Betrayal has never looked so nostalgic: Kesha has finally released the music video for “Backstabber,” a deep cut from her second studio album Animal, released in 2010. The singer gets back behind the wheel of the gold Trans Am an unfaithful friend stole
from her all those years ago and revs up for a nuclear night out.
The Syndrome-directed video has been in limbo for nearly two decades, with fans clinging onto an unfinished, leaked cut that surfaced online but never materialized as a proper release. Kesha shared on X that she’s been trying to get it released “this whole time,” but says the reason for the hold up is a “longggg storyyyyyyy.”
“Backstabber” has surged on TikTok in recent years, but day one Kesha fans know the record preceded even “Tik Tok,” the debut single she released in 2009. Around 2008, the track was made available exclusively on MySpace — the social site was once an unhinged playground for Kesha and her earliest fans.
“Backstabber” became a favorite amongst Kesha fans, mostly because almost everyone has a story of a friend screwing them over — even if it wasn’t as bad as what her friend did to her. “A very close friend of mine stole my car one night,” Kesha told Billboard in 2010. “The car is gone, and I was like, ‘What a backstabber!’ And then I found out that she was also talking shit, so I was like, ‘What a shit-talker!’ … I was like, ‘We should write a song about this girl.’”
In the “Backstabber” video, Kesha gets her revenge. Not only does she get her Firebird back, she also slaps the girl who stole it clear across her face. As she heads off into the night, her true friends stay behind to land a few punches of their own.
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