Teenage Dream
If you follow my Twitter, read my Facebook status updates, have been in my new car, or heard me drive by you bumping my music loudly you may have noticed that I’ve been head over heels obsessed with Katy Perry’s new album, Teenage Dream.
I love it. 5 stars. Aces 10.
New York Magazine‘s Vulture posted a blog this week entitled “The Ten Most Awful/Awesome Lyrics on Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream” where they list the shallowness of Katy’s lyrics and coin the new term, awfulsome, where awful and awesome come together and make an illegitimate baby. Come on people. This is pop music. It’s not supposed to be that deep.
Did anyone go and dissect Britney’s “…Baby One More Time”? Did scholars try and find the symbolism in Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies”? Will historians one day look back and debate how Christina’s addition of that extra ‘r’ in “Dirrty” sparked a worldwide movement where all females rode motorcycles to underground boxing matches and wore assless chaps? Probably not. Why? Because it’s POP music. (Although I personally believe that when historians look back at Justin Bieber’s videos they’ll note how all the purple he wore was a clear sign of his obvious homosexuality. Jus’ sayin’.)
The video for the title single “Teenage Dream” is pretty much what the video for “California Gurls” should have been. Sexy young adults frolicking on a beach, fun summertime beach bonfires and the requisite convertible driving down the California highways with the top down.
In a few months people will undoubtedly be singing the lyrics to “Peacock” just as they sang “My Humps” a few summers back. Take a peek…
“I wanna see your peacock, cock, cock
Your peacock, cock. Your Peacock, cock.
Come on baby, let me see, what you’re hiding underneath …
Are you brave enough to let me see your peacock?
Don’t be a chicken boy, stop acting like a bee-yotch
I’mma peace out if you don’t give me the pay off.
Come on baby let me see
What you’re hiding underneath.
Are you brave enough to let me see your peacock?
What you’re waiting for, it’s time for you to show it off
Don’t be a shy kinda guy I’ll bet it’s beautiful …
Oh my god no exaggeration
Boy, all this time was worth the waiting
I just shed a tear
I am so unprepared
You’ve got the finest architecture
And oh the rainbow looking treasure
Such a sight to see
And it’s all for me.
Are you brave enough to let me see your peacock?”
Now I dare you to read those lyrics and tell me it’s worth looking into deeply and scientifically. No! Like I described the album to a friend, the beauty of Teenage Dream is that it’s a light, summery pop album meant for cruising with the top down, kareoke-style singing and LOLZ. Let’s take it as such and enjoy.
