"Take It Off" is a song by American recording artist and songwriter Kesha, from her debut album, Animal. It was written by Kesha Sebert, Lukasz Gottwald and Claude Kelly and it was produced by Dr. Luke with vocal editing done by Emily Wright. It was released as the fourth and final single from the album on July 13, 2010. "Take It Off"'s initial writing consisted of Kesha attending a drag show and becoming turned on by drag queens taking their clothing off. The song is an upbeat song that uses heavy amounts of auto tune and utilizes an electro infused beat, driven by a melody known as the Arabian riff.
Due to strong digital sales from the release of Animal, the song charted in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada before being announced as a single. After being released as a single, the song reached the top ten in Canada, Australia and the United States, and reached number one on Hungarian radio. With the song reaching the top-ten in the United States, Kesha became only the eleventh artist in history to amass four top-tens from a debut album.
Two music videos for the single were released. The first video features Kesha and her friends on a distant planet, dancing around in a mosh pit while slowly turning into stardust as the video progresses. The inspiration for the video, according to Kesha, was about shedding your inhibitions and being "raw and real." The second video released for the song features Jeffree Star and incorporates a more dominant animal theme, while drawing from 80s themed inspiration such as: Tron, David Bowie in Labyrinth, and Revenge of the Nerds. To promote the single Kesha performed "Take It Off" alongside earlier singles "Your Love Is My Drug" and "Tik Tok" on NBC's Today.
Writing and inspiration
"Take It Off" was written by Kesha, alongside Dr. Luke and Claude Kelly. It was recorded at Conway Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California, and at Dr. Luke's studio in that city. The song was produced by Luke with vocal editing done by Emily Wright. The main riff of the chorus is the same as that of "The Streets of Cairo", also using a similar rhyme scheme and parallel phrasing. During an interview with Esquire magazine Kesha was asked about her song writing process and used "Take It Off" as an example of how her songs come to fruition. She explained that the song came about when she was out one night and was visiting a drag bar, stating, "I have a song ... called 'Take It Off' about when I went to a drag show, and how really turned on I was by these transvestite men taking clothes off. I was like, What does that even make me?".
Composition
"Take It Off" is an upbeat dominant song that utilizes a "thumping, electro-infused beat with furious crescendos." Dr. Luke's production has been described as a "bubblegummy electro" number that uses a nursery rhyme hook in its delivery. Kesha's vocals on the song were noted for their heavy amounts of Auto-Tune. Daniel Brockman from The Phoenix described the song as "a heavily Auto-Tuned reworking" of "There's a Place in France". Monica Herrera from Billboard however, felt that the song "lifted heavily from Robert Miles' 1995 trance-lite hit, "Children". Lyrically, "Take It Off" discusses opposite-sex objectification and its theme is literal to the title.
According to sheet music published at Musicnotes.com by Kobalt Music Publishing, the song is written in common time with a moderate beat rate of 125 beats per minute. The song is written in the key of F minor and has the sequence of D–E–Fm as the chord progression. Kesha's vocal range in the song spans from the note of F3 to the note of C5. Music reviewer Bill Lamb commented on the lyrical writing of the song noting that the lyrics were symbolic, stating, "[the song] manages to expand out into an anthem about free expression ... [a] celebration of the power of the night, and a bit of alcohol, to help shed inhibitions of the daytime." Lamb further commented that the lyrics drew similar reference to that of Lady Gaga's commenting, "followers of Lady Gaga's Monster Ball Tour will be familiar with this point of view [about free expression]."