“And while she’s dedicated to the topic of partying, she always makes it sound more like a pitched battle than a good time: On her records, partying is a Nietzschean test of will, something done in desperation, and facing dire consequences for failure. Even in the relatively cheery ‘TiK ToK,’ her first smash single, partying is a ‘fight’ to make it until dawn — and her singles are always best when they hone in on the dark and slightly desperate edge of that feeling, getting more and more sweat-stained and mechanical. They recommend partying more, and harder, and longer, and more violently, to that point of dumb numbness, as if there’s something important to be proved by doing it.”