Why Kesha’s mom Pebe Sebert is glad it took her 40 years to release debut album ‘I ‘Wouldn’t Be Alive’

Kesha Fans are already familiar with her mother; Pepe SeibertShe’s been a fixture on her daughter’s albums since day one, co-writing hits including “Your Love Is My Drug” and “Timber.”

While true fans know that Seibert, 69, began her career as a country songwriter, best known for “Old Flames Can’t Hold a Candle to You,” which became a hit dolly parton –Few listeners know that she attempted to launch a pop music career in the 1980s. As Seibert says now, despite her success in country music, that was always her plan.

“Pop music has always been close to my heart, but honestly, when I wrote my first song, ‘Old Fire Can’t Hold a Candle for You,’ and it was a hit and I went from having to wait tables to having people pay me to write songs — I was like, ‘Oh, well, I don’t have to sing country, but it’s too easy,'” Seibert recalled in an exclusive interview. US Weekly. “But that was a big joke, it was a big trick because it’s not easy to write another one like that. So I did try to write as a country writer, but I always aspired to be a pop star.”

After moving to Los Angeles, Seibert contacted Guy Rochehe continues to make albums Cher, Celine Dion, Brandy, selena etc. At the time, synthesizers were rapidly gaining popularity as they became cheaper, so Roche and Seibert began playing around in the studio.

“Then there’s absolutely no turning back because you can be anyone or anywhere,” she explains. “He played the accordion, the tuba and the harp. That was the most exciting thing for me.”

Seibert, along with Roach and other producers, eventually recorded an album of songs, but for various reasons it never saw the light of day. While it was impossible to self-release music like it is now (there was no SoundCloud), Sebert partly blames himself for failing to follow label interests.

“Unfortunately, I was the one who broke down,” she explained. “I’m the one who broke down before I finished my contract, picked a label and started doing it, so I definitely feel like it’s meant to be. I like what I’m hearing now, but I don’t want to be that girl. I don’t want to be that lost young woman.”

Today, more than 40 years later, Pepe Seibert Thanks to Sebert’s famous daughter, now 38, the album is finally here. The self-titled record is the first non-Kesha album released on Kesha’s solo label, Kesha Records, and Sebert couldn’t be happier with how things are going.

“It couldn’t be more perfect,” she said us. “If I wrote a script, this would be the perfect ending, and I’m really proud of her and everything she’s been through and how she’s come out on top with her own record label. She told me, without any prompting from me, that she wanted to release my record as her first record other than her own music, which was an honor and a beautiful mother-daughter moment. So, I’m excited.”

The first time she went there, Seibert could hear imperfections in the songs, which had been recovered from the “unstable medium” of old tapes, but to modern listeners it sounds like she was going for a gritty, lo-fi sound. It’s easy to imagine “Hard Times Ahead” or “The Ice” appearing on a playlist alongside classic ’80s songs from artists including: Kate Bush and Berlin. In other words, Seibert could have been a star, but she’s content with the fact that that’s not the case.

“I probably wouldn’t be alive. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be alive,” she said, imagining what would have happened if the album had been released 40 years ago. “I was literally on the verge of becoming a serious drug addict and alcoholic. I was very close to that. If I had been famous and had all the money and people saying yes to me, like a celebrity, I don’t believe I would still be alive. I would probably just be one of those sad statistics. So, I think it’s all happening the way it’s supposed to happen.”

Seibert has no plans to perform live because her voice “broke up five, six, seven years ago,” but she’s excited for her fans to hear the album now — and it sounds like she’ll be collaborating with Kesha on more songs in the future.

“When I’m a songwriter, the best thing I can do is get to know the person I’m writing with well enough to know where they like to sing, what they like to sing about, and even most importantly all the little details about someone’s life,” she explains. “Like, this bad boyfriend and this bad boyfriend, this time this happened, and this best friend stabbing you in the back – like, I know all this information.”

It’s this intimacy, she says, that makes their working relationship so wonderful.

“I really feel like we wrote some of the best stuff together,” she said. “A lot of the songs that we wrote are some of my favorite songs that I’ve ever written, just because her life feels like a part of me, like my life, even though it’s about her.”

Pebe Sebert’s self-titled debut album is Go out now.