As flawed as it was, Katy Perry's commercial breakthrough "One of the Boys" became a hit, spawning four top forty singles and giving her the recognition she was desperate to have. So, with a formula so surefire for making hits, why change things up the second time around? Katy's sequel to her 2008 anti-masterwork, titled "Teenage Dream" basically offers more of the same.
Along with her vulgar music, Katy Perry must also adjust her image, thus causing her to bare it all on the cover for "Teenage Dream" and become not only the high-gloss porn fantasy of every teenage boy, but also the ultimate cog in the pop machine. But what's also a trademark of her image is to deny any intention of fitting into the mold, even though the mold is what gives this album is high-dose of pop energy. Its production is immaculate, yet open-ended, leaving most of the material to seem unfinished. The guitars are sugary sweet, the drums pound but do not assault the senses, and the synths test the human's endurance to hear piercing high octaves, or they go so low to the point of being inaudible. Every part of "Teenage Dream" was designed for maximum addictiveness, not quality. And it becomes very clear that Katy's grandiose ambitions are not reflected in her music, but rather her message. Perhaps she's admitting that she was a little too offensive with "One of the Boys" and instead of singing about belched alphabets and kissing girls, she provides messages to the outcasts in "Firework". She wants to give hope to abused women in bad relationships with "Pearl", and she wants to prove that even she doesn't know what her purpose is for living on "Who Am I Living For?". But these inspirational tracks only play out like cliches, and become way too pretentious. And what would give the second half of "Teenage Dream" more credibility is a more rounded set of tracks as a whole. Even though she wants to be more than a pop-tart, she still has no problem doing the complete opposite of being a spokes-woman when she demands to see a man's "Peacock" (she incessantly repeats "cock, cock, cock" if you didn't catch on to the obvious title), and glorifying Friday night debauchery in "Last Friday Night (TGIF)" present the exact same problem she had with "One of the Boys". You can either be a party girl, or you can be a role-model, but the same album cannot house both sides. Even though "Teenage Dream" is a lot better than its predecessor (but to be honest, "One of the Boys" was so bad there was no where to go but up), it's still not cohesive, and the sugar-rush brought on by the first half leaves you crashing down in the second half filled with pretentious ballads that are more appropriate for Taylor Swift than Katy Perry. In fact, she would benefit from a little self-examination, and when she realizes that stark and whiny seriousness doesn't suit her, and she's at her best both vocally and artistically when she delivers coy and more subtle pop songs like "Hummingbird Heartbeat", maybe then she will be the artist she craves to be. But her unwavering desire to seek attention will always be at the forefront, leaving "Teenage Dream" to be a semi-addictive, over-heated, and undercooked product that is more of a sugar-coated dose of reality than a dream.
Recommended Tracks in Bold:
1. Teenage Dream 2. Last Friday Night (TGIF) 3. California Gurls
4. Firework 5. Peacock 6. Circle the Drain
7. The one that got away 8. ET 9. Who am I living for?
10. Pearl 11. Hummingbird Heartbeart 12. Not like the movies
No comments:
Post a Comment