Kesha Rose Serbert, or more popularly known as Kesha, sells a certain image — she knows when to have fun, she is carefree, she is rebellious. But through a slow culmination of events, Kesha has revealed how, over a span of ten years, her entire career was controlled and manipulated by music producer Lukasz Sebastian Gottwald, better known as Dr. Luke.

Dr. Luke is responsible for the success of many pop artists today — he produced and co-wrote essentially Katy Perry’s entire career from “I Kissed a Girl” in 2008 to “Wide Awake” in 2012. He produced and wrote album tracks and hit singles for pop icons such as Pink, Miley Cyrus, Avril Lavigne, Flo-Rida and Kelly Clarkson.

In Oct. 2014, Kesha filed a lawsuit against Dr. Luke, claiming sexual assault and battery, gender violence and both intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress. In Feb. 2015, Kesha filed an injunction that would allow her to make music outside of Sony and Dr. Luke’s label, claiming her current contract will cause irreparable harm to her career if continued.

On Feb. 19, her injunction was denied by the Supreme Court.

Turning the image

Junior Vamsita Venna believes Kesha was more than the party girl Dr. Luke created. While Venna respects Kesha as an artist, there were a lot of things Dr. Luke erased in order to make her marketable.

“She is really talented and her music is unique and gets the world pumping.” Venna said. “She’s really smart and has a high IQ, but [Dr. Luke] changes her, makes her dress weirdly and act different. She should have her own voice, she should have her own opinion.”

Since the start of her career, Kesha and Dr. Luke had many altercations over creative differences, with Kesha often stating that Dr. Luke kept trying to change her style to fit the pop image that made her famous in the first place.

Sophomore Pragya Parthasarathy is not the biggest fan of Kesha’s music, yet she recognizes the Supreme Court’s ruling is reflective of how prevalent of an issue sexual assault is in today’s society.

“[Sexual assault] is not taken seriously enough,” Parthasarathy said. “1 in every 5 women get raped; if a woman claims she has been assaulted, there should be some weight to her words.”

Kesha v. Dr. Luke

Technically it wasn’t Kesha’s entire rape case that was dismissed but her injunction itself — she wanted to void her contract with Dr. Luke on the grounds that he “sexually, physically, verbally, and emotionally abused” her to the point where she almost “ended her life.” The injunction would’ve allowed Kesha to make her own music outside of Sony (and in turn Dr. Luke) without facing any legal ramifications.

While junior Jack Li says Kesha’s rape allegations shouldn’t be immediately taken as fact, he still believes Kesha should be allowed to end her contract with Dr. Luke.

“Even if there isn’t evidence she should still be allowed to quit her current producer.” Li said, “[This case] shows how money over humanity is a motive of the entertainment industry.”

The injunction was dismissed due to the lack of evidence, so by all means, Kesha’s rape allegations still, in the end, are allegations. Dr. Luke cites this as his main defense — he references their previously close public relationship and even states that Kesha was like “a sister” to him, further saying she was acting out and trying to make money when contract negotiations went south between them. He has since countersued her for defamation and breach in contract.

Venna, like many of Kesha’s fans, believes that Dr. Luke has been controlling Kesha — controlling what she wears, controlling what she says, dumbing her down to become a mass marketable puppet he can control. The #FreeKesha movement has dated back two years pre-injunction; since 2013 Kesha fans have believed the relationship between Dr. Luke and Kesha wasn’t as smooth sailing as they seemed, especially after the artist tweeted, in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting in 2012, that the producer “forced” her to sing the lyrics in “Die Young” despite her protests.

“People support women on paper. Everyone is like yes Beyonce is god, but no one cares about what she’s gone through.” Venna said, “Women like Kesha should be given more of a say and should be able to voice their opinions without being judged by someone else.”

#FreeKesha

Fifty fans were outside the courthouse on the day the injunction was dismissed with the words Free Kesha. Since then, there has been an outpouring of support for Kesha, with mainstream media mostly siding with Kesha once the Supreme Court Ruling became public. Taylor Swift donated $250,000 to Kesha for any further legal actions needed, Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus have publically announced their support and condolences during Kesha’s ongoing trial. Kelly Clarkson, in turn, has come out to say that she was blackmailed into working with Dr. Luke.

“While I am not the biggest fan of Kesha,” Parthasarathy said. “She’s a woman so it doesn’t matter what I think of her art.”

“She shouldn’t be under a legally binding contract who’s been sexually abusing and controlling her.” Venna said. “The people with money can do whatever they want, while the people under contract have no legal right in what they do.

Scroll through to see the #FreeKesha movement on Twitter!