read her full open letter on Lenny here.

Written with Ryan Lewis, Ben Abraham, and Andrew Joslyn, ‘Praying’ is the first single taken from ‘Rainbow’ – her first album in nearly five years due for release on August 11.

Kesha and producer (real name Lukasz Gottwald) have been embroiled in a legal dispute since October 2014, when the singer filed a lawsuit in California against Dr. Luke citing “mental manipulation, emotional abuse and sexual assault” while also seeking to end her contract with Sony. Dr Luke responded by counter-suing for defamation, and it was confirmed in August 2016 that Kesha’s case had been dropped so that the singer could focus on the defamation lawsuit.

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