esha’s very first single is still just as much of a bop today as it was 15 years ago, but there is one part of “TiK ToK” that hasn’t aged well. The opening lyric is less of a party-starter and more of a downer after various lawsuits were filed accusing P. Diddy of sexual assault, trafficking, and other violent crimes at the end of 2023 and throughout 2024. In light of the allegations, Kesha made a small but very meaningful change to her lyrics in recent performances. And now, she’s going to make her new version permanent by re-recording “TiK ToK.”
Last November, Kesha made her first alteration to the opening of “TiK ToK,” changing the line, “Wake up in the morning feeling like P. Diddy” to “Wake up in the morning feeling like just me.” Then, when she joined Reneé Rapp on-stage at Coachella in April, she made a much more pointed change: “Wake up in the morning like, ‘F*ck P. Diddy,” she screamed.
The change isn’t just for her live performances. On the 15th anniversary of “TiK ToK,” Kesha announced her plans to re-record the song with the new “f*ck P. Diddy” line. “I absolutely love the new lyric change,” Kesha wrote in a lengthy social media note. “Yes it is permanent. I will re-record it when I have legal rights to!”
It’s unclear when Kesha will be able to drop this re-recording, since she specified she doesn’t currently have the legal rights to “TiK ToK” in her post. But it certainly sounds like she’s working to get this done.
In the rest of her 15th anniversary message, Kesha wrote about how despite all she’s been through in her career, “TiK ToK” still has the power to bring her back to her fun-filled early pop-star days.
“TiK ToK was the first single that I put into this world that had my voice AND my name credited!!!! I remember making it fun and happy because that’s how I felt and wanted others to feel,” Kesha wrote. “What I’m so proud of is that’s how this song STILL makes me feel, through it all, and those are emotions I want all of us to connect to. 15 (!!!!!!) years later, I see this song as a snapshot into the way I saw the world at the time. That girl was naive and wild and playful. This song eternalizes a side of myself that I love very much, and now see I have to protect fiercely. The world has changed so much and so have I.”