Rating: NN
One of Katy Perry’s main talking points while promoting her second album is its 90s pop influence. But under the production and songwriting direction of Dr. Luke and Max Martin (who, collectively, have masterminded hits for Miley, Ke$ha and Britney), Teenage Dream is an unapologetic play for pop dominance, calculated to sound very much of the present.
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The singer recently said that the catchy Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.) is her version of I Gotta Feelin’. With lyrics about photos ending up online after a debauched evening, it’s also reminiscent of Lady Gaga singing about drunkenly losing her keys and phone on Just Dance. Derivative, sure, but the song strikes a perfect equilibrium between Perry’s sex appeal and goofy, self-effacing charm. Those two qualities are out of balance for most of the album, resulting in awkward jams like E.T. (Futuristic Lover) and Peacock, four jarring minutes of Perry demanding to see a guy’s penis – whoops, I mean “peacock” – in the cheerleading style of Toni Basil and Gwen Stefani. To some, this amounts to more of a teenage nightmare.
Top track: Teenage Dream
