The problem with Katy Perry stems from camouflaging her identity crisis with tacky clichés to make up for a deep lack of substance. Perry is a singer, a product of modern times, whose singular goal of global fame overshadows any hint of artistic creativity.
While her album, One of the Boys covers all the bases, it’s hardly cohesive and at times comes across as downright crass, while Perry herself easily runs the risk of being remembered only for her first hit, “I Kissed a Girl”. Still the album and single have sold truckfulls so she must be hitting a cord with some listeners.
One of the Boys
Perry opens with “One of the Boys” a fun doo-woop over a very Go-Go’s sounding early 80’s guitar and synth sequence before she pipes in to announce that she saw a spider and didn’t scream. Good stuff! She continues with a classic line (that ought to be carved in stone for other generations to admire and adore), “I can belch the alphabet, just double dare me.”
From that lyric the cliché of the frail little girl looking for street cred goes from bad to worse after she announces that she chose guitar over ballet. Other tracks offer the same tired allusions such as the terrible “If You Can Afford Me” and “I’m Still Breathing”. These tracks beg the question to which generation Perry is actually singing? And which one is she from?
I Kissed a Girl
With arrangements as current and trendy as a meterosexual’s power suit and lyrics as deep as a glass of water, Perry has created a pop record that tries to sound cool and dangerously close to becoming controversial, but it comes off sounding crass and juvenile.
Given that Perry is the daughter of two pastors and a former Christian rock singer, her lean towards more risqué material sounds somewhat contrived and calculated instead of fun and fleeting, therefore leaving her identity crisis all the more exposed.
Lead single, the now infamous “I Kissed a Girl” takes a little lesbian smooching and tries to turn it into something scandalous. Sorry Perry you’re a little late - Madonna’s been locking lips with chicks since you were still too young to wear cherry chapstick. While catchy enough with its Joan Jett guitars and bouncy beat, “I Kissed a Girl” hardly goes down in history as an evergreen track to be adored by generations to come.
Ur So Gay
On “Waking Up in Vegas” Perry pulls a bad imitation of Avril Lavigne. The pop equivalent of waking up after a bad dream, this track should come with a filler warning. Then there’s “Thinking on You”, another Lavigne sounding dud where good girl Perry spends her time having sex with one guy while thinking of another.
“Mannequin” sounds perfect for repeat play at K-Mart, and then there’s “Ur So Gay”. “I hope you hang yourself with your H&M scarf,” Perry sings about her boyfriend. It’s unclear from the lyrics what pissed her off to the point where she has to gay bash the guy, maybe he was kissing the same girl she was – Hey Perry, who’s so gay?
Hot N Cold
The only fun on this entire album comes at track 7. “Hot N Cold” a neo New Wave floor stomper electrifies an otherwise bland disc. Over a high energy dance vibe Perry does what she does best, complain about her boyfriend using a ton of clichés such as how he changes his mind more than a girl changes clothes. While silly and forgettable, this track sounds best plucked from the album. As a single, it rocks, and shines like a lost gem among much of the filler that constitutes the rest of the album.
Following “Hot N Cold”, “Lost” chirps in as another highlight. An acoustic guitar and keyboard based track, spins the tale of a misspent life and longing to get out of a go nowhere town. While the track is highly unoriginal, as a mid tempo ballad it sounds alright.
While Katy Perry’s debut contains few highlights, the outstanding tracks pick up the slack for the rest of the album. Best to download the singles and skip the unexceptional filler found on One of the Boys.
