Kesha has recently released a new song called “Praying” and it’s received a lot of praise for having such a powerful message. I’m a long time Kesha fan, and her clever lyrics have always set her apart from other pop artists. She has given us amazing lines like, “Feeling like a saber-tooth tiger, sipping on a warm Budweiser.” I started looking into her lyrics a little bit more, and it turns out Kesha has already explained your entire 20s. Here’s every stage of your 20s explained by Kesha lyrics.

Ages: 20-21

Song: “Tik Tok”

“Ain’t got a care in the world, but got plenty of beer. Ain’t got no money in my pocket, but I’m already here.”

I don’t think there are better lyrics out there to explain life in your early 20s. At this stage of your 20s, you’re poor, but you’ve usually got just enough money to purchase that 30 pack of Keystone for Jason’s house party coming up this weekend. You also haven’t got a care in the world at this age, as most of your scheduled life revolves around weekly drink specials, and trying to wake up for those seemingly early 10am class schedules every Tuesday and Thursday. Luckily, at this age you’re young enough not to get crushing hangovers so you can still, “Wake up in the morning feeling like P Diddy.”

Ages: 22-23

Song: “Your Love is My Drug”

“I’m looking down every alley. I’m making those desperate calls. I’m staying up all night hoping, hitting my head against the wall” and “Won’t listen to any advice. Momma’s telling me I should think twice, better left to my own devices.”

These are often big transition years in your 20s. At 22-23, you’re most likely graduating college and starting a new job, or you’ve been in the same place long enough that you’re looking down different alleys of where to spend the next chapter of your life. You’ll be making those desperate calls for job interviews, and you’ll be hitting your head against the wall after you realize that finding that perfect job is going to be much harder than you thought.

It’s hard to take advice at this age, and your parents will probably question many of your decisions, but in the end you are better off left to your own devices as nobody knows what you want to do with your life more than you. Now some advice is worth listening to and in hindsight trying to start that elevator repair business for that small town in South Dakota may have not been a great business investment, but hey, I was looking down different alleys.

Whether it’s taking a new job, or moving to a new city, now is the time to explore your passions and take chances. Just make sure you think them through yourself.

Age: 24

Song: “Die Young”

“Young hearts, out our minds, Runnin’ till we outta time, Wild childs, lookin’ good, Livin’ hard just like we should.”

At age 24, you’re probably starting to feel a little out of your mind as adulthood starts to become more and more real. You’re still young enough to “live hard” on the weekends as a wild child, and you’re still looking good just like you should. After all, you’re in the prime of your life. You’re not too concerned about your current job situation yet because after all you’re only 24, and you’ve got your whole life ahead of you to decide the career path that’s right for you. A 401K still sounds like an imaginary grown-up word, and you’re still living moment to moment like you’re gonna die young.

Age: 25

Song: “Blow”

“We’re taking control. We get what we want, we do what you don’t. Dirt and glitter cover the floor. We’re pretty and sick, we’re young and we’re bored.”

This age finds people at a lot of different stages in their lives. The people putting in the time doing what others don’t will find themselves closer to their dreams and goals at this point if all goes well. Also at this point, your life is in a constant balance of dirt (hard work) and glitter (fun) and you’re constantly teetering on how much time you should spend doing each one. You’re torn because you’re still young, but you realize that you’ve got to take control in order to achieve your bigger goals. Other 25 year olds have settled into their career already and find satisfaction in being young and bored as long as it comes with health insurance.

Ages: 26-27

Song: “We R Who We R”

“I’m so sick of being so serious, It’s making my brain delirious”

At this stage of your 20s you’ve most likely been working on one thing for an extended period of time, whether it’s a job, grad school, or putting together that piece of Ikea furniture you got when you were 24. You’ll grow tired of being so serious all the time constantly worrying about paying for rent, bills, and your food delivery service of choice. I may not make a lot of money, but I’m not driving to pick up my food like a lowly peasant.

At this part of your 20s, it’s important to get into a rhythm while staying out of a rut. So every once in a while you need to take some time to get out of the monotony of your usual schedule and follow the advice of the rest of the lyrics in the song by telling the D.J. to turn it up because, “We’re dancing like we’re dum dum-dum dum-dum-dumb.”

Age: 28

Song: “C’Mon”

“Let’s go for it just for tonight, C’mon, c’mon, c’mon, c’mon, c’mon, c’mon, c’mon.”

At 28 it becomes more and more difficult to find reasons for you to want to leave your house. You realize that most bars are too loud to talk to the people you go out to meet in the first place, and it’s difficult to find reasons to leave the comfort of your couch when there are infinite video streaming options available at your fingertips. A lot of people will try to convince you try and do things you don’t really want to do by saying, “C’mon, let’s go for it just for tonight.” Much like the amount of “C’mons” in the lyrics, it takes about seven “C’mons” before anyone can convince you to do pretty much anything at 28.

If you’re married, it’ll likely be your own spouse trying to convince you to do something that you don’t want to do. You’ll be talked into illogical tasks like spending an entire Saturday sanding and staining an end table that your spouse found by the curb in order to sell it to Linda in accounts payable for $16.00. These types of tasks will only cause you to become increasingly more aware of how finite your time on this earth is.

Age: 29

Song: “Dinosaur”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irgIyKE8RL8

Pretty much the whole song but primarily – “D-I-N-O-S-A-U-R a dinosaur. D-I-N-O-S-A-U-R a dinosaur, an O-L-D M-A-N, you’re just an old man. Hitting on me what? You need a cat scan.”

This one’s pretty self-explanatory. You’re hanging on by a thread to your 20s, and you’re starting to feel the effects of your older age in small ways. You’ll begin to feel like you’re a little too old at a lot of bars that you used to frequent, and you’ll begin to prefer the dimly lit dive bars more and more. Also at this age, a lot of women begin to hear the internal “tik tok” of their biological clock, and 30 always seems to be a deadline they put upon themselves on when they want to try and start a family.

So enjoy your 20s you crazy kids because they’ll be gone before you know it especially if you’re brushing your teeth with a bottle of Jack on the regular. I hope you find your peace by 30, and I hope you’re somewhere praying to get through this rollercoaster of a decade.