Katy Perry, Teenage Dream
Official release date: August 24, 2010
The verdict: So, some good news/bad news. Bad news first: Katy Perry, who has already dominated the summer thanks to the ubiquitous “California Gurls” is going to be inescapable through 2010, at least. Good news: That’s because her new record, Teenage Dream, contains at least four more insanely, gloriously, brazenly, absurdly, stupidly catchy songs! (Maybe that’s bad news, bad news?) The fourteen-track Teenage Dream can barely be called an album — there’s no cohesion, just a random assortment of infectious, sunny pop songs, much lower quality modern-rock numbers, and wholly laughable lyrics — but that’s entirely beside the point, because, damn, there are singles on this thing. In addition to “California Gurls” and “Teenage Dream,” there’s the “Hey, Mickey Your Penis Is So Fine” track “Peacock” (best/worst lyric: “Are you brave enough to let me see your peacock/What you waiting for, it’s time for you to show it off/Don’t be a shy kind of guy I bet it’s beautiful.” Beautiful!); the sweet “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F),” complete with saxophone breakdown; the basically execrable, but still radio-friendly rock song “Firework,” which starts, “Do you ever feel like a plastic bag?”; and “Circle the Drain,” an angry slam of Perry’s junkie ex. If these all get packaged as singles — and they should be — we’ll be listening to her through next summer. Sorry?
