On February 11th, 2022, musician Kim Petras released her fourth Extended Play (EP), Slut Pop. It’s an explicit, dance-pop affair planted firmly in Y2K nostalgia. Nowadays, this kind of project likely won’t be seen as a crucial chapter in pop music history. And yet it is. For many, Slut Pop symbolizes freedom. It’s not often we see an EP from a trans woman hitting number one on iTunes, let alone an EP where said trans woman boldly owns her sexuality. This is also meaningful to the sex worker community, to which Petras dedicated the EP.

Critics deem Slut Pop as instead a tool of oppression. All of it’s tracks are produced by the disgraced Lukasz Gottwald, known professionally as Dr. Luke, who was accused of sexual assault eight years ago, by his client, Kesha. The ramifications of that lawsuit still echo through the industry, in ways both subtle and obvious. When you bring up this subject, the arguments that ensue are knotty. But what about Doja Cat, separate the art from the artist, and so on. Detangling the key players here, and the situation at large, is crucial nonetheless.

Kesha’s Lawsuit

It’s important to remember that before Kesha’s allegations, Dr. Luke was one of the industry’s top hitmakers. In 2010 Billboard deemed him both the Number One Hot 100 Songwriter, and Number One Producer of the year. He won Songwriter of the Year twice, in 2010 and 2011, at the ASCAP Pop Music Awards. In 2011, He co-wrote “Since U Been Gone” and “Behind These Hazel Eyes” for Kelly Clarkson, the songs that would propel her to immediate popularity. He co-wrote over half of Avril Lavigne’s 2007 double platinum album, The Best Damn Thing, including her global hit “Girlfriend.” 

In total, Dr. Luke has seventeen #1 hits to his name. He was on every Katy Perry album up until Witness, co-writing massive songs like “Teenage Dream”, “I Kissed A Girl” and “Roar.” Tracks like “Dynamite” by Taio Cruz and “Price Tag” by Jessie J were more one off collaborations, yet instantly oversaturated.  In 2005, he signed Kesha to his label, Kemosabe Records. He would go on to co-wrote such pithy, world-conquering hits as “Tik Tok,” “Die Young,” “Timber,” and “We R Who We R.” 2000’s pop music may forever bear his fingerprints.

I bring this up not to praise Dr. Luke, but to contextualize the atmosphere in which Kesha came forward. On October 14th, 2014, she accused  Dr. Luke of sexual assault and battery, sexual harassment, gender violence, emotional abuse, and violation of California business practices. Kesha claimed that Dr. Luke would repeatedly drug her, assault her, say she needed to lose weight, and this led to her developing an eating disorder. In her lawsuit, Kesha requested that her contract with Dr. Luke be terminated. Dr. Luke filed a counter-lawsuit against Kesha, suing her for defamation and breach of contract. He would later claim Kesha’s lawsuit had cost him $46 million in lost business opportunities (this has been disputed.) ​

Like many cases, it took two years to go to trial. On February 19, 2016, Judge Shirley Kornreich ruled that Kesha would not be removed from her contract. On April 6, 2016, all of Kesha’s claims were dismissed. Kornreich wrote that while “Kesha's [claim] alleges that she was sexually, physically and verbally abused by Gottwald for a decade, she describes only two specific instances of physical/sexual abuse.” It was also determined that Luke’s crimes fell outside the statute of limitations–i.e., Kesha had waited too long to file. Kesha would drop her charges later that year, saying the lawsuit had been “so heavy on my once free spirit, and I can only pray to one day feel that happiness again.” As of this writing, she is still signed to Dr. Luke, and can only release music under his label.

In the music industry, there has been a mixed amount of support for Kesha. Taylor Swift gave Kesha $250,000 to help with any legal fees, which Demi Lovato publicly criticized. During her acceptance speech for a Brit Award (“British Female Solo Artist”) in 2016, Adele said, “I would also like to take this moment to publicly support Kesha.” After the verdict, Fiona Apple posted a picture of herself with a sign saying, “Kesha—I am so angry for you. They were wrong. I'm so sorry.” Miley Cyrus reposted it. Apple also criticized the Grammys for nominating Dr. Luke under a pseudonym in 2020, saying, “I keep going back to them putting Kesha on stage like, ‘We believe you’ — and I believe her — then two years later, f***ing Tyson Trax…I wonder if I can get all these [fellow Grammy-nominated] ladies to boycott this sh** because of Dr. Luke.” 

A further, convoluted, layer of the Kesha v. Dr. Luke lawsuit would come to light in 2018. In an old subpoenaed text, Kesha told Lady Gaga that Dr. Luke sexually assaulted her. Kesha also told Lady Gaga that Dr. Luke had sexually assaulted another one of his clients, Katy Perry. In one text, Kesha wrote, “[Perry] could bring the whole thing to a head…she was raped by the same man.” Gaga replied, “she’s not as strong as u yet.” Because of this, both Gaga and Perry were called to testify by Dr. Luke’s team. 

Gaga would argue in support of Kesha, telling the court, “That girl has experienced serious trauma and she is in the middle of it right now. And you are all a party to it.” Among other things, Gaga shared that the first time she met Kesha, she was in the back room of Dr. Luke’s studio, wearing only underwear. A sex abuse survivor herself, Gaga reportedly became angry with Dr. Luke’s lawyers. “Why on earth would this girl tell the entire world this happened? Why on earth? Do you know what it’s like for survivors? Do you know what it’s like to tell people? Don’t you roll your eyes at me. You should be ashamed of yourself.”

Katy Perry’s testimony was more neutral. When asked by the court if she had been assaulted by Dr. Luke, Perry said “Absolutely not.” She expressed annoyance at Dr. Luke, saying, “He knows I’m a tie breaker. Because when I say that I wasn’t raped, because I was not, that means that someone’s lying.” Perry stated she “want[s] to stay out of it,” because “I know them both and I empathize with both of them and obviously it’s a horrible situation for both of them. And the only two people that know what really went on are those two people. But Luke was using me as a pawn because it’s a good play.” In 2020, the judge ruled that due to Kesha’s text to Gaga being false, she would have to pay Dr. Luke’s label $373,671.88.

While Kesha’s case against Luke is now dismissed, Luke’s defamation suit against Kesha is still ongoing. The updates on this case are few and far between, but still noteworthy. In June of 2021, the judge ruled that Kesha will be able to seek damages for her battle if she wins the trial. This decision was reversed a few weeks ago. In August of 2021, new legal documents from 2011 regarding Kesha were unsealed. These documents show Kesha had accused Dr. Luke of rape back in 2005, eleven years before officially coming forward. She was eighteen years old. 

Kim Petras 

Before Kim Petras was a musician, she was a sound bite. At sixteen, she became one of the youngest people to ever undergo sex reassignment surgery. She had started campaigning for it at thirteen, appearing in a documentary and going on talk shows. Germany’s legal minimum age for sex-reassignment surgery is eighteen, but Petras persisted. The result was national coverage of her transition, and her being dubbed the “world’s youngest transsexual.” In 2008, the surgery was completed. Petras then said, “I was asked if I feel like a woman now – but the truth is I have always felt like a woman – I just ended up in the wrong body.”

In 2017, at twenty-five years old, Petras released her debut single. The sparkly “I Don’t Want It At All” has been described as brat pop. Lyrics like “I want all my clothes designer / I want someone else to buy ‘em” are punctuated by droll “yeah”s. It’s the kind of glossy, super-catchy song that you could imagine dominating the radio in 2009. Petras described it as “heavily inspired by [Madonna’s] ‘Material Girl’ and just all the great songs about bratty girls getting whatever the hell they want. It’s a fantasy song about like if my bratty side came out and had a ball.” The music video is an explosion of technicolor Barbie dreams, complete with a cameo from real-life spoiled heiress Paris Hilton. 

The song may not have exploded in the typical sense–only reaching #54 on the Billboard US Dance Club Songs chart–but in the digital age, there are a million online niches for every chart-adjacent music taste. Petras grabbed the attention of retro pop music devotees, the kind of people who visit the r/popheads subreddit daily, and speak of Ariana Grande’s 2016 hit “Into You” in hushed tones. The kind of people who’d ignore that the song was produced by Dr. Luke.

As far as artistry goes, Petras’ music is purposefully surface level. She told Galore that she writes “about boys, heartbreak, sex, having fun and the things that I go through.” This is part of what makes her so noncommercial in modern times. Nowadays, every artist has a dramatic backstory, and even upbeat hit songs are required a sad or dark edge. Hip-hop and rap have also risen to the top, reigning higher than any bubblegum-pop dared to. In response, people have begun calling themselves “poptimists.” It’s a catch-all term for people who think pop should be taken seriously. Artists like Charli XCX, Robyn, Tinashe, and Carly Rae Jepsen, who have fallen out of favor with the charts, but still make catchy music, can find a home in poptimism. Newer arrivals like SOPHIE, Liz Y2K, 100 gecs, and Slayyyter experiment within the hot pink poptimism bubble. 

Kim Petras has not only joined this crowd, but made it more diverse. She’s collaborated with Charli XCX twice now, on 2017’s “Unlock It” and 2019’s “Click.” SOPHIE featured on earlier single “1, 2, 3 Dayz Up.” Because of Petras being a trans woman, each new accomplishment has a “first'' attached to it. She was the first trans performer to headline the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, as well as the first out trans performer to perform at the Video Music Awards. Though Petras may not discuss her gender identity in her music, her success is still seen as a step forward for the trans community.

Old r/popheads threads discussing her music are overwhelmingly positive. When her dance-pop single “Heart to Break” was released in 2018, one user commented, “I can’t believe Kim Petras invented music.” In 2017, Nasty Galaxy dubbed her the “new princess of pop.” This joyous reception would dampen, as it became clear that Dr. Luke would appear on each new Kim Petras song. To this date, every song Petras has ever released includes a Dr. Luke production credit. 

This is where things get murkier. Kesha came forward in 2014. Petras released her first song with Dr. Luke in 2017. Petras likely would’ve known about Dr. Luke’s allegations when she signed to him. So, one might conclude she should stop working with him. But will she? Petras’ statements about Dr. Luke are often vague, and contradictory- in April of 2018, she told NME, “I would like my fans to know that I wouldn’t work with somebody I believe to be an abuser of women, definitely not.” This was seen as negating Kesha’s experiences by implication. 

In June of that same year, she would make a series of tweets further muddying the water. “While I’ve been open and honest about my positive experience with Dr. Luke, that does not negate or dismiss the experience of others or suggest that multiple experiences cannot exist at once,” she wrote. “I do want to express my sympathy for any and all abuse victims.” 

In a 2019 interview with Genius, she stated the situation was about “a lawsuit that I don’t want to talk about, that I have nothing to do with.” When the interviewer asked why she hadn’t cut ties with the producer, Petras was more blunt. “[H]e signed me. It’s like that.” It’s easy to imagine her contract being incredibly strict, considering Kesha’s fight to leave hers. The idea that Petras can’t leave her contract, even if she wants to, is enough for some. But not others. 

When Buzzfeed News interviewed her in 2021, she shared a few, guarded thoughts on the matter. The interviewer noted that when Dr. Luke was brought up, “Petras’s publicist got uncomfortable…she broke in: ‘That’s not a fair question to ask her.’” As for Petras, she would remark, “I just feel like a lot of it is like getting transferred to me. A lot of people like to blame it on the women,” and would later say she felt like “a punching bag.” Not once in any of her statements has Petras mentioned Kesha - an omission too loud to ignore. 

Perhaps journalist Jared Richard summed up reception to Petras’ statements best back in 2019. He was tasked to interview her for Junkee, but chose not to ask about Dr. Luke. His explanation: “I weighed up whether to ask Petras the same questions she’s been asked in every single interview I’ve read before, and ultimately, in the moment, I decide there is no real point. She’s already extensively spoken about it, the words rarely changing, let alone their substance.”

In August of 2021, Kim Petras officially signed with Republic Records. Some were celebratory--one r/popheads user wrote, “Now she’s in a more secure position in the industry hopefully she’ll drop Dr. Luke. It’s not like she needs him anymore, Republic can afford decent songwriters/producers.” Others were quick to point out that Petras had signed to Amigo Records, a subsidiary of Republic Records run by Dr. Luke. This could mean her contract with Dr. Luke was simply ongoing. It could also mean she re-signed to him. The latter is how a lot of people viewed it, and that is the environment in which Slut Pop arrived. 

Slut Pop

Slut Pop is Petras’ first release under Republic Records, and it arrived with little fanfare–not even a single. All tracks are produced with Dr. Luke, with zero other collaborators. The EP features song titles like “Throat Goat” and “They Wanna F***.” To hear Petras tell it, the overly sexual nature of the EP is empowering. In an interview with Paper, she talked about the writing process: “People don’t take people seriously — women, especially — who sing slutty songs or songs about sex, and write it off as not being important. I think that’s so stupid…so I was like, ‘You know what? I make slut pop. And I’m proud of that. And you can suck it if you don’t take me seriously. I don’t care.’” 

The reception of Slut Pop so far has been mixed. Forbes praised it’s sex-positive nature, writing that women “explicitly celebrating their sexuality in music is by no means…new, but it’s certainly uncharted territory for a transgender singer like Petras to write lyrics like those her cis counterparts have been writing for decades.” Beyond the Stage heralded Slut Pop as “nothing but a success. The songs are smooth, energetic, and, most importantly, unashamed.” Conversely, Rolling Stone published an article titled “The Dirtiest Thing about…Slut Pop? It’s produced by Dr. Luke.” The article mainly talks about backlash on social media, of which there has been lots. “#FreeKesha” trended on Twitter following the EP’s release, along with many angry tweets.

Journalist Jordan Page tweeted, “[S]omething v off with kim petras' new EP being titled 'slut pop'...and it being entirely produced by dr luke... a man surrounded with notorious accusations of sexual harassment and assault?” User @CulturePopp replied, “We totally agree! It’s like on one side we really want to promote @kimpetras as a trans icon, but her association with Dr Luke can’t be ignored.” It wasn’t just Twitter, either–the comments section on Petras’ TikTok account was soon flooded. “[W]hyd you say kesha was lying?” wrote user xxerrol. Others simply commented “Free Kesha.”

People also took issue with Petras name-dropping Lady Gaga on “Throat Goat.” The lyric goes, “These lips go ‘la-la-la’ / This throat, Lady Gaga.” Petras also named Lady Gaga as an influence on the EP. #FreeKesha organizer Chris Steadman tweeted about it, saying, “Lady Gaga said that testifying in support of Kesha in her legal battle with Dr. Luke caused her to have a breakdown. Now, Gaga is name-dropped in a song co-written and produced by Luke…Very gross.”

Petras seems caught up in a series of paradoxes. Working with Dr. Luke is how she makes her music, but working with Dr. Luke turns people off to her music. She clearly wants to be popular, but the more popular she is, the more attention given is to her controversial collaborator. One week after the album’s release, she tweeted, “Im gonna answer some of your questions about Slut Pop with @TwitterMusic what do u wanna kno?” garnering 1,857 likes. User @KushAndLyrikz2 replied, “We wanna know why you keep working with Dr. Luke?” garnering 2,087 likes. It’s easy to look at that, and say that the backlash is now too loud for Petras to ignore. 

However, Twitter likes are not the only numbers worth paying attention to here. On February 22nd, 2022, Slut Pop debuted at #1 on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums Chart. It marks her first #1. This is still far from mainstream success, but it’s a big step forward in Petras’ career. Anger over her involvement with Dr. Luke isn’t going away–but it seems, neither is she. 

Doja Cat, Amigo Records, and Dr. Luke’s Future

Approaching the white-hot center of the pop world, is Doja Cat. The singer, rapper and songwriter is successful by the usual metrics–platinum albums, top ten hits–but also by the strange, bendable rules set in the digital age. Her songs frequently go viral on Tiktok, her Instagram Lives are historic, and her Twitter presence is simultaneously famous and infamous. Doja’s breakthrough hit, “Say So,” was the rare song to have two viral TikTok trends, a Nicki Minaj remix, and a Guiness World Record attached to its name. Mic declared her “a star whose identity is embedded into the internet.” 

Of course, you don’t get this well-known without a few controversies. Doja has them in spades: old homophobic tweets, allegations of being in white supremacist chatrooms, and criticism for working with Dr. Luke. Defenders of Doja Cat will say there’s a few important differences between Doja and Kim Petras. This is true. For one, Doja Cat signed with Dr. Luke roughly eight months before Kesha came forward. Secondly, Dr. Luke only appears on Doja’s singles. Occasionally his name will pop up on an album track, but it’s a far cry from the whole albums he’s produced for Petras.

Maybe the most-cited piece in defense of Doja is her blasé 2021 interview with Rolling Stone. Doja comes off as extremely human in the article–an introvert who loves her cats and is tired of touring. It’s clearly written by someone who developed a semi-close relationship with her. Maybe this is why, halfway through, Doja pulls the curtain back on Dr. Luke entirely. When asked about him, she says, “I haven’t worked with him in a very long time.” Then, “A lot of those songs were . . .There’s shit that he’s credited for, where I’m like, ‘Hmm, I don’t know, I don’t know if you did anything on that.’”

The interviewer presses. Doja elaborates: “The point is he’s gotten some credit for shit. And, you know, it’s whatever. I don’t think I need to work with him again. I don’t think I need to work with him in the future. I know that.” On her most recent album, Planet Her, Dr. Luke only received three production credits. Doja would send a follow-up email to Rolling Stone, stating, “When asked about Luke I may have said something that someone could interpret as me saying that he had taken credit on things he didn’t deserve to. I just want to be clear that I have no firsthand knowledge of that being the case and I don’t want to participate in the rumor mill. The credits on my music are accurate, and I don’t want to imply anything else.”

This was largely seen as confirmation that Dr. Luke takes credit for songs he didn’t write. Combined with the strict contracts he’s placed on Kesha and (possibly) other artists, a clear-cut narrative emerges where everyone except Dr. Luke is a victim. This is how some can “separate the art from the artist.” It’s a phrase that comes up often next to Luke’s name. Some can easily divorce the creation from the creator, and that’s perfectly fine.

'The concrete fact remains: when you stream a song that Dr. Luke produced, you are giving him money. On streaming services, that’s usually a fraction of a cent per stream. The individual choice on whether to stream or not, appears meaningless. It’s not. “Say So,” Doja Cat’s number one hit, was also Dr. Luke’s first number one hit in five years. To celebrate Kim Petras and Doja Cat is to celebrate Dr. Luke.  ​

Dr. Luke is officially nominated at the 2022 Grammy Awards, for his work on Planet Her (Deluxe). Whether he’ll win, remains to be seen. With Amigo Records, he may not need to.  The label was launched as an imprint of Republic Records. This implies a deal between Dr. Luke and Republic Records. After being dropped by Sony, he’s back in the industry again. Doja, so far, has not signed to Amigo Records. Joy Oladokun, a queer, female singer-songwriter, and Kim Petras are currently it’s only signees. Right now, Petras is working on an ‘official’ debut studio album, and it will likely be released under the label. While backlash on social media is massive, the music industry at large is much different. There’s no way to tell if Dr. Luke’s return will get bigger, or fizzle out. We can only pray no one gets hurt.