With Kesha on a nonstop journey of independence, it’s only right that she should continue to self-direct her music videos. As she also did for “Joyride,” “Boy Crazy,” “Red Flag” and, now, “Origami.” The latest single from her post-Kesha Records era (marked most notably by the release of her sixth album, Period). As with “Joyride” and “Boy Crazy,” Kesha opted to co-direct this particular choreography-heavy visual, again tapping Brett Loudermilk and Zain Curtis (who also helped co-direct “Boy Crazy”) to capture the essence of the song’s homage to Kama Sutra-level “twisty-turny” antics in the boudoir (and at one point in the song, she even does mention the “hallowed text,” singing, “Practice that Kama Sutra”). In fact, Kesha’s lascivious listing of all the positions and places that she and the object of her affection might try their “human origami experiment” is, at times, reminiscent of, like, a white girl’s version of Ludacris’ “What’s Your Fantasy.”
Take, for example, the verse, “Let’s get experimental/Turn me into your pretzel/We can do a little do-si-do/Take me to Tokyo/To the bedroom, to the kitchen/To the bathroom, at the addition/In the Uber to the airport/To the penthouse, on the top floor.” So, yes, like Luda, Kesha has plenty of ideas for where they can do it. Listing every milieu from a general city (Tokyo) to different rooms of the house. Though one place she definitely should have mentioned and didn’t is Italy. For it recently came up on Call Her Daddy that, as Kesha put it, “I’m celibate except for when I’m in Italy.” That’s when, understandably, all her will for “abstinence” is understandably much lower. So maybe that’s part of why she wanted to honor the way said country and its people make her feel “down there” by commencing the video with a scene of her entering a confessional with a veil on, sitting down, lighting a cigarette and declaring, “Perdonami, Padre. Perché io ho peccato” (“Forgive me, Father. For I have sinned”). The somewhat overeager priest (with an accent that’s little better than Kesha’s when he speaks Italian) replies, “Dimmi tutto” (“Tell me everything”). Kesha continues, “Lo sai che io ho fatto celibato.” (“You know I’ve been celibate”). She then makes the “sort of” hand gesture with the one holding her cigarette as she adds, “Quasi” (“Almost,” which she translates to “Mostly”). Breaking down her long dry spell into numerical form with: “Per otto mesi, dieci giorni e venti ore, ma…” (“For eight months, ten days and twenty hours”). The priest then asks, “I sogni sono…tornati?” (“Are the dreams back?”). Kesha confirms, “Si, Padre” (“Yes, Father”). To which the priest finally demands, “Cosa vedi?” (“What do you see?”).
And that’s when the now signature opening line—a simple high-pitched, vocally-warped “Hey!”—introduces the nature of some of those dreams Kesha is having. Ones that involve the orgiastic joining of human bodies. To create that effect, Kesha tapped into some serious choreo (thanks to Robbie Blue). The kind she hadn’t done since 2012’s “Die Young” video. Which would have been around the time that Dr. Luke compared her body to a “fat fucking refrigerator.” To be sure, Kesha alluded to that herself by remarking, “The last time I danced in a video was for ‘Die Young’…which let’s just say wasn’t the most empowering experience for me (Animals, iykyk) so this video not only felt like a total reclaiming of that moment but also a chance to dance and have FUN! And be in my body…because it’s MINE & that’s what freedom means to me!!!! Majorrr thanks to the cast & crew for bringing my dream to life.”
No longer made to feel shame about her body and her talent by some sleazoid, two-bit Svengali, Kesha does look as comfortable in her own skin as ever. And even incorporated the orgiastic choreography of “Die Young” (during which she portrays a cult leader—something she’s always been committed to, it would seem) into the look/physical maneuvering of “Origami” (along with some vogueing-style hand flourishes-meets-the kind Madonna was also doing while performing “Shanti/Ashtangi” during the 1998 VMAs). Her decision to do so is a testament to just how much Kesha has not only “made peace” with that tumultuous era of her life, but also reclaimed it as her own.
In the process, it just so also happens to look as if she’s made a Skims campaign on spec, perhaps unwittingly petitioning Kim Kardashian to consider her as the next spokesperson for the brand. Because, yes, everyone is wearing flesh-toned “underthings” that seem to coordinate with their skin tone. This being the other reason that the video reads like a Skims ad: Kesha is very adamant about her inclusivity steez. Unlike many other pop stars, mind you (*cough cough* Taylor Swift).
The casting selection is no doubt Kesha’s “subtle” way of saying, I’m down to fuck whoever. And, at about the the one-minute-eleven-second mark, that shines through with the positioning of her and her dancers, some of the male ones in question even going so far as to be in “ass-eating” pose toward the dancers they’re holding up over their heads. In the next scene, a white backdrop is traded out for a more neutral tan one as Kesha appears at the center of a bacchanalian gathering wearing a white lace blindfold (here, again, she’s looking very much the cult leader). Surrounding her are revelers (including the man who plays the priest at the beginning, holding up some actual origami in his hands, two women in the foreground who are positioned as if they’re scissoring and a man holding a pitcher he’s about to pour over the woman on bended knee waiting to “receive” his “gift”). Revelers who appear to be heeding the very same command Kesha made in 2012 on “Die Young”: “Take my hand, I’ll show you the wild side.”
For, if anyone can take you there, it’s still her. As further evidenced by such prurient lyrics as, “Boy, come bend me how you want me/Make me origami.” This said in the video as she’s facing forward with her legs around a man’s torso (he himself positioned in a seated “stretching” pose with his legs outwardly spread) and letting out a raucous scream in the form of, “Ah!” A pleasure-laden exclamation that punctuates the tone of pursuing only that which makes one feel physically good (something that can often only happen when they feel emotionally good too, as Kesha does in the present).
As the video continues, Kesha offers up more twisty-turny scenes that serve as a spotlight on the value of bedroom flexibility. There’s also some pantomiming of pussy-eating and plenty of “unstaged” licking in general. In the final frame, there’s a close-up shot on Kesha’s face with the dancers’ hands forming a “circle” around her face (in this regard and a few others, it has certain similarities to her “Eat the Acid” [not “Eat the Ass”] visualizer). A note to end on that possibly indicates Kesha still wants to emphasize that attraction is about more than the body. The face is just as important (if not more so, to be honest). It’s just that the face can’t do that same kind of “origami shit” that the body can (especially if it’s been Botox’d).
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