So I made an account just to talk in this thread because I wanted to share my own thoughts on the situation. I'd really appreciate if anyone who does read reads in full, but I'll attach a tldr at the end.
So...Kim. Kim's kind of an interesting character because her first exposure to the spotlight wasn't really something she could control or something that she necessarily did. She was herself and the world at the time found that so incredibly baffling that they had to comment and make a story. While this is good for visibility and I'm sure Kim appreciated being able to share herself, at the same time it almost immediately branded her as "other" wherever she went. She was now a public symbol for transgender individuals at the mere age of 16 in a society that was much less accepting than it is now (which isn't an amazing feat, the world hasn't progressed that much if you've kept up with anything in the news).
This no doubt, as she has said and we can infer from the time period, was getting in the way of her wanting to be a "pop star". Most labels weren't interested in signing LGBT artists, especially not trans artists; majority of her first musical creations were collabs with artists that had zero genre resemblance to the material that she was trying to front. Then, eventually, we got her EP "One Piece of Tape" produced by some underground DJs. For what it is it's certainly not garbage, but it's not good. Fast forward to 2014 which is when she met Aaron Joseph at a Halloween party.
Kesha filed her lawsuit against Dr. Luke the same month that year. It came as a shock to the greater public, but behind the scenes it wasn't surprising at all. Unless you were part of the in group, you didn't know about the horrible things that Kesha endured under this man and his grip was far too tight for many people to speak out and not face some sort of industry blackballing. This was a very large case that many people were hesitant to speak on as there was a lot of information not publicly available and while, looking back, we see the signs; there was no clear-cut consensus to navigate through the information. Between 2014 and 2015, amidst the lack of information and opinion, is when Kim Petras was ultimately signed to Luke. This has been confirmed by Aaron, who says that Luke wanted to sign them as soon as they had sent in their music. This story isn't so different from some other artists who were signed by Luke, but there is a separate circumstance.
At this time, Luke knew his reputation was likely to begin declining (which it did) and that more information would inevitably come out about him. Kim was a young blonde who could maybe make a few hits, the perfect red haring. While a publishing deal and a record signing are not necessarily the same, both can be equally as exploitative; even more so without the record label as there's no other staff who could speak for the artist in the chance it needs to happen. I'm sure it seemed sunshine and rainbows for a brief period of time while working on her first singles in 2015-2016, but 2016-2017 is when the public opinion on Dr Luke took full swing into the negative. What I feel many people forget is that it wasn't until mid-2016 that people actually started cutting of Luke, almost two years after the initial lawsuit was filed and during those two years where he still had a reputation, it made "sense" for Kim to sign with him as a struggling young artist who could be molded in whatever way he wanted. An NDA was likely signed in conjunction with the publishing contract, forbidding Kim to speak ill or give specific details about Luke without fear of repercussions.
Some may say "Doja spoke out" or "Becky G spoke out", but those two already had established careers with success and spoke out years after the lawsuit started. If Luke had retaliated, they had the means to fight back. Kim doesn't. As much some (yt) gays love to hype her up, and while she's certainly made some achievements, she's not a successful artist; she never has been and from the looks of her current mess it seems she never will be. However, I don't think it's "karma" that she's in this mess. I personally feel she was preyed upon like many other vulnerable young women in the industry and tried to make the best of what she could with it, which wasn't much because it just increasingly got worse. There is a significant time gap from where public opinion of Luke sided with Kesha and Kim's signing of a publishing deal which I think is often overlooked out of frustration and I think it's best that we remind ourselves we don't know what goes on behind closed doors. We aren't that IN group. Kesha has even lied because of the power that Luke has held over her and her career. While Kim might have said some questionable public statements; as a communications worker myself they seem more like scripted PR than anything.
TLDR We should remind ourselves that producers have a lot of power over artists and can make them say or do things that they wouldn't normally do. There is a significant period of time before public opinion shifted on Luke that might have had many producers and friends recommending Kim take the publishing deal, which given the time frame might have been much more strict and back-alley than his previous contracts. Was it a good decision to work with him? No. But does it make "sense" with the situation at that time? Yes. We shouldn't be saying Free Kesha and then blatantly consuming hand crafted interviews or posts as the truth, we don't KNOW the truth and it could be much darker than what we think.
I was rooting for her. Rooting for her to stop working with Luke, but I don't think she can or was ever able to. Unless she calls a quits and goes back to just singing for fun, I don't ever see her career progressing which is sad. The girl has talent, a shame it had to be snuffed out this way.
