I wish they all could be California Gurls
3 Out of 5 Stars
Katy Perry pulls off a serious surprise on "Teenage Dream": she goes from low quality candyfloss to fine spun sugar cotton. Not only is this album song for song a better deal than "Me and The Boys," the album is a pure-pop tease of silly sexiness, adolescent yearnings, girl-power can-do and a modern-pop hookfest. Granted, this is an album geared towards having as many hits and radio spins as possible, but sometimes a purely well crafted guilty pleasure can brighten a dull day.
Katy Perry recognizes this truism and pushes it as hard as she can. Besides, there is no way to avoid the fact that both the title track and "California Gurls" are ear-worms of the highest caliber. She'd already learned her way around a good hook as songwriter before becoming a star, on "Teenage Dream" she increases the confidence and the firepower. While not the greatest of singers (and autotune rears its head a bit too many times), she uses enthusiasm and dramatic flair to bring the songs home.
She's also unafraid of doing purely dumb songs, which never hurts a flirty image. "Peacock" is her answer to "My Humps" or even the X-rated niece to the long ago "Mickey" by Toni Basil. "ET" is the miss in that division, as there are too many forced metaphors to make the joke work as novelty. It's also hard to balance this kind of contorted silliness with the 'serious' songs ("Circle The Drain" and "Pearl"). Bragging that you want to see a guy's pea-cock-cock-cock undercuts the intended message of the strong willed woman urging her girlfriend to dump the abusive creep in "Pearl." Well done confections like "Firework" and even the melodramatic "Not Like The Movies" (which sounds like it means to be Katy's version of Pink's "Glitter In the Air") are endearing without sounding schizophrenic in the context of the whole album.
Yet who am I to say. While I enjoy the choco-pop-ice cream that is "Teenage Dream," the teen girls dreaming of stardom and empowerment will likely think "Pearl" is dead on, and that is where Perry gets her juice. The bulk of the songs are top-notch (don't believe me? Find the Glee rendition of "Teenage Dream" and tell me it's not a glorious bit of songcraft). Much like Cyndi Lauper before her, Katy Perry is making the best of her individuality, her sense of fun and her genuine talents.
No comments:
Post a Comment