Fresh from this year’s Australian Idol win, Kesha Nevé is introducing us to her original music with the release of “Better This Way.” Kesha cowrote this song with Ruby Rogers, Lara Frew, and Phoebe Sinclair, and honestly I like it better than anything she performed on Idol. I often felt a disconnect between Kesha and the songs she covered, but you can tell she’s put her whole heart into this release.
“My goal as a musician has always been to tell a story and to kind of take artists’ lyrics and make them my own and make it feel like I almost wrote it,” Kesha said. “So being able to actually write a song and get my personal story across is a really, really amazing way for people to see me as an artist and hear me as an artist, not through other people’s lyrics, but through my own and through my own personal experiences.”
Kesha drew on her own relationship experiences for this powerful song.
“I was very in love and dedicated to someone who probably didn’t replicate that amazingly,” she said. “It was just one of those things that I had a heartbreak, and I wanted to tell the story, and I wanted to relate to people who’d been in that same situation with being so in love with someone and kind of had those rose-coloured glasses on.”
Kesha will play a couple of shows before hitting the road with fellow Idol alum Kalani Artis in October. Here are all the dates you need Kesha fans:
29 July 2026 – The Station, Ngarigo Country/Jindabyne (supporting Brad Cox)
29 August 2026 – Gympie Music Muster @ Amamoor Creek State Forest, Gimpi-Gimpi/Amamoor Creek
9 October 2026 – Shoal Bay Country Club, Woromi/Shoal Bay (with Kalani Artis)
10 October 2026 – Royal Hotel, Wurundjeri Country/Kew (with Kalani Artis)
11 October 2026 – Coffs Hotel, Gumbaynggirr Country/Coffs Harbour (with Kalani Artis)
23 October 2026 – Distillery Road Market, Yugambeh Country/Eagleby (with Kalani Artis)
24 October 2026 – The Shed @ Banana Bender Pub, Gubbi Gubbi Country/Palmview (with Kalani Artis)
30 October 2026 – Miranda Hotel, Dharawal Country/Miranda (with Kalani Artis)
20 November 2026 – Club Sapphire, Yuin Country/Merimbula (with Kalani Artis)
27 November 2026 – The Entrance Leagues Club, Darkinjung Country/Bateau Bay (with Kalani Artis)
11 December 2026 – Goulburn Workers Club, Burbong/Goulburn (with Kalani Artis)
Image used with permission from Bec Gracie Publicity