Crazy Kids

Album: Warrior (2012)
Charted: 27 40
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Songfacts®:

  • This whistle-laden live-for-the moment tune finds Kesha reverting back to the irreverent pop-rap style of her debut release, Animal. The queen of the white-trash outcasts does not pull any punches as she spits nonchalant cuss-filled rhymes. "I'm fresher than that Gucci. Them boys, they want my coochie," she raps. "I say no, I'm no hoochie, our homegirl hating, I say, 'Who's she?'" Kesha explained in her official track-by-track commentary: "'Crazy Kids' is an anthem for people like me, my animals and many people in the world who are crazy and not afraid to show it, and actually proud of it."
  • Kesha's longtime collaborators Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Gottwald, Benny Blanco and Cirkut, supplied the grimey beat. They are the same trio who produced the first two singles from Warrior, "Die Young" and "C'Mon."
  • The lyrics were inspired by a birthday party of Kesha's, which she described as, "one crazy night." "That particular birthday was really bad... and fun. But at the end of the night, I was having so much fun, at like 7 a.m.; I was literally jumping by myself on a mini trampoline going 'I'm having so much fun.' And then, for my birthday party, I got a tattoo artist, so everybody [who] came could get a tattoo to remember the night," she recalled to MTV News. "And so I couldn't figure out what to get so I just got 'fun' tattooed on my foot. So now I have a tattoo to remember that night."

    Kesha added that she was also inspired by her equally crazy fans. "As I look around the room, there's a lot of kids with glitter and wild style and you like to express yourself, right? I feel like for those of us that like to express ourselves and aren't so concerned with being super-duper normal, that you're called kind of crazy a lot," she said. "And instead of it being a negative thing, I wanted it to be an anthem like, 'Yeah we're crazy!'"
  • This was released as the third single from Warrior on April 29, 2013. Kesha recorded two remixes for the single version. The first official remix has a new verse by Will.i.am, who co-penned the original song. Kesha's second verse is omitted completely in favor of Will.i.am's verse. The second official remix, which features Pitbull, follows the same formula as the Will.i.am remix and also has the song's second verse removed in favor of Pitbull's new verse. Kesha previously worked with the rapper when she guested on his 2009 track "Girls."
  • Kesha told MTV News about will.i.am's verse for the celebratory jam: "He and I wrote the song together, so it seemed like a natural thing for him to be on it, and his verse is really funny; he talks about boobies. Anytime somebody says anything about boobies, it's great — love it."
  • A third remix featuring rapper Juicy J was sent to US Rhythmic radio and became available for purchase as a digital download on May 21, 2013. When the song debuted on the Hot 100 it was credited as by Kesha featuring will.i.am or Juicy J.
  • Kesha revealed to Australian radio show Kyle and Jackie O. how the collaboration with will.i.am came about. "We were both playing our music as loud as we could and trying to outdo each other and then we met in the hallway and decided to do it together," she explained.

    "He's totally crazy," she added. "No matter where I go in the world, everyone calls me crazy and he was like, 'me too!' and I was like, 'We should make a declaration and say we're proud of it.' Afterwards we went out and we were racing in the middle of the street just like running 'cause we were so excited about the song!"

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