“Eat the Acid” by Kesha

“Eat the Acid” is one of two songs Kesha released on 28 April 2023, alongside “Fine Line”, as the lead singles from her fifth studio album, “Gag Order”. As with the four that preceded it – 2010’s “Animal”, 2012’s “Warrior”, 2017’s “Rainbow” and 2020’s “High Road” – this project is also a product of RCA Records and Dr. Luke’s Kemosabe Records. And to note, the teasing of this track dates back to late 2022.

Kesha is credited as both a writer and producer of this song, as is Stuart Crichton. In the latter regard, Pebe Sebert is also acknowledged, and the other co-producers of “Eat the Acid” are Jason Lader and Rick Rubin.

The Lyrics of “Eat the Acid”

The first thing that pops out about this song is its title, because literally eating acid would likely result in the death of the person who is unwise enough to do so. 

But upon actually delving into the lyrics, one plausible explanation as to its meaning is that Kesha is referring to the drug acid, as in LSD. Therefore, “eat(ing) the acid” in context would allude to ingesting said drug, which usually comes in a pill-like form, i.e. a small piece of laced paper that users take orally and, to note, is an extremely-powerful, or let’s say potentially life-changing hallucinogen.

In other words, our theory is that in the chorus, what the vocalist is speaking to is the addressee warning her “don’t ever eat the acid”, i.e. take LSD, or else she would end up “changed” as it has done to this individual. 

That is to say that said addressee, as far as the chorus goes, is obviously someone who had a less-than-ideal experience with acid, one that had a lasting, permanent effect.

“You said, ‘Don’t ever eat the acid if you don’t wanna be changed like it changed me’
You said, ‘All the edges got so jagged now
Everything you saw then can’t be unseen’
Last night, I saw it all
Last night, I talked to God”

And even though it isn’t abundantly clear, it may be that, as implied at the end of the first verse, Kesha proceeded to do so anyway, against the advice of this person, who is apparently her “mama”. And she also proceeds to experience sort of an epiphany, but in the sense of having a spiritual awakening or ‘talking to God’, as Kesha puts it.

But to reiterate, the above explanation is theoretical. It seems pretty obvious that the writers of this song intentionally set about not being too specific in doing so. For instance, as relayed in the latter part of the chorus, it’s not clear who exactly is the one who had the aforenoted spiritual experience. Is it the narrator? Is it the addressee?  

And if Kesha is referring to LSD, then all lyrics considered this song can be taken as an advocacy of the drug, presenting it as one which can even lead a person to “God”.