Let’s Have an In-Depth Conversation about Katy Perry

So, I was reading this entry (which is mostly about Bruno Mars and Katy Perry) at Crooked Timber and I was excitedly composing all these responses (to both the post and comments) in my head. Then I thought to myself “Yeah, but my comments will just be lost in the shuffle. People won’t understand there’s a sage in their midst and my genius will go largely ignored.” Then I thought “Well, shit. I’m just going to write a post about this. Because I’m an incredibly important person with incredibly important things to say about Katy Perry!” So…yeah.

So I’ll start with the contention that Katy Perry is not a good singer. Unless she is severely auto-tuned (and she could be! I don’t know a whole lot about Katy Perry!) she actually has a pretty extraordinary voice. A strong voice with a really great range. So, no, not really.

Katy Perry is not hot: Underbite aside, I think most people would find her pretty darn hot. All done up, her face is super-cute and she has the body of an old-fashioned pin-up.

Katy Perry’s first single was good: “I Kissed a Girl” is not just horrible on its face (because it’s just not a particularly good, danceable, likable or listenable song) it is also deeply offensive because of its male gaze-y approach to bi-curiousity. It’s basically the musical equivalent of the sort of faux-lesbo kisses you might see in a “Girls Gone Wild” video. “OMG, I’m kissing a girl! Dudes, are you watching?!!!! I’m really liking it! Honest!”

Katy Perry’s follow-up hits sucked: “California Gurls,” which–admittedly is awful and pretty much guilty of aural rape–aside, a lot her hits are actually fun, catchy and listenable. “Wide Awake” is addictive and “Hot ‘n’ Cold” is really fun to sing. I even like “Roar” and “Dark Horse.” Are all these songs and glossy-sugary-slick and over-produced? Sure. Absolutely. But they’re also pretty fun to listen to.

So I totally *get* why Katy Perry is popular. Even if she doesn’t deserve to be.

Also, Bruno Mars is terrifically talented and thought his performance at the Superb Owl was amazing.