Pop star Kesha filmed her new video in this Delaware bar

When pop star Kesha first appeared on stage at last month's Firefly Music Festival, she decided to kick off her show with one of her No. 1 singles, "We R Who We R."

"We running this town just like a club," she sang during her well-timed set wedged between performances by headliners The Weeknd and Bob Dylan.

As it turns out, she had been running a club the day before — Wilmington's Oddity Bar to be exact.

On Thursday, the singer released a music video for her new song, "Woman."

And as they watched, her biggest Delaware fans probably couldn't believe their eyes: Nearly the entire thing was shot at Oddity, a small 4-year-old rock club that even some in-state music fans don't know about.

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So how did Kesha end up in an eccentric Delaware bar decorated with a devilish baby doll with a nail pierced through its head?

It all started with a cold call a week prior, and Oddity Bar bartender Christopher "Devo" Devitt was the one who picked up. And after the caller stopped being coy about who wanted to rent the bar, Devitt eventually found out who it was for. After scouting 10 other locations, Kesha wanted Oddity.

"My jaw dropped," says Devitt, 33, of Wilmington, who acted as an on-site liaison for the production crew. "I assumed it was somebody from New York that I never heard of before."

Devitt, who is also a member of Wilmington rock four-piece Ringleader, is the one who handled their requests, which included rockabilly-style extras and drag queens.

Neither was a problem thanks to the bar's weekly residency by rockabilly band The Bullets, which draws a stylish crowd, and a "Night of Divas" drag show, held the last Sunday of each month.

Ron Killen, the part-time Oddity bartender who hosts the drag show under the stage name Veronica Kitten, even has a cameo in the video. That's him as Veronica Kitten throwing major shade at Kesha from behind the bar as she writhes on the ground in sparkling gold pants.

"Everyone is calling me Miss Stink Face 2017," Killen, 25, of Bear, says with a laugh.

Not long after the video was released Killen's cellphone began to be flooded with calls and texts from friends he had kept in the dark. Everyone involved was required to sign a non-disclosure agreement that expired when the video was released.

Even though Devitt tipped him off that Kesha was the performer filming at Oddity Bar, the magnitude of the moment didn't hit him until she climbed off her tour bus. She is one of his inspirations when it comes to drag, and he regularly sings her songs during his performances.

"I was sitting there looking so unprofessional with a cigarette in my hand. I was like, 'Oh my God, I'm going to pee," and Kesha goes, 'Oh no! Don't pee!'" Killen says. "Some people say be careful about meeting your idols because they may not turn out to be who you thought they were, but she was one of the most humble people and had no problems taking pictures with us afterwards.

"There was never a moment where she was being diva-ish."

If you want a taste of the Kesha-Oddity-experience, Killen and his cadre of drag performers will be back at Oddity Bar on July 30 at 8 p.m. And because he's the one with the cameo in Kesha's video, Killen has called dibs on all her songs this month.

And, yes, he will be performing "Woman."

The video, directed by Kesha and her brother Lagan Sebert, was released Thursday in coordination with an essay about the song and video written by Kesha and published by Rolling Stone magazine.

"Sometimes when things are so organic and visceral they just come together and this song and video are a product of that. I was going from dancing around and screaming to checking camera angles. I loved it," Kesha wrote about her Oddity Bar visit. (Kesha's representatives declined to discuss the video.)

The song, a pop anthem about female empowerment, will appear on her new album, "Rainbow," due on Aug. 11. 

"I'm a motherf—ing woman, baby, alright/I don't need a man to be holding me too tight," she announces in the chorus of the on the horn-fueled song, which features the Dap-Kings horn section, who also appear in the video.

In less than a day, the video has already racked up more than 2.8 million views online.

Oddity's stage room, normally dominated by its red-and-black pastiche, was transformed into a shimmering golden showroom thanks to golden tinsel curtains, a glitter cannon, a fog machine and bubbles.

The curtains were even hung atop the head of Wallace, the bar's mascot, which is a mounted deer head just behind where a drummer usually sits. Kevin, a stuffed raccoon that sits above the beer cooler eating Cracker Jack, even has a cameo.

Oddity Bar co-owner Andrea McCauley says the video was shot June 16, from 10 a.m. until about 7 p.m.

During the day, the performance portion was shot indoors with the windows of the bar blacked out. At night, they filmed a shot of Kesha arriving at the club with the Oddity Bar name in lights.

The only portion not filmed at the bar is a short opening scene of Kesha driving and that was filmed in the Brandywine Valley.

"Ever since we opened the bar, we wanted it to be a place where everyone felt included – inclusive for all," McCauley says. "This was a perfect fit."

"Harmonica Pete" Cogan, a 60-year-old retiree from Claymont and Oddity Bar regular who sits in with The Bullets, didn't plan on being in a major music video when he arrived at the bar in his trademark overalls.

Cogan, who helped secure the 1959 Oldsmobile that Kesha drives in the video, caught the eye of Sebert, who wanted him in the video sitting with his back to Kesha.

The result is Cogan's big pop music debut.

"Kesha's brother asked me to act disinterested, and I was like, 'Be the old white guy who doesn't get it? Go for it,'" Cogan says, still recovering from all the attention he's received since the video's surprise release. "When I turned on my phone, I had 60 messages. I've never had 60 messages in one week, never mind one day."

Contact Ryan Cormier of The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier), Twitter (@ryancormier) and Instagram (@ryancormier).