I honestly deliberated whether or not to make this confession for quite awhile. And by "quite awhile" I mean, like, five minutes. I had to outweigh all the pros and cons of the matter- i.e. How many friends will I lose by admitting this? Will Blogger delete my blog upon admission of this deep, dark secret? Will I be able to walk the streets unharassed once this information gets leaked to the public?
Ultimately I decided to put myself on the line, as well as my popularity (which is non-existent anyway) and safety, in order to get this off my chest. So, here it is…
I really, really adore Katy Perry.
Ok, now that I let the cat out of the bag, please, PLEASE keep in mind that I'm a fundamentally good person with good values and, in my opinion, good taste in music. I will admit that in the past I've foolishly listened to some horrid music, including the Black Eyed Peas, Chris Brown, Limp Bizkit, and Lil Wayne, but I assure you that since then I have gained wisdom and have moved on to better tunes.
I would like to point out though that I was never idiotic enough to listen to Hanson, Nickelback, or Creed. Never, ever... ever. I do have some dignity for Pete’s sake.
Thankfully I’ve moved past that era of my life- the crappy music era- and now pride myself on listening to good bands. By ‘good’ I mean original, talented artists and/or bands that utilize real instruments. I’m not into the cookie cutter, overproduced, and gimmicky stuff that plagues mainstream music these days. This includes nearly everyone that is ‘hot’ on the Billboards these days, but especially Ke$ha, Justin Beiber, Miley Cyrus, and all those other so-called pop sensations.
I’m not saying all pop music is bad… just 99% of it.
With that said, I'm sure you can understand why I struggle to admit that I like Katy Perry. She is very much all those things, but especially very gimmicky and overproduced. Instead of being annoyed by that, however, I am saddened.
Why am I so emo over Katy Perry, you ask? Because the girl has talent.
Unlike most female singers these days, she is actually capable of being something other than an auto-tuned sleazebag. She has an immensely unique and expressive voice that would do so well in the rock/alternative/indie/acoustic genres of music. It’s not spectacular by any means, and actually it’s quite imperfect, but that’s exactly why I enjoy it. Also, she has personality! One that hasn’t been molded by label execs. I only say this because I became familiar with Katy more than a year before she ever hit the scene with “I Kissed a Girl”. She was an unsigned singer with a blog that featured ridiculously entertaining posts and videos. Her love of cheesy sayings and gaudy outfits is nothing entirely new either. She truly is nutty.
Do I like the music she puts out? No. As I said, I wish she would shimmy away from all the bubblegum pop and veer toward a more daring and alternative direction. Then again I understand that her music sells and thus I can’t knock a girl for trying to get fame and moolah. I only hope that now that she has made a splash in Hollywood and has established a firm fan base, she will consider taking the ‘risk’ to put out more innovative and reputable music. Right now she’s simply a performer. Hopefully she’ll one day transition into an artist.
Any-freakin’-way… In spite of my disinterest in her current music, she put on a rockin’ performance on SNL this weekend. She performed both “California Girls” and “Teenage Dream”. The former wasn’t anything noteworthy but the latter, “Teenage Dream”, was surprisingly impressive. I especially like how she started out acapella to showcase her grungy voice.
On a side note, I like the cover she did of MGMT’s “Electric Feel”. Of course it was already an excellent song so she didn’t have to do much there, but I do like her spin on it.
Of course this is all my own personal opinion and I am not a qualified music journalist who works for Rolling Stone or BLENDER magazine so you can take all this with a grain of salt. I just ask that you still be my friend and not make fun of me behind my back now that I have unleashed this beast of a secret.
Wait… Hello?
Are you even still reading this?
Ugh. I knew it.
