My Album Project: Teenage Dream by Katy Perry (2010, Capitol)

WHY I NEVER GOT AROUND TO LISTENING TO THIS ARTIST/ALBUM

I love pop songs. And what I mean by that is that I really like the pop song format. This really shouldn't be confused with the term pop music. I view pop music as a collective noun, made up of whatever music is popular for masses at any given time. This can usually be classified as disposable and lacking of any real legacy, other than the sentimental shlep when someone utters the phrase “Do you remember this song?” A good pop song, however, stands the test of time. No matter the artist, the songwriter, the instrumentation, the accompanying video clip or the amount of radio airplay, a good pop song can win over the hype machine any day.

And speaking of pop and hype, I have been noticing a lot of buzz around Katy Perry lately, with her new record and tour in full swing. She has never been on my musical radar – which doesn't mean I had no idea who she was. If you know me, it is no secret that have a proclivity towards curvy brunettes with dark, brooding eyes. But that wasn't enough to get me to listen to her music. I remember a few years back that she was briefly married to comedian Russell Brand, which brought up her cred, as far as I was concerned, but again, I still had no interest in getting into her material.

When her latest tour brought her through Toronto for a couple of dates a short while ago, there were a handful or so people that I know who unabashedly got tickets to her shows. That's when I figured there might be something to explore. I spent a week with her 2010 monster hit album Teenage Dream.

WHAT I KNEW ABOUT THE ALBUM BEFORE THIS PROJECT

That track that had Snoop on it (“California Gurls”) was all over the place a few years ago. And that “Firework” song – because they play it at Toronto Blue Jay games all the time. Otherwise, not so much.

AFTER A WEEK OF DIGESTING THIS ALBUM

As stated above, I didn't think I knew much from this record, but I quickly realized that wasn't the case at all. Many tracks on this album are ubiquitous; on TV shows and advertisements, at the baseball stadium and the hockey arena, and in video games. Apparently, I've been listening to Katy Perry for the past four years without knowing it.

The songs are anthemic in scope – exemplified by "Firework" and the title track. I think it has a lot to do with Perry singing at the top of her register on the choruses of those tunes. At times, Perry verges on shouting, which is perhaps the reason why a song like "Not Like in the Movies" is a nice reprieve from the rest of the album.

Katy Perry's lyrical content is anything but subtle, i.e. "I wanna see your peacock." The double entendres - hell, the single entendres show up in every other line. She seems to try a bit too hard to show how far she can push the lyrical envelope. The feminist in me applauds Perry's uncompromising expressions of overt sexuality. As an uncle of a five-and-a-half year-old niece who sings Katy Perry songs she hears on the Just Dance video game, I am a bit more cautious.

Make no mistake, there is a reason why Teenage Dream set the benchmark for an album having the most number one singles (seven) on Billboard's Dance/Club Play Songs chart: this shit is catchy as hell. I still find myself humming “Hummingbird Heartbeat” and "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" weeks after listening to it. But after seven days with the talented Ms. Perry, I felt I owed to myself to a subsequent week of listening to Billie Holiday, just to even things out a little bit.