Kesha
Months after receiving backlash for utilizing AI-generated imagery for her “Delusional” single, Kesha has announced new artwork for the track.
First released in November 2025, “Delusional” was issued as the second single from Kesha’s forthcoming sixth album, . (Period). However, the track’s original artwork – which depicted a number of handbags with the word ‘delusional’ spray painted on them, often incorrectly – was swiftly criticized for its use of generative AI.
Kesha did not respond to the backlash, or address fans’ requests to commission an actual artist to create new imagery for the single. However, on Tuesday (May 20), she took to social media to share new artwork for the single, along with an explanation for the update.
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“When making the single art for my song ‘Delusional,’ I wanted to make the point that it’s DELUSIONAL that the world expects artists to continue making art when we are so undervalued,” she explained. “I tried to echo my ideas in the form of a political single cover. I’ve realized that living in alignment with my integrity is more important than proving a point.
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“So I’ve decided to change the cover art for this song. She’s one of my favorites.”
Kesha also made a point to individually thank the creative team behind the artwork, including the photographer, videographer, stylists, and more. “Thanks to my crew for helping me live out here in my highest and c–tiest potential,” she added.
In closing her social post, Kesha also addressed the elephant in the room, directly shifting her focus to the work of AI and the toll it can take on real creatives in the process.
“AI is a Pandora’s box that we as a society have collectively opened, and I think it’s important that we keep human ramifications in mind as we learn how to use it as a tool and not as a replacement,” she explained. “Just me healing, in real time.”
The updated artwork arrives less than two months from the release of . (Period) on July 4 via her own Kesha Records label. It also arrives as her first LP since the 2023 settlement of a yearslong legal battle with Dr. Luke over Kesha’s claims that he drugged and raped her in 2005, after which he sued her for defamation while calling the allegations “false and shocking.”
“I’m really excited for the world to hear this, because I’ve been in control of everything,” she revealed on The Jennifer Hudson Show recently.
“It’s been all of my vision, all of my words, a lot of hard work, a lot of joy,” she continued. “Really coming back home to myself and feeling what freedom really looks like, feels like, sounds like.”
Katy Perry has assured fans that she’s “ok,” despite a recent barrage of online vitriol that has come her way.
The singer addressed the recent negativity from online commentators in an Instagram comment on a fan page, expressing her gratitude toward her fans for their ongoing support during what she labels an undoubtedly difficult time.
“I’m so grateful for you guys. We’re in this beautiful and wild journey together,” Perry wrote. “I can continue to remain true to myself, heart open and honest especially because of our bond. I love you guys and have grown up together with you and am so excited to see you all over the world this year!”
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Perry has found herself as something of a lightning rod for negativity in the past few weeks, with much of the discourse related to her spaceflight aboard the Blue Origin NS-31 on April 14.
While the likes of Kesha had been roped into the ongoing drama following an online post that seemingly referenced fast-food chain Wendy’s’ snarky jab at the “Firework” singer, English musician Lily Allen recently walked back her comments about calling Perry and her spaceflight “out of touch.”
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“There was actually no need for me to bring her name into it, and it was my own internalized misogyny,” Allen said on her Miss Me? podcast. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot, and it was just completely unnecessary to pile on with her. I disagree with what it was that they did, but she wasn’t the only person that did it. She was possibly the most famous and the one that divides people the most.”
The Instagram post which Perry responded to was a video of a Times Square billboard that congratulated the singer for the opening week of her Liftimes tour, and ostensibly aimed to serve as comfort amidst the online backlash.
As Perry continued, she explained that much of her ability to survive the barrage of negative comments has come about through plenty of therapy and personal growth.
“Please know I am ok, I have done a lot work around knowing who I am, what is real and what is important to me,” she noted. “My therapist said something years ago that has been a game changer, ‘no one can make you believe something about yourself that you don’t already believe about yourself’ and if I ever do have any feelings about it then it’s an opportunity to investigate the feeling underneath it.
“When the ‘online’ world tries to make me a human Piñata, I take it with grace and send them love, cause I know so many people are hurting in so many ways and the internet is very much so a dumping ground for unhinged and unhealed.”
Perry recently launched her Liftimes tour in Mexico on April 23, with each night also featuring fans being brought onstage during a special request section of the set. “What’s real is seeing your faces every night, singing in unison, reading your notes, feeling your warmth,” she concluded. “I find people to lock eyes and sing with and I know we are healing each other in a small way when I get to do that.
“I’m not perfect, and I actually have omitted that word from my vocabulary, I’m on a human journey playing the game of life with an audience of many and sometimes I fall but… I get back up and go on and continue to play the game and somehow through my battered and bruised adventure I keep looking to the light and in that light a new level UNLOCKS.”
Perry will bring her Lifetimes tour to the U.S. next week, with a headline date in Houston, TX set to take place on May 7.
She may have only released her Joyride EP, but Kesha is now gearing up for what could be the most defining release of her career, hinting at a new album released on Kesha Records that she claims features “the best songs, I think, of my entire career”.
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In a recent interview with Paper Magazine, the singer opened up about the significance of her upcoming album – her first as an independent artist following her legal battle with Kemosabe Records founder Dr. Luke, whom she accused of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse in 2014.
The producer has consistently denied Kesha’s allegations and sued her for defamation, but the two settled the case before it went to trial last year.
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Now, fresh off the release of her Joyride EP on July 4, which included her independently released single of the same name, Kesha is reveling in her newfound creative freedom ahead of another album release. “This is the first album I’m making where I’m 100% in control of everything,” she told Paper. “It feels like it’s my first album.”
“It feels divine; it feels like it stands for a lot. It’s really beautiful, and I cannot wait to share it. It’s maybe the most beautiful time of my entire life! I am so excited I got to work with the people I did and capture this moment in time, and put it onto something other people can listen to.”
“It’s been deeply life-changing and profound to make this album, but it’s also the most fun I’ve ever had in my life. If you thought Animal was fun, just fucking wait.”
The “TiK ToK” hitmaker also drew parallels between her current creative state and the mindset that produced Animal, her 2010 debut that stormed to No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
“This is the first time in my life I’ve felt similarly to how I did in that point in my life, when I was making music from a purely joyful place,” Kesha explained.
“It’s all really 100% me. That feels really good, just to step into my own worth, and my own power and not have anything in my mind or the external world say it’s anything but me. It’s pretty unavoidable that whether people like or hate ‘Joyride,’ it’s all me.”
“Joyride” peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Streaming Songs chart and No. 6 on the Billboard Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart.
Kesha took to Instagram on Tuesday (June 27) to gush over the support of her fans just days after settling her nine-year lawsuit with Dr. Luke. “I am humbled and in awe of the support and love y’all have given me,” she captioned a photo of herself onstage, with a fan holding up their hands […]
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