When you skyrocket to fame by proclaiming that you brush your teeth with a bottle of Jack Daniel’s (after waking up feeling like P. Diddy, natch), it can prove difficult to convert meme fandom into a genuine career.
But Ke$ha, whose sophomore album, “Warrior,” drops Tuesday, is now intent on proving she’s got talent that transcends hokey raps, glittery makeup and Auto-Tune.
“I wanted to really open up on this album and write about all parts of my life, not just partying,” she tells The Post. “Don’t get me wrong. I can still party with the best of them, and there are plenty of party songs on ‘Warrior,’ but I also wanted to show my fans another side of me.”
Those fans are what propelled the songstress, 25, from what could have been one-hit wonder status to certified pop queen.
In 2009, her single “Tik Tok” hit the top of the Billboard charts, and her debut album, “Animal,” became No. 1 soon after. Other Top 10 singles followed, including “Blah Blah Blah,” “Blow” and “We R Who We R.” Seven of her songs have made the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100; three hit No. 1.
When Billboard’s editorial director, Bill Werde, first heard “Tik Tok,” Ke$ha herself was playing it.
“This young woman is in my office, and I just felt like she was trying really hard. She was sort of overly fabulous for someone that I had never really heard of before,” says Werde. “So I wasn’t really taking it that seriously, and then they played the track.
“Literally within eight seconds, I was like, oh OK, this is different now, because this is going to be one of the biggest hits ever,” he adds. “I’m not always right about these things, but I was that time.”
While the hits kept coming, Ke$ha’s outsize persona became something of a punch line.
“I think for the people that choose to be critics of Ke$ha, she makes it pretty easy for them,” says Werde. “She’s this white-trash celebration. She’s where the lowbrow get to feel like the highbrow.”
Dr. Luke — one of the most influential producers in pop music today, and the creative genius behind hits from Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj, Britney Spears, Kelly Clarkson and P!nk — has been with Ke$ha every step of the way.
“It seems to me that if an artist has any sort of sense of humor, and it’s in their music, then they’re not taken seriously,” he says. “If somebody’s had one hit song — could be a fluke. Two No. 1’s? Really unlikely. Three? No f - - king way.”
Born Kesha Rose Sebert in LA, she grew up in Nashville with her songwriter mother, Pebe Sebert. While working as a waitress and pursuing a singing career, she added the dollar sign to her name because she thought it was funny that someone so broke might add currency to her name.
She references that time in the new song “Wonderland.” “I was just a young kid/living out of my car/those were the days.”
The singer’s big break came as the featured vocalist on Flo Rida’s “Right Round,” for which she has said she was neither credited nor paid. That is, until her own music and videos slammed her into the spotlight as a girl who loved to get busy with booze, makeup and guys.
With the new album, it appears Ke$ha hopes to divert some of the negative attention to what put her on the map in the first place.
Dr. Luke says Ke$ha’s vocals are featured more prominently this time around, though there is still plenty of Auto-Tune and other studio tricks. She even recorded “Wonderland,” in one take from start to finish, something Luke says never happens these days.
“I wanted to harness the energy and style of some of my rock idols, like Iggy Pop, the Rolling Stones and T. Rex, but make it danceable,” she says. “I think I managed to do it.”
It’s to her credit that one of those idols, Iggy Pop, joined her for the album, along with will.i.am, Ben Folds, Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney, Flaming Lips singer Wayne Coyne and fun.’s Nate Ruess, just to name a few.
Fans are flocking to the new music, with lead single “Die Young” tearing its way up the charts (currently sitting at No. 2 on the Hot 100), thanks in part to her surprisingly strong live performance at the American Music Awards two weeks ago. Ke$ha’s commitment to choreography and theatrics recalls Britney Spears in her prime, with the bonus of live vocals.
“I think that, fairly, she took some criticism for her live performance early on with the first album,” says Werde. “These days, a lot of people are learning on the stage. What you saw at the AMAs is that now she is [ready].”
To Ke$ha, she’s simply returning to her roots. A new “Deconstructed” EP features stripped-down tracks from “Warrior.”
“I actually come from the singer/songwriter tradition of Nashville, Tennessee. I grew up going to [my mom’s] studio sessions and writing appointments when I was a kid,” she says. “ ‘Deconstructed’ was just an opportunity to explore that organic style that I was raised on.”
If her AMAs red-carpet look is any indication, Ke$ha may be switching up her sartorial efforts, as well. She rocked a subdued little dress, with hair evoking 1940s glamour.
And, for what it’s worth, while Ke$ha’s videos include plenty of flowing alcohol and sexual references, she herself has never been the crotch-shot-outside-the-club type. In fact, her wild-girl ways only seem to appear when Ke$ha’s calling the shots.
But if she’s getting serious, will her fans still find room for the absurdity they’ve come to love in her lyrics?
“I think that I have won a lot of fans by writing honestly about my life, and so that remains the most important thing to me,” she says. “There are songs on this album about doing a past-lives regression and having sexy time with a ghost — it’s all real.”
Sounds like they’ll recognize her just fine.
gregorymiller@nypost.com