Wednesday, February 4, 2009

The Blurb: Katy Perry


Okay, this post is going to be made up of my opinions on a very controversial topic that faces the youth of our country today, and has been causing quite a stir. That topic is Katy Perry.

I love her! I think she's awesome! She has an awesome voice, her songs are fun and interesting and she is totally cool and unique and I give her props for that. I know her songs are very controversial, but I think she rocks and I don't care who knows it!

One of my favorite songs of hers is "Thinking Of You," and I'm actually a little pissed that it doesn't get as much radio play as "Hot N' Cold" or "I Kissed A Girl." (Even though I love those songs too...) But "Thinking Of You" is a gorgeous song, and the poetry in it is absolutely heart-breaking (but in a good way!)

I also love "Hot N' Cold" and "I Kissed A Girl." For me, they're each just one of those songs that you hear on the radio, and at first you think in your head "I've never heard this before. It's kinda weird," and then the next time you hear it, you think "This song's annoying," then the next time it's "Ugh, I hate this song, why is it played so much???" But then, after you've heard it a million more times in the car on your way home from "Oliver" rehearsal, you catch yourself humming it or realizing you can't get the words out of your head. Then, the next time you hear it, you think "This song is starting to grow on me a little I guess," then by the next time, you're singing along with it and FINALLY, the time after that, you can't help but admit "Okay, I really like this song!" You know what I mean? has anyone else heard songs like that? Anyone? Helloooo?

Of course, there are plenty of people who don't get that reaction from these particular songs, and the transformation ends at "God, why can't they stop playing this f***ing song every f***ing day on every f***ing radio station????????" And I respect that opinion. There are tons of songs that I still find annoying no matter how many times i hear them (*COUGH* Flo-Rida *COUGH*) I just happen to find these ones enjoyable. And, of course, they are the PERFECT dance party songs (both were featured on my play-list for my Sweet 16 party, along with "Livin' La Vida Loca" "Wannabe" "Cha-Cha Slide" and of course "Life Is A Highway." I was going for a "One song from every year of my life" thing, and then added a bunch of new songs...)

And then, of course, there's the other issue with these songs: The "inappropriate" and "homophobic" lyrics. I get it. I totally TOTALLY get it. I also fail to realize why so many men are turned on by two girls making out. And I don't think it's funny when people make jokes about "womanly issues." And, believe me, no one get's madder than I do when someone in my company uses "gay" as an insult.

But do you know what else I do? I can sort of mentally push these things aside for a few minutes while listening to music. I want to listen to the song from an unbiased standpoint and judge it only based on it's musical, poetic and interpretational styles. That's one of the things that Mr. Baker always bugs me about (he hates Katy Perry with a fiery passion.) When he heard "Ur So Gay" for the first time he just called her a homophobe and said that was an awful thing to say about someone, and moved on. But, after listening to it a few more times, I realized what she is really talking about: She is talking to her ex-boyfriend, who she said in interviews was a huge jerk and dumped her in the worst possible way, and who wears guy-liner and spends more time looking in the mirror than she does and talks and acts like a huge emo poser, and and she's telling him "Stop being such a phony, start being a real person and get your effing act together." In a way, it's exactly the same message as Avril Lavigne's hit "Complicated." Now I will admit, the use of the word "gay" wasn't great word choice on her part, but other than that, I really like the style and most of the other lyrics in the song, and if/when I hear it on the radio, I will gladly sing along.

Plus, just a little side note, I asked one of my best friends, Troy what he thinks of the song (because he happens to be gay) and he said that he loves it. When I asked him about the whole "using gay as an insult" thing, he said this: "Well, yeah. I mean, I hate it when people use gay as an insult when their talking about something, but I still think it's a fun song. It's funny and ironic, and... I don't know, I just love it!"

So, that is how I interpret it anyway, but other opinions/interpretations of the song are more than welcome.

Also, for those of you who still aren't convinced (and if you never are convinced, that's fine with me) here's a song that she did a few years ago, that was featured in the movie "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants." You can get an idea of what the "Pre-I-Kissed-A-Girl" Katy Perry was like:




So, as I always do with my blurbs, I am welcoming any discussions or debates or constructive criticisms of what I have said (as long as you give it decent justification.)

3 comments:

LittleMary said...

see, i haven't even heard of this chick before. thanks for educating me.

Magdalene6127 said...

Well, you defend her very eloquently. And I completely agree with you about "Thinking of You...." It's gorgeous and haunting.

Don't like "gay" as an epithet, though. But you knew that...!

lady stardust said...

thinking of you is deff my fave song by her!
i love the lyrics, and the music video is charming.
cute blog youu :)
xx

alexia