Kesha Supports Kim Petras in Republic Records Fight By Commiserating Over Her Own Label Battle: ‘Freedom Isn’t a Privilege, It’s a Birthright’
Petras, who has formally asked Republic Records to drop her, also got support from Grimes, who said the current music industry model is set up to "actively dissuade" innovation.
After Kim Petras made a public plea to get out of her record deal with Republic Records amid claims that it has reportedly paused the release of her next album, some of her fellow pop stars with label battle experience have stepped up to get her back.
Petras wrote on Tuesday (Jan. 20) that she was “tired of having no control over my own life or career,” saying she wanted to continue to self-fund and self-curate her own music, resulting in her request to get dropped by Republic
Kesha jumped into the conversation a short time later with a super-supportive comment, writing, “I spent many years fighting for the rights to myself. Watching another woman realize that the ‘golden cage’ is still a cage isn’t a victory — it’s a tragedy we have to stop repeating. Freedom isn’t a privilege; it’s a birthright. I hear you, I’m sorry Kim.”
Kesha knows this story from experience, having reached a settlement in her years-long battle with ex-producer and Kemosabe Records label boss Dr. Luke in 2023 before launching her independent Kesha Records, through which she released her sixth studio album, last year’s .(Period).
In an earlier post, Petras wrote, “I want to continue to self fund and self curate my own music. This is why I have formally requested to be dropped @RepublicRecords.” Petras claimed that her label has “refused” to set a release date for her next album, Detour, which the singer said had been done for six months, also claiming that the label had not yet paid her collaborators on the album for their work. Petras’ most recent album was her sophomore release, 2023’s Problématique, which followed her Grammy-winning collab with Sam Smith on “Unholy,” which spent one week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in October 2022.
Grimes also weighed in via a lengthy post in which she said that “every artist I’ve ever was in some point in a terrible label situation,” adding that “the label economic model is based on hits. U sign to a label because of the promise that if a song is going they can throw gasoline on it. No amount of advice seems to be able to convince enough artists to stop signing to labels cuz u rly do need to learn this first hand (even I did).”
The “Flesh Without Blood” singer also suggested that the “main music” that can succeed on the charts these days is “by theatre kids since they have higher pain tolerance and even exuberant joy about performing and therefore can thrive in environments like tik tok. And it is importsnt to keep space for this type of music.”
Grimes also railed against venture capital firms buying up artist’s catalogs, claiming that “every economic incentive in the world has lined up to actively dissuade new music and especially innovative music. The artists I currently consider the pantheon of modern innovators would have been a LOT more successful ten years ago.” And while she admitted that it’s “a LOT” to ask fans to understand the complexity of the modern music biz, Grimes wrote that this moment might represent a “cool opportunity for fans to carve out new models of distribution.”
Billboard reached out to Republic Records for comment on Petras’ posts.
Petras signed to the Monte and Avery Lipman-founded Republic label in summer 2021. Less than two years later, she and Smith won best pop duo/group performance for “Unholy,” at the 2023 Grammys, making Petras the first openly trans artist to win a Recording Academy award. Later that year, Petras presented Republic with the label of the year award at Billboard‘s Power 100 party, saying, “I strongly, strongly, deeply agree with this assessment: Republic Records, best label ever.”
Petras had a busy 2025, dropping three singles last year: “Polo,” “Freak It” and “I Like Ur Look.” She also told fans this week that no matter what happens with her Republic deal, “I’m dropping Detour regardless.”
