For her 30th birthday: 30 times Kesha has inspired us

Kesha's music isn't inspiring in the traditional sense, but it inspires full self-expression and letting loose. In 2010, she released "Your Love Is My Drug."  You know, that song you might not have wanted to admit you liked but couldn't get "your love, your love, your love is my drug" out of your head. The song peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Speaking of an earworm, Kesha released "Tik Tok" in August 2009. The song had everybody waking up in the morning feeling like P. Diddy. "Tik Tok" peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 2010.

Kesha embodied "live fast, die young" in 2009-2012. In 2012, she released "Die Young" as the lead single off her album "Warrior." The official music video has over 118 million views on YouTube. "Die Young" peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in December 2012.

Kesha has never been known to suppress who she is. Her 2010 song "We R Who We R" is living proof of that and an anthem for anybody who wishes to live the same way with lyrics like "you know we're superstars / We are who we are." The song peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 2010.

When Kesha released her second studio album, "Warrior," in 2012, she probably did not anticipate that in 2017 she would still not have released a follow-up third album. Her title track, "Warrior," is a declaration that she will never be the victim. 

At the 2016 Billboard Music Awards, Kesha took the stage to cover Bob Dylan's "It Ain't Me Babe." Leading up to the awards show, there was a very real chance that Kesha wouldn't be "allowed" by Dr. Luke to perform. But he "let" her, and we are better for it. She performed the cover alongside Ben Folds, who spoke afterward with Billboard about Kesha and the performance.

Kesha was awarded the Trailblazer Award at Billboard Women in Music 2016 in December 2016. Her acceptance speech was full of moving and inspiring sentiments. An excerpt: "This is a huge reminder I can't give up and I have to keep fighting for my truth and keep fighting for my dreams." 

"If you keep showing up for yourself, you can move mountains ... Do not let anyone else take your happiness."

Kesha's "Crazy Beautiful Life" is actually directly inspiring by song title alone. The song was released in 2010 and made an appearance on the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 93.

In September 2016, Kesha was one of many artists to perform at Global Citizen: The World On Stage. Global Citizen is a "social action platform for a global generation that wants to solve the world's biggest challenges." 

About a year ago, Lady Gaga joined a large chorus publicly supporting Kesha in her quest to legally be freed from Dr. Luke and her contract with Sony. Gaga wrote on Instagram: "The very reason women don’t speak up for years and years is the fear no one will believe them, or their abuser has threatened their life or the life of their loved ones/ livelihood in order to keep their victim quiet/ in control. What happened to Kesha has happened to many female artists including myself and it will affect her for the rest of her life. No one needs to validate Kesha.”

In February 2016, Taylor Swift donated $250,000 to Kesha — just one more example of Kesha lending a face to countless women who have felt unheard and earning the support of women in the music industry and everywhere.

There are specific examples of Kesha's dedication to activism for many different causes within this slideshow, but the fact that she is so stout in activism for others even while embroiled in her own personal hell is worth mentioning separately.

Kesha did not attend the 59th Annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 13, 2017, but she did post about it the following day on Instagram. Accompanying a lovely picture of herself, her caption reads, in part: "Congrats to my friends and peers last night. Also, anyone who makes art, you win. All art is good, even if it's not, because it's vulnerable self expression (sic), and that's a WIN in my book ..."

Kesha has reportedly been in a relationship with Brad Ashenfelt since 2014, when she talked about him on air with Ryan Seacrest. This is actually none of our business, but Kesha posts lovingly about their relationship on Instagram, and given the tumult she has gone through — her abusive working relationship with Dr. Luke — it's nice to know she has a good guy by her side.

In February 2016, Kesha fans (known as Animals) gathered in protest outside of the New York State Supreme Court where Kesha was in court for a trial against Dr. Luke and Sony for "sexually, physically, verbally and emotionally" abusing her over the years.

In early 2014, Kesha entered a rehabilitation facility for an eating disorder. She was not afraid to share her struggles publicly: "I had convinced myself that being sick, being skinny, was part of my job." She thanked her fans for supporting her afterward.

About six weeks ago, Kesha posted a photo at NRG Recording Studio to Instagram along with a caption reading, "dreams you've had since you were 14 years old actually coming true can be even better than you imagined very very rarely. today was one of those extremely rare and surreal days that makes life worth f—ing sticking around for." NRG is a premier recording studio located in Los Angeles.

Kesha wanted purple hair, so she dyed her hair purple — another visible example of Kesha doing whatever she wants when she wants and how she wants to do it.

It's possible that two friends, Kesha and Macklemore, simply took and then posted a photo together five weeks ago, which is nice, but maybe the two are actually collaborating on something awesome. And the thought of that is inspiring.

The same principles apply to her purple hair look, except this time Kesha went with green hair.

Feeling down? Scroll through Kesha's Instagram on any given day and, chances are, she will have an uplifting photo or message.

Free spirits of two different generations — this was awesome.

In September 2016, Kesha announced that she was working on a, um, particularly aggressive song with an anonymous Grammy winner. Still holding out hope that this track one day drops.

In August 2016, Kesha dropped one of her lawsuits against Dr. Luke while still pursuing one in New York. Over and over again since first filing in 2014, Kesha was denied the request to have her contract terminated with Kemosabe Records of Sony Music Entertainment. As it stands now, Kesha is allowed to record music without Dr. Luke in the room, but he still has final approval before any music is released. You can read a full summary here.

Nobody can know for sure where (or if) Kesha will pop up on the music scene since her embroiled legal battle with Dr. Luke began in 2014, which makes her April 2016 Coachella appearance with Zedd particularly pleasant. 

There was a One Magical Weekend at Disney World, part of Disney's Gay Days celebration, in June 2016. Kesha was there, and she helped two gay men get engaged on stage. Of course she did.

Kesha embarked on a tour in the summer of 2016. Announcing the tour, she said, "I'm playing songs you've never heard me play before, and songs I may never play again."

In February 2017, Kesha joined forces with Hack Harassment, an anti-bullying organization, for a campaign about online bullying. In the public service announcement, Kesha lip syncs with other people's cruel remarks about each other before saying herself, "Those are a few things students posted about each other. It happens every day. And does anyone speak up? Saying nothing says everything. Speak up. Hack harassment." 

Among many fiery things Kesha has said throughout her career is one quote aimed at feminism: "I have bigger balls than half the men I've met." Ether. 

Cliche alert: That's the most inspiring thing anybody can do.