Forget Charli XCX’s naff ‘brat’ art – Kesha’s new album wins for cleverest minimalist marketing. Period.

Always one to do things her own way, Kesha is set to make waves independently once more this year. An undeniable pop icon with 10 top 10 singles under her belt (when she’s wearing one, that is) and more than three billion streams online – plus a pair of #1 albums, four #1 singles and 40 million followers on social media, to call her an influencer might be a bit of an understatement.

With all that exposure online and off, what’s a girl to do to get modern music lovers’ attention without exposing too much more? Enter a big pink dot – in promotion of her new, forthcoming album . (PERIOD) which will be made available on (of all dates) July 4th. Better get extra fireworks ready, then.

. (PERIOD) will be Kesha’s sixth studio album release, and her first album since departing from RCA Records and Kemosabe Records in December of 2023. It is also her first release through her independent self-titled label, Kesha Records. Apt, then, that it’s being released on Independence Day.

While the artwork is odd in its stripped back simplicity (an unlipsticked set of lips with a pink dot strategically placed over the bottom of them), it’s sure to have minds boggling at why all the pink? I guess we’ll have to wait to hear the full LP to see how everything falls in place but for now, we’re sold.

As for using a full stop (.) as its title, who knows what benefit this might give the album in SEO rankings – after all, a fullstop is pretty popular online so calling just . could go both ways. Back to that artwork, the artist has gone so pink-dot crazy, she’s gone and put fuschia circles over all of her previous releases available online, and even on various playlists she’s put together.

. (PERIOD) will contain Kesha’s two recent single releases – the very frigging brilliant Joyride and then somewhat more laidback Delusional. The former single impressed us so much in the Cream offices, we’d play in repeat every Friday night drinks last summer. And if you haven’t heard its sheer brilliance yet, you’ve really got to get your head out of the sand.

. (PERIOD) will also include the Kesha’s latest single release, Yippee-Ki-Yay, which features rap artists T-Pain and has been produced by Pink Slip (Ava Max, Jason Derulo) and Nova Way (Beyoncé, Rihanna). If you find the song’s title somewhat familiar, it’s the line Bruce Willis spouted in a pre-action scene in Die Hard, just without the ‘motherfucker’ bit.

The great thing about Kesha is, while she’s as likely to get half of her kit off akin to how most of today’s pop darlings are promoting their art, there is something about Kesha’s sexual delivery just appears more, we might say tasteful, than the rest. Even in this heavily contrived-but-can’t-help-loving-the-look shot that says something to us, like, Safe sex is sexy sex. You read it as you will:

Her sexual politics are certainly solid, proven when she sued one-time co-producer Dr. Luke over sexual harassment. Her grace is intact, proven when she shrugged off Jerry Seinfeld’s rudeness to her on the red carpet a while back. And her video clips often seeing her playing more on the innuendo side (cue: cosplay-like car wash and petrol pump sequences) than outright messyness.

You can check out the full tracklisting of . (PERIOD) below and for now enjoy the good country popness of the new single in lyric vid form.

Lisa Andrews & Antonino Tati

For more information on . (PERIOD) click here, and check out the tracklisting below.

. (PERIOD) TRACKLISTING

1. FREEDOM.

2. JOYRIDE.

3. YIPPEE-KI-YAY.

4. DELUSIONAL.

5. RED FLAG.

6. LOVE FOREVER.

7. THE ONE.

8. BOY CRAZY.

9. GLOW.

10. TOO HARD.

11. CATHEDRAL.

Britney Spears shuts down talk of a new album with Charli XCX, says she won’t return to the music industry