We can break down the musical elements of Kesha’s “TiK ToK” into its sonic and lyrical characteristics.
Sonically, this piece represents a combination of dance-pop and electropop, with the addition of synthesized noises so commonly found in bitpop beats. Kesha’s vocals themselves are a style of spoken word rap blended around a sung chorus. Unfortunately, due to her frequent usage of auto-tune, Kesha has often faced criticism for her lack of singing ability; however, as an answer to that criticism, Kesha returned to the musical world with the single “Praying” from her 2017 album Rainbow, which strips away the auto-tune to reveal an impressive vocal range in the young singer. In addition to Dr. Luke and Benny Blanco’s production, “TiK ToK” also features guest vocals from Diddy.
According to Musicnotes.com by Kobalt Music Publishing, “TiK ToK” is set in common time with 120 beats per minute (BPM) and in the key of D minor. Its chord progression is B♭–C–Dm, and Kesha’s vocals range from D3 to the note of D5. She frequently draws comparisons with Lady Gaga and Fergie for their particular vocal and digital effects.
Lyrically, “TiK ToK” captures the narrative of a young woman who enjoys partying and who occasionally stumbles home from parties half-drunk. It extolls the excesses of drinking in lines like “Before I leave, brush my teeth with a bottle of Jack [Daniel’s],” while also touching on moral responsibility and issues of consent in the lines like “Boys tried to touch my junk, junk / Gonna smack him if he getting to drunk, drunk.” Dr. Luke and Benny Blanco co-wrote the song with Kesha, who claimed a great deal of autobiographical ownership of song’s content.
Structurally, verse 1 presents an AABB end rhyme scheme ("Diddy"/"city," "Jack"/"back"). Pre-chorus 1 follows the end rhyme scheme CC, a slant rhyme D, EE, and a partial rhyme F ("toes"/"clothes," "phones," "CDs"/"parties," "tipsy"). The chorus, however, contains internal rhyme schemes FFGHIIJIKKLMMMMM ("stop"/"pop," "up," "tonight"/"fight," "see," "sunlight," "tock"/"clock," "party," "no"/"oh"/"woah"/"oh").
The line “Oh, woah, woah, oh” is a palindromic phrase, meaning that it can be read the same way forwards and backwards. It is also repeated twice in the refrain. Verse 2 follows the end rhyme scheme NNOO ("beer"/"here," "swagger"/"Jagger"). Pre-chorus 2 follows the end rhyme scheme PPPQRRS ("crunk"/"junk"/"drunk," "out," "down"/"down," "us"). The bridge follows the end rhyme scheme TUVUTUWW ("down," "me," "now," "me," "down," "me," "up"/"up"). And the break is a simple end rhyme scheme Z ("in"). Combined, you have quite a dynamic array of lyrics and meter.
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