. [PERIOD]

The songs are all really strong, filled with smart little twists and drops, and funny, self-referential lines.

Period is a party-starting good time where our only wish is that it overpoured our shots just a little.

There are moments of pure spectacle, such as the delightfully absurd accordion-rave lead single ‘Joyride’, and ‘Yippie-Ki-Yay’, an unholy fusion of Def Leppard and Florida Georgia Line. .... ‘Love Forever’, ‘The One’, ‘Too Hard’ are relatively straightforward love songs that don’t reach the vulnerability of albums past. It all builds to the closing track ‘Cathedral’, a spiritual sequel to ‘Praying’.

In opener “Freedom.” Kesha fugues over twinkling piano and synths, singing “I’ve been waiting for you/Everything’s changed now.” But the simmering disco bass and house-gleaned aesthetics suggest a much more powerful mission statement, and the song devolves into middling party-pop.

“Glow” and “Two Hard” are the sort of midtempo mush that someone as theatrically unhinged as Kesha is unable to convincingly sell. These tracks feel less like intentional detours and more like dead ends, especially considering the tonal whiplash caused by Period’s erratic sequencing. This results in a listening experience that, while never boring thanks to its scattered impulses, rarely lands with the clarity or conviction that has defined Kesha’s best work.