Kesha‘s music has always been difficult to clearly define since her debut in 2009. Now, she falls into “recession pop” alongside Lady Gaga and Katy Perry. But really, her influences and stylistic explorations go beyond a simple label.
For example, there’s the time she made an entire album with experimental psych-rock band The Flaming Lips in 2012. In the throes of her fame—and still rocking the dollar sign in her stage name—Kesha recorded at least 10 songs with The Flaming Lips. That album has since been lost to time, with Kesha revealing in 2019 that she had “no idea” what happened to it. Still, the Lip$ha that could have been remains an interesting look into unexpected inspiration.
Around January 2012, Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips expressed interest in collaborating with Kesha, who was working on her second LP Warrior at the time. Aware that Kesha was a fan of his band, Coyne said a collab would be a “perfect match.”
Together with Biz Markie and Hour Of The Time Majesty 12, The Flaming Lips and Kesha recorded “2012 (You Must Be Upgraded.” This song appeared on the band’s 14th album The Flaming Lips and Heady Fwends. It was also the start of their unlikely collaboration.
Kesha and the flaming lips hoped to release collab album, but circumstances prevented it
In March 2012, Coyne and Kesha were in the planning stages of new material. These talks would become the foundation of their collaborative album, Lip$ha. Around the time of the initial collab, he and Kesha created three other songs that were possibly due to be released on Warrior.
Speaking with Pitchfork in 2012, Coyne shared details about his work with Kesha, including how they initially met. “She’s a Flaming Lips fan,” he said. “When she played here in Oklahoma over the summer, she tweeted something like, ‘If anybody knows the Flaming Lips tell them to come up.’”
Later, Coyne urged her management to get them in contact with each other, which led to Kesha sending him a text. Three days later, he said, they were recording “2012” at Kesha’s house in Nashville.
“I like her so much because she’s just willing to be a freak,” Coyne continued. “I’m around a lot of rock star people, and there’s just so much f—ing pandering and drama. She’s not like that. It’s such a great relief to be around people that are so energetic, creative, funny, and into life.”
The possibility of ‘lip$ha’ seeing the light of day in kesha’s new era
When asked about his plans to contribute to Warrior, Coyne explained that he was “trying to.” He continued, “I think we’re getting together right before Easter. We’ve already done three songs– they’re hers, I’m helping with some lyrics here and there.”
One of the songs they worked on was “Past Lives,” which did make it onto Warrior. Other tracks included “Futuristic Sex Toys” and “You Control My Heart,” but no full-length releases of those have since come out.
In 2013, Coyne told The Hollywood Reporter that he and Kesha were releasing a collab. “She is a blast on all levels,” he said. “She’s funny, she’s humble, she’s badass, she’s everything, she’s awesome. We’re actually already working on an album with her. It’s called Lip$ha.”
However, in 2014, Kesha’s abusive business relationship and controlling contract with Dr. Luke put a halt to Lip$ha‘s release. There was hope that the Flaming Lips x Kesha collab could drop once Kesha was free of her recording contract, but for a long time that seemed like a far off prospect.
In 2019, Kesha allegedly stated that she had “no idea” what happened to the recordings she did with The Flaming Lips. However, in July 2025, before releasing her latest album Period, Kesha told The Fader that she was looking into releasing Lip$ha on her new label, Kesha Records.
Although she clarified, “I’m not sure what I legally can do,” there’s still hope for these songs to be released into the world. Speaking about Period to Billboard, Kesha stated, “I wanted to reclaim my joy on my own terms.” Perhaps her newfound freedom also includes looking back on exploratory passion projects.
Photo by Lisa Lake/Getty Images for Welcome America, Inc
The post Kesha Made A Whole Album With The Flaming Lips, But Has “No Idea” Where It Went appeared first on VICE.
