Morgan Wade’s excellent new album, Obsessed, included a surprise for Animals everywhere — a duet with Kesha.
Wade, 29, enlisted Kesha, 37, for the heartbreaking ballad “Walked on Water,” which debuted on Friday, August 16.
“I fell off the Earth, I fell out of touch / I’m fightin’ every urge to go out and get drunk,” Wade sings on the track about the aftermath of a failed relationship. “Hit my plug for some pills, for insomnia / When I’m awake, I’m just thinkin’ of us / But we aren’t the same, I wish you well / As you’re prayin’ to God that I just burn in hell.”
Kesha chimes in on the second verse, singing, “I thought we’d get married, move to the beach / But like everything I said, it’s just smoke and dreams / And I’m layin’ in this bed, ain’t makin’ love / I might lose to myself, hell, I might just give up.”
After Obsessed debuted on Friday, Wade gushed about getting to work with Kesha.
“I have been the biggest @kesha fan since I was 15 years old. Some of my fondest memories are riding around with my cousins blasting her music,” Wade wrote via Instagram on Friday. “I am so incredibly honored to have her on my song. She is so talented and just such a genuine kind person. Walked On Water is out now. 🖤.”
Kesha recently released “Joyride,” her first single since parting ways with RCA and Dr. Luke’s record label, Kemosabe. The singer worked extensively with the pop producer in her early career before Kesha alleged in 2014 that he sexually assaulted her in 2005. Kesha filed a lawsuit against Luke that was dropped in 2016, but a defamation suit filed by Luke over the allegations was not settled until last year. Luke has denied the allegations.
Ahead of Obsessed’s release, Wade told Rolling Stone that she grew up with a Kesha poster on her wall (next to one of Elvis Presley).
“She is one of those people who is just super kind, spiritual and healthy to be around,” Wade explained to the outlet in June. “I’ve listened to some of her unreleased stuff, and some of it is straight-up country ballads. But she can throw out a banger at the same time.”
While Kesha is best known for pop songs like “TiK ToK” and “Timber,” she has plenty of country bona fides. Her mom, Pebe Sebert, cowrote the country song “Old Flames Can’t Hold a Candle to You,” released by Dolly Parton in 1980. Kesha later recorded a version of the song with Parton, 78, for her 2017 album, Rainbow.
Obsessed is out now.
