Nicole Richie almost ruined Ke$ha’s musical career before it even started.

Five years ago Ke$ha was still Kesha Sebert and still living in Tennessee with her family.

Her mother, Pebe, a singer/songwriter who wrote Dolly Parton’s 1980 country No.1 Old Flames, saw an ad in the local paper seeking “eccentric families”.

“My family is literally the most eccentric family in Tennessee,” Ke$ha, 22, says.

The ad was placed by the producers of The Simple Life, the reality show that starred Richie and Paris Hilton. Soon the Hollywood starlets were staying at Sebert HQ for three days in 2005.

“It was retarded,” Ke$ha says of the experience. “Stupid, really stupid.”

The stint has suddenly found its second wind on YouTube.

Even though she was only a teenager at that point, Ke$ha was already writing songs and hunting for a record deal.

Her demo tape had made its way to Dr Luke, the Swedish songwriter behind hits for Kelly Clarkson (Since U Been Gone), Katy Perry (I Kissed a Girl) and Pink (Who Knew).

He called the Seberts’ house at the worst time possible – a petulant pre-motherhood Nicole Richie answered.

“She hung up on him,” Ke$ha recalls. “She said ‘Oh, it was just some guy’. Thank God he called back. She could have ruined everything, that bitch! Luckily she didn’t.”

Luke saw something special in Ke$ha. He flew her to New York and Los Angeles for recording sessions, grooming her for stardom.

Ke$ha wrote more than 200 songs during this period. One, This Love, became a hit for the Veronicas; another, Time of Our Lives, was recorded by Miley Cyrus.

She also reconnected with Hilton, recording backing vocals for the heiress’s single Nothing in This World and, through a series of random events, Ke$ha admits, “I puked in Paris’s closet”.

Is she still in contact with Paris or Nicole?

“Hell no!”

Her exploits at this time include breaking into Prince’s house to hand over the demo she wanted him to produce. He had his security evict her.

Soon Luke introduced Ke$ha to Max Martin, whose CV includes global No.1 hits for Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, Kelly Clarkson, Katy Perry and Pink. “He just farts hit songs,” Ke$ha notes.

As well as roping in Ke$ha to dance in Perry’s I Kissed a Girl video, Dr Luke asked her to sing on a track he was working on for Flo Rida’s Right Round. Ke$ha sang the chorus of the song, a No.1 in the US, UK and Australia. But she wasn’t credited on the track in America.

That lesson led to a $ being added to her name – and tattooed on her hand.

“The dollar sign is totally ironic,” Ke$ha says. “I was being a little bitch about the fact I didn’t make any money off the Flo Rida song.

“I was hearing it everywhere, I was broke, my bike got stolen, I didn’t have a car, I didn’t make my rent. I was stealing canned vegetables from the dollar store. While I’m stealing them my voice is coming out of the radio. I thought that was ridiculous.

“But my friend said, ‘Whatever, you don’t need money, you are money’, and that’s a good attitude to have. I have myself no matter what – you can’t buy that.

“I did like hearing my voice everywhere though,” Ke$ha continues.

“It was frustrating when I was broke and down and out, but I’m thankful to be on that track. It was one step towards getting where I’m finally at. It’s chapter one in the story of how I got here.”

Ke$ha also declined the offer from Flo Rida to appear in the Right Round video – almost guaranteed exposure.

“I felt like that song is sexy and Flo Rida’s sexy and his videos are sexy,” Ke$ha says.

“I’m sexy too but the main thing I want is to not be another girl in heels and looking like a stripper. It’s more important to see you don’t need to wear heels and a push-up bra to be sexy.

“I think the sexiest I ever see a woman is in an old ’80s cock rock T-shirt and a pair of ripped up denim shorts and s—ty old Converse. I think that’s sexier. I wanted to promote the image of exactly who I am. If people are going to love me they should love me for what I really am, and hate me for who I really am too.”

People are getting that chance. Right Round led to Ke$ha signing a record deal with RCA/Sony. Dr Luke and Benny Blanco steered the lead single Tik Tok.

“I thought it was just another song,” Ke$ha says. “I thought it was just like all the other ones I’d written. I didn’t even know if it was very good. I wanted to rewrite the verses, I didn’t think it was funny or clever. I thought it kind of sucked. But everyone else liked it.”

Even P Diddy, who agreed to add his voice at the start of the song, where he’s name-checked.

The song soared to the top of the Australian charts, spending nine weeks at No.1, the longest-running chart topper of 2009. Ironically, Ke$ha had already spent seven weeks at No.1 in 2009 with Flo Rida’s Right Round.

“People must be sick of my voice down there,” Ke$ha jokes.

“I’ve been annoying you guys for a long time.”

The song also hit No.1 in the US, this time with Ke$ha not having to worry about not being credited – or paid – for her work.

Tellingly the song sold in vast quantities (the fifth-highest seller in Australia last year and the 42nd highest seller of the decade after being released only last October) even after being initially released as a free download on her website to gain momentum.

“Right Round was really a cover of the Dead or Alive song (You Spin Me Round), more or less. Tik Tok I wrote, it’s about my life, it’s 100 per cent me, I got to shoot the video. It’s very honest and very real. Right Round is an amazing song, but I didn’t really get to write on it, and I think one of the perks of being an artist is I get to write all my songs and they’re totally honest.

“Now I’m glad I didn’t rewrite Tik Tok. People are really connecting with that honesty. I write my songs the way I’d talk to a girlfriend over a drink. I tell it like it is. It gets me in trouble but so what? I get in trouble a lot.”

Stephen is about an ex-boyfriend who gets a shout out for being a “douche” in the credits of her debut album Animal.

“Writing a song is the best revenge,” Ke$ha says. “It doesn’t hurt anybody but its f—ing hilarious and hopefully it’ll go everywhere.”

Some songwriters change people’s names to protect them.

Not Ke$ha.

“F— no! That’s his name. It’s going to get me in so much trouble probably. On Backstabber I totally call out straight up this bitch named Jeanie who stole my car. Damn, if you’re gonna steal my car you deserve to have your name in a pop song. And I’m going to talk s— on you. It’s musical karma.”

In a rarity for pop music, several tracks on Animal were co-written by Ke$ha and her mum.

“I learned everything I know from her,” Ke$ha says. “She’s amazing. And I think those are some of the best songs on the record.”

However, whereas her mother’s usual songs take a more serious tone, Ke$ha is embarking on what she calls her “one-woman war against pretension”.

“I’m totally just silly,” she says. “Whether people like me or not I just don’t care. Love me or hate me, say what you want, I’m just going to get on stage and do the robot and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.

“So you can either make fun of me and point fingers or you can totally just join in and act like a total idiot and enjoy yourself. I feel like people sometimes care too much what they’re looking like, what they’re wearing, what brand it is. I care more about the people I’m with, that they’re good people, that everyone’s happy.”

Not that Ke$ha’s totally checking in her brain at the recording-studio door. She’s enjoying “being part of this strong-women movement in pop – Beyonce, Katy Perry, Gaga, Pink – women who are not afraid to speak their mind”.

Though she has a swag of country songs that remain unreleased, she says Animal isn’t purely a party zone.

“There are heartfelt songs on there – Blind is about an awful breakup that tore me apart. You can still dance to it but it’s very serious and a total bummer. Sometimes artists need to get that out of their system.

“But the main thing I want to do with this record is make people happy. I want to give young people, old people, whoever, something to relate to. Everyone’s had their heart broken. Everybody wants to feel good. It’s a recession, dancing is free.

“I want to promote the fact that happiness and the amount of money you have have zero correlation. Some of my fondest memories are when I didn’t have a car, my bike got stolen, I had to walk to see my friends or take a two-hour trip to record. I wrote Stephen while biking to a train station.

“I hope people like the fact I don’t put a huge emphasis on name brands and money and VIP. I’m the antithesis of that.”

Indeed, it was a simple event that gave Ke$ha her “I’ve made it” moment. She went to Amoeba record store in LA and saw a divider in the CD section with her name on it. She promptly stole it.

“Yeah, that wasn’t good, but I figured it’s just a piece of cardboard. They can make another.

“That was actually the moment I realised I’d made it. It was special. It’s sitting in my purse right now, along with my passport and some glitter.”

Animal (Sony) out now.

Source: Herald Sun