How Katy Perry is Taking Over the World, One Teenage Dream at a Time

About 4 weeks ago*, pop singer Katy Perry’s single “Last Friday Night” hit #1 on the charts; it was the fifth single off her Teenage Dream album to reach #1 (the others: “California Gurls,” “Teenage Dream,” “Firework,” “E.T.”). This is significant because she became the first female and second artist overall (Michael Jackson’s Bad) to accomplish this feat.

*no, this post isn’t going to be an exercise in timeliness

Anyone else craving cotton candy?

If you have a pulse, then you know who Katy Perry is or have at least heard one of the aforementioned Teenage Dream songs. Or if you haven’t heard any of those songs, then your church undoubtedly held an emergency meeting once “I Kissed a Girl” was released in 2008, the song that launched her to instant superstardom (say whatever you want about Perry, but this was a genius selection for a debut single; credit to the producers).

One of the ironies of Perry in general and “I Kissed a Girl” in particular is that this success was after she released a gospel rock album in 2001, the self-titled Katy Hudson (she later changed her name to Katy Perry). Several short years after performing songs like “Faith Won’t Fail,“ she’s declaring that she kissed a girl and, indeed, she liked it.

Whether or not Perry is still a God-fearing person is almost irrelevant in her development as global icon. She saw the allure of fame, and she figured she had a better chance at achieving fame if she ditched her dogmatic ideals. One can almost imagine a young Perry –er – Hudson, flicking on TRL (Carson Daly!) in the late 90s or early 2000s and seeing pop icons like Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera making boat loads of cash definitely not singing about God.

And to say nothing against religion, the idea of God isn’t exactly appealing to most teenagers. That is, religious teachings may be important to them, but it likely isn’t consuming much of their thought.

Which is why Perry’s ascendance shouldn’t be a shock. She has skillfully crafted herself as this “party girl” that married admitted sex addict Russell Brand. Meanwhile, her songs have strategically sold various lifestyles to her young, adoring audience. It’s no surprise that much of the content in the five #1 singles off the Teenage Dream album are essentially well formulated fantasies. True, they’re catchy fantasies (“Firework” is stuck in my head as I write this), but lots of artists have been catchy and not achieved the success Perry has on this one album. For a hand selected sample, Bruce Springsteen is one of the most beloved artists of all time, and he has NEVER had a #1 single (though he did write “Blinded by the Light,” a song that reached #1 in 1977 when covered by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, probably because people kept requesting it to try to decipher if the chorus really did say “wrapped up like a douche”**).

**it doesn’t: “Blinded by the light, / revved up like a deuce, / another runner in the night”

***

The California girl motif isn’t exactly a new one in pop music. The Beach Boys released “California Girls” in 1965 and, like Perry’s misspelled version, the song attained great success, peaking at #3 on the charts. Yet, while the Boys may have been more subtle using sexual imagery, Perry is not. But lyrics like “we’ll melt your popsicle” and “we freak in my jeep,” as well as the cameo appearance by noted feminist Snoop Dogg, aren’t present to degrade women. That’s the lazy argument. Instead, they present a world in which women hold power over men through shear sex appeal. What teenage girl wouldn’t find that desireable? Even the video, a bright colored Candy Land universe, featuring a blue-haired Perry spraying, um, whip cream out of her, um, blouse, grabs your attention and makes you think “well maybe California girls are sexier after all” (whatever that means). If you’re a girl from California, the song reaffirms your dominance and for that you appreciate Perry. If you’re not from California but you want to learn how to feel sexy, then Perry can teach you how.

While “California Gurls” plays up the sexy angle, “Teenage Dream” plays up the plain angle. The song kicks off with the female speaker claiming “You think I’m pretty, without any makeup on / You think I’m funny when I tell the punch line wrong ,” giving hope to any girls that may have felt ugly and that “California Gurls” is only for the beautiful. The song is also of the same mold as the Twilight series, a series that has gained ridiculous popularity amongst young women not for vampire mythology, but because Edward Cullen is dreamy AND he cares about Bella. The notion that he isn’t human suggests that he isn’t attainable; since real men are a-holes, then retreating to the books/movies is the only way to have your dream man.

"I'm like complicated and stuff"

As “Teenage Dream” progresses, we learn that the speaker and Perfect Fictional Man X are off to have sexy time at some motel. A line in the chorus reads “You make me feel like I’m living a teenage dream / The way you turn me on,” a line that would make any father to a teenage daughter cringe. So Perry is establishing sex as important to teenagers. Ok, fine, but the speaker seems equally concerned that “now every February you’ll be my Valentine, Valentine,” an idea so important that Perry wisely and subliminally utters the word twice. So not only is Perfect Fictional Man X amazing in bed (a concept most younger teenage girls cannot even grasp, making the mystery of it only that much more appealing), but he’ll also remember to buy his girlfriend chocolates on Valentine’s Day. And unlike “California Gurls,” Perry doesn’t describe any “desirable” female features or bikinis, making the song more attainable to all teenage girls (“maybe he won’t care how I look!”). No, Perfect Fictional Man X exists for listeners, and to be reminded of him at all times, he costs only $1.29 on iTunes.

It might be fair to imagine one of those teenage girls that admired Katy Perry is Rebecca Black. Similar to Perry being inspired by pop singers of a decade ago, Black (and I’m totally theorizing) probably listened to Perry and wanted the fame, attention, and lifestyle of Perry. The result was the viral hit “Friday,” Black’s disastrous masterpiece about a young girl that likes cereal, is confused by front/rear seat car upholstery, and wants to hang out with her friiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeennnnnnnnnnds.

Perry’s “Last Friday Night,” the single that tied her with MJ, is another entry in the “look how fun my lifestyle is” department. It’s also her most self-referential music video, in the sense that it is about a misfit girl (named Kathy, played by Perry) that during the song has a crazy Friday night***, as if Perry’s music spurs Kathy’s newfound popularity. Rebecca Black makes a cameo in the video, and her role is to accept Kathy (adorned with goggle glasses and orthodontic head ware so grotesque only Lisa Simpson can understand the suffering of wearing them) and give her a makeover so that she will become popular. And while Black is accepting the Perry-played Kathy, the same thing is taking place off-camera, as Perry has invited Black literally to be in the music video, but also more subtly drawing her into her music. Like Black, listeners are sucked into Perry’s music.

***And damn is it crazy. Her uncle is Kenny G, her dad is Corey Feldman, and Hanson is playing on her front lawn. Yeah, THAT Hanson. And the video is 8 minutes long! And I watched the entire thing! It’s really quite awful…I’ll post it below:

When comparing Perry’s songs to Michael Jackson’s songs on a simplistic level, it’s interesting to note that while Perry is selling fiction to her audiences, and thus creating a dialogue where she is talking at her listeners, Jackson is much more introspective. This is evident even when you just gloss at the song titles that reached #1 off the Bad album: “I Just Can’t Loving You, “Bad” (featuring the refrain “I’m bad”), “The Way You Make Me Feel,” “Man in the Mirror” (i.e., Jackson), and “Dirty Diana” (ok doesn’t really work but you get the point).

But Perry isn’t concerned with thinking about herself, at least in terms of her music. Nor does she want her audience to think about themselves as they currently are. Rather, she wants her audience to think about what they aren’t, and then provide them with a haven in which they can explore their fantasies. The fantasies Perry is selling may be cliché, like Friday night popularity, Valentine’s Day plans, and being attractive. But just because they’re cliché doesn’t mean they aren’t fantasies that teenagers are obsessed with. And if you don’t believe me, try to remember when you were in high school.