Praying (Official Video) by Kesha on VEVO.

Kesha released her first solo single since 2013, “Praying” and in it is a response to her legal battle and trauma with Dr. Luke, her former collaborator that was accused of sexually and emotionally abusing her.

“If there’s a God or whatever, something, somewhere, why have I been abandoned by everyone and everything I’ve ever known, I’ve ever loved? Stranded, what is the lesson? What is the point?” she opens at the beginning. “God, give me a sign or I have to give up. I can’t do this anymore. Please just let me die. Being alive hurts too much.”

She continues: “I hope you’re somewhere praying, praying/ I hope your soul is changing, changing/ I hope you find your peace falling on your knees, praying… You said that I was done/ Well, you were wrong, and now the best is yet to come/ ‘Cause I can make it on my own/ I don’t need you/ I’ve found a strength I’ve never known.”

Then: “I hope when I’m finished/ They won’t even know your name.”

Before the song dropped, the singer penned an essay on Lenny Letter explaining the meaning of the song:

“I have channeled my feelings of severe hopelessness and depression, I’ve overcome obstacles, and I have found strength in myself even when it felt out of reach,” she wrote. “I’ve found what I had thought was an unobtainable place of peace. 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.”

“There were so many days, months even, when I didn’t want to get out of bed” she continued. “I spent all day wanting to go to sleep, and then when I did fall asleep, I had horrible night terrors where I would physically cry and scream through the dark. I was never at peace, night or day. But I dragged myself out of bed and took my emotions to the studio and made art out of them. And I have never been happier with a body of work as I am with this record.”