When it came time to recruit a singer for “Dear Me,” which Diane Warren wrote to her “younger f*cked up self,” the record-breaking Oscar nominee called on Kesha not just for her vocals but also because she felt the singer could relate to the song.
At Deadline’s Sound & Screen: Film event, Warren accompanied Kesha on the piano to perform the ballad from the Masterclass documentary about her life Diane Warren: Relentless.
“First of all, she’s one of the best singers on the planet. So I knew that she’d sing the f*ck out of it, which clearly she does,” Warren said when asked about her casting process for the song. “But also, I knew that you’d gone through hard stuff in your life too. I knew that this would resonate with you.”
Kesha recalled “sobbing” when she first heard the song. She also pointed out that her mother and Warren were friends in the ‘80s, making Warren “like family.”
Kesha performs Deadline’s Sound & Screen: Film
JC Olivera
“When you get a Diane Warren call, you drop what you’re doing and you go to the studio,” the “Praying” singer, who opened the conversation saying she’s come a long way from her first hit “Tik Tok,” said. “I relate. Every great song, that’s what gets people is you find the vulnerability and the commonality and the humanity and the honesty and the bravery of the artist that is writing it to say the things that they’re saying, and they’re saying the things that you can’t find the right words for.”
“They put it into words for you. And, I’d been going through a healing process in front of the whole world. For those that know what I’ve gone through, that those that don’t. It was crazy,” Kesha continued. “But I felt like when I heard that song, it was similar to the healing I was trying to do, and she’d put into words something that I couldn’t put into words for myself. I’m just so proud of you, I really am. It makes me emotional. I’m so honored to be singing this song because it is for her documentary, telling her life story, and to be singing this song is like one of the greatest honors of my career.”
Warren added that the song is as much Kesha’s as it is hers. Earlier in the conversation, she had asked the room for a raise of hands of who had been bullied when they were younger.
“What was interesting about writing this song is I had to write a song, a personal song, but it’s maybe my most universal song,” Warren added. “It really speaks to [us] because we’re all that wounded child.”
In answer to Deadline’s Anthony D’Alessandro’s comment that “nothing beats a Diane Warren bridge,” Kesha said nothing beats a Diane Warren song “full stop. Full period.”
“That bridge. I went and got a cortisone shot in my butt to be able to hit those notes today,” Kesha said. “I was like, ‘I am not f*cking up the first time I sing the Diane Warren song with the orchestra.’”
Check back Monday for the panel video.
