Kesha’s Prop Knife Was Swapped out With Real One During Lollapalooza Performance

Kesha’s set at Lollapalooza on Thursday night was more dangerous than she intended. The pop star played her 2010 hit “Backstabber,” and she brandished a knife during the song for dramatic effect. However, she later told fans that her blunt prop knife had somehow been replaced with a real sharp one.

“Sooooo apparently the prop knife went missing and they replaced it with a real butcher knife stolen from the kitchen. and I didn’t know. till now,” Kesha wrote on X a few hours after her performance. Fortunately, nothing went wrong, but Kesha urged fans to watch the video of the performance over again and marvel at how close she was to really hurting herself or someone else.

The 37-year-old danced around the stage with the knife in her hand looking pretty carefree, and even pantomimed stabbing her backup dancers during the hook. It looks like no one was hurt, but neither Kesha nor Lollapalooza organizers have responded to other outlets’ requests for comment so far.

Kesha played Lollapalooza on Thursday night with a setlist utilizing a healthy mix of songs from throughout her career, which has now spanned nearly two decades. The prop knife was reportedly used just for “Backstabber,” a relatively obscure track from her 2010 album Animals, and one that only hardcore fans would likely have been looking forward to. Of course, she played her breakout single “Tik Tok” as well as her latest single “Joyride, and many songs in between.

Kesha has been seeing some results from social media recently, including two viral moments on the TikTok app. One came when users mashed up her 2010 song “Blow” with videos of Vice President Kamala Harris laughing, and fitting her viral “coconut tree” speech to the beat. More recently, “Joyride” went viral on the platform.

“Joyride” is the first single for Kesha’s upcoming sixth studio album – her first release since parting ways with Kemosabe and RCA Records following her legal battle with producer Dr. Luke. There’s no word yet on when the new music might be coming, but Kesha has been teasing it on social media for a long time, telling fans she is excited to bring them something new at last. The singer released Gag Order in 2023, which fulfilled her long-term contract with Kemosabe and RCA. Fans are expecting more singles and big announcements from Kesha very soon.