Kesha's 2010 tune "Cannibal" has left a lingering, unsavory impression on certain listeners. Although she grasps the reasons behind their distaste, she was prepared to take that artistic gamble. Thus, when "Cannibal" sparked a dance craze on TikTok in 2020, particularly the verse where she crooned, "Use your finger to stir my tea / And for dessert I'll suck your teeth / Be too sweet and you'll be a gonner / Yeah, I'll pull a Jeffrey Dahmer," the singer (born Kesha Rose Sebert) remained unperturbed. Not everyone, however, appreciated her lyrical nod to the serial killer who dismembered 17 boys and young men between 1978 and 1991.
"Oh my God, I got re-canceled for the Jeffrey Dahmer lyric," Kesha confessed in an interview with People published on July 3. "It was a controversial lyric, indeed." Yet, she added, "If some people aren't offended by what I'm doing, I'm probably not pushing the boundaries enough as a pop star."
Dahmer, who met his demise in prison in 1994, was eerily thrust back into the limelight this century with the premiere of Ryan Murphy's limited series "DAHMER—Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story" on Netflix in 2022, starring Evan Peters as the infamous killer. In response to accusations that the show (nominated for six Emmys) exploited Dahmer's victims, Murphy revealed during a Q&A panel that his team "reached out to around 20 of the victims' families and friends seeking input, trying to engage with people, but not a single person responded during that process."
When the Murphy series sparked a renewed wave of backlash aimed at her daughter, Kesha's mother, Pebe Sebert, stepped in to defend her. "The whole Jeffrey Dahmer lyric in 'Cannibal' is causing quite a stir right now," Pebe stated in a TikTok video in October 2022. "I thought I'd share a few thoughts on it because that was actually a line I wrote for 'Cannibal.'"
Pebe clarified that Kesha and her cowriter were "too young to even know" who Dahmer was at the time. Enter Mom and the Songwriters computer program. "We were searching for a rhyme for 'goner,' and at the very end of the rhyming list was Jeffrey Dahmer," Pebe explained. "I thought, 'Oh, my God, that's the perfect lyric!'"
Kesha is well aware that not all lyrics age well. She has already altered a line from her 2010 hit "Tik Tok," changing "Wake up in the mornin' feelin' like P. Diddy" to "Wake up in the morning feeling like, f--k P. Diddy!" Overall, though, the 38-year-old has embraced the opportunity for TikTok users to engage with her music in fresh ways.
"I feel like the manner in which people consume music is vastly different from what it used to be, and it will probably continue to evolve even further," Kesha told People. "But it's wonderful to witness a song like 'Your Love Is My Drug,' which you wrote, gosh, 15 years ago, and now have 7-year-olds relating to it."
