It's going down. What, exactly? That's the age-old question that has haunted us all since the 2013 release of Pitbull and Kesha's hit "Timber," and the desperation for an answer is growing ever more now when, over a decade later, the latter artist's name has been removed from the music video credits.
UPDATE (8/19, 1:39 p.m. ET): Billboard reports that things are once again right in the world and Kesha's name has returned to the "Timber" music video title credits not once, but twice. However, it's the former "Ke$ha" (what she was going by in 2013) spelling. Thank you, Team Pitbull!
On YouTube, the video title was initially "Pitbull - Timber (Official Video) Feat. Kesha." Over the weekend, some eagle-eyed folks noticed that now it's just listed as "Pitbull - Timber (Official Video)."
Speculation quickly began that this had something to do with Dr. Luke — the medical licence-less producer of the song (and, more recently, Katy Perry's "Woman's World") and Kesha's alleged abuser. After settling their longstanding defamation lawsuit last summer, her deal with his label, Kemosabe Records, finally ended in December, and she released her first independent single "JOYRIDE" last month.
Mr. Worldwide is adamant that the change is not a slight toward the featured artist, and didn't come from him. The FIU football stadium namesake took to social media yesterday (August 18) to clarify, writing, "@KeshaRose and I have an incredible song together. Nothing will change this. Team Pitbull is looking into this matter."
He added, "Always nothing but love for Kesha, Dale!"