Kesha still had to get the approval of Dr. Luke to release her new music

Yesterday, she released her first solo single in four years, but Kesha still had to get approval from Dr. Luke in order to release it.

The new song, the anthemic and emotional “Praying,” is our first taste of the singer’s upcoming third album, Rainbow. It’s a powerful ballad that builds to an epic, crashing conclusion, and its accompanying video was directed by Jonas Åkerlund.

Kesha, of course, has been embroiled in a highly public legal dispute with producer and label boss Dr. Luke, aka Lukasz Gottwald, the former CEO of Kemosabe Records.

Part of Kesha’s legal battle has revolved around the fact that she claims that she has been unable to release any new music in years and has been prevented from doing so by Gottwald. However, despite now prepping for the release of a new album, Dr. Luke wants the world to know that there has been no change to the singer’s upsetting and precarious situation.

In a statement released via a spokesperson, Gottwald noted that Kesha still had to get his approval to release new music.

"There was no change in Kesha's contractual recording obligations — she has not succeeded on any legal claim or motion to avoid them," a spokesperson for Gottwald told Billboard. "Instead, she was always free to record and refused to. Now, as legally required all along, the album was released with Dr. Luke's approval by Kemosabe which is a joint venture label of Dr. Luke and Sony."

As the statement suggests, the legal proceedings between Kesha and Gottwald are still ongoing, and the singer still has two albums left in her recording contract with Kemosabe Records.

However, Gottwald recently dropped the defamation case that he also had against Kesha’s mother, Pebe Sebert. In a statement, the producer and his representatives said they felt it was “appropriate to dismiss this Tennessee case and focus [our] attention on the New York case.” The case in New York deals with Kesha’s accusations that Gottwald sexually assaulted her.

Meanwhile, following the release of her new single, “Praying,” Kesha wrote an emotional essay for Lenny Letter in which she opened up about the “feelings of severe hopelessness and depression” that she has experienced over the last four years.

“I’ve overcome obstacles, and I have found strength in myself even when it felt out of reach. I’ve found what I had thought was an unobtainable place of peace,” she wrote. “This song is about coming to feel empathy for someone else even if they hurt you or scare you. It’s a song about learning to be proud of the person you are even during low moments when you feel alone. It’s also about hoping everyone, even someone who hurt you, can heal.”