The success of Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream," released last month, is undeniable. The first week the album was out, it sold 192,000 copies and debuted at number one on the Billboard chart.
Its smash summer hit "California Gurls," featuring Snoop Dogg, played constantly on radios everywhere for the duration of the summer and continues to air frequently. Perry's follow-up single, "Teenage Dream," has been picking up steam in the last few weeks.
The manner in which Perry has managed to combine her quirky attitude with sex appeal is unique in the music business today.
Born to two pastors and raised in a deeply religious family, she released her first Christian pop album in 2001 to no fanfare. After a secular reinvention, her 2008 album, "One Of The Boys," rocketed her to stardom with the cheeky smash hit "I Kissed a Girl."
Perry's persona truly makes her unique. She plays the role of a traditional pop diva, oozing gratuitous amounts of sexuality with her skimpy outfits, but something about her is different.
Seemingly constructed as almost an ironic or satirical take on divas that have come before her, Perry puts out a vibe of playfulness that shows that she doesn't take everything as seriously as her Britney-esque predecessors.
Her sexuality is something that she exploits. The whipped-cream scene in the video for "California Gurls," for example, is certainly tongue-in-cheek (and tongue-in-other-things). She uses her body on her own zany terms.
Unfortunately, savvy sex appeal won't be enough for Perry. There is a real absence of quality on many of the tracks on "Teenage Dream." In contrast to her usual playful tone, overproduction and whiny vocals drag down the overall quality of the album. It seems as though Perry put less effort into every track that wasn't "California Gurls."
"Peacock," in particular, is a mystery. The chorus — "I want to see your peacock-cock-cock" — is an example of the basic nature of the song. The subtext can barely be called innuendo at all; it's basically just text.
This diction would be fine given the sexual nature of Perry's celebrity persona, but the overproduced quality of "Peacock" and complete flatness of its lyrics land the song below par. The verses only exist to feed into the chorus and offer no value on their own.
The song "Hummingbird Heartbeat" has a similar issue. The sentiment of the song is similar to that of the title track — and both themes seem to be lifted straight out of Madonna's "Like a Virgin" (1984). When Perry croons, "You give me hummingbird heartbeat / spread my wings and make me fly / the taste of your honey is so sweet," the overwrought synthesizers and crunchy electric guitars drag the song down.
The album is buoyed, however, by its excellent lead single. "California Gurls" is a masterpiece of summertime pop that uses its sparse synthesized track to full effect. Though the melody is childish and monotonous at worst, it does its job as a sing-along track for a generation.
Perry's sexuality is used to great effect here, as she and her West Coast brood promise to "melt your Popsicle." Furthermore, the Candy Land-inspired video has set the tone for Perry's modified Bettie Page aesthetic and explicit brand of sexual coquettishness.
Overall, the album does deliver on its promises. The lyrics are catchy and the beats are pulsating, as one should expect from Perry. But in the end, "Teenage Dream" and "California Gurls" are the album's saving graces — and the rest just seem like fillers.
