Kesha’s ‘House Of The Rising Sun’ Cover Has All The Restrained Fury Of The Timeless Original

Kesha’s triumphant comeback album Rainbow has proven that she can wear many hats, whether she’s making straight up pop, acoustic ballads, country songs with Dolly Parton, or adrenaline-fueled rockers with Eagles Of Death Metal. The rock side of her music is actually something she’s long been interested in; let us never forget the secret show she performed in 2015 with her rock band Yeast Infection.

Now, in a new video from The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Kesha teamed up with The Roots’ Questlove, Kirk Douglas, and Mark Kelley for a cover of The Animals’ classic “House Of The Rising Sun,” the beauty of which lies in its simplicity.

With just drums, guitar, and upright bass backing her, Kesha’s vocals easily establish themselves as the focal point of the performance. Her singing is respectful towards the restrained fury that makes the song so powerful in the first place: She adds flourishes where it makes sense, and she keeps it subdued when the performance calls for it. There’s a dynamic range to the song that she adeptly preserves here, and it never feels like she’s trying too hard or trying to be bigger than the song itself.

The video was presumably recorded when Kesha was made her return to late night TV on The Tonight Show last week, when she also partnered up with Fallon for a game of Password. Watch the performance above, and revisit the videos from her Tonight Show appearance below.

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