Teenage Dream - Katy Perry

Back in 2008 I reviewed Katy Perry’s first album, called One of the Boys. Despite the fact that I gave it 4 stars when I reviewed it, I remember being very disappointed later on, as the tracks were just not really up to scratch. If I said Katy Perry what is the song that immediately comes to mind? I am pretty sure that for most of you it will be the track ‘I Kissed A Girl’ which was loved and hated by many across the world. It was a risky track from Perry, however it cemented her place in the charts and since she has had a fantastic career. Other tracks off that album are the likes of Hot N Cold which was brilliant, but for me the highlight now, looking back on the album in hindsight, it would have to be the track ‘Thinking of You’ that made the biggest impact on me.

When I saw Katy Perry was releasing a new album, I knew I wanted to buy it, so about 2 months ago; I placed a pre-order for the album, loving all of the tracks she was releasing in the mean-time. When I saw that the album would be released on the same day I was going on a road trip with some friends, I was hoping that the company would send the CD so I could listen to the album on the trip down to our holiday. It never made it, and when I came back 4 days later it still hadn’t arrived, and found that my order was cancelled for some strange reason. I wasn’t bothered when I saw that Amazon had a sale going on, and I could buy the MP3 for just £3.99.

Track 1: Teenage Dream

The first thought I had when I heard Teenage Dream on the radio was, ‘this can’t be Katy Perry’. She was singing in a very high register and to be honest, I wasn’t really too impressed by the verse as it was very high, it wasn’t until the chorus that I started to bob my head along. After about 2 more listens, I really did begin to fall in love with the track. Just like with the track California Gurls, this track was a fantastic summer anthem, it was insanely catchy, with strong beats, a great vocal in the chorus, and the lyrics were brilliant. After a few listens you forget that the higher register is not her normal singing voice and it really does fit in with the sugary sweet side to this song.

The song is really only going to appeal to a certain number of people, I can’t see die hard Pendulum fans (even though I love that band) singing along to Teenage Dream in their bedroom, but I really enjoy listening to it.

Rating: 9/10

Track 2: Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F)

I have only really listened to this track twice, and to be honest I’m not really too impressed. It didn’t feel like a fantastic put together Katy Perry track, and I’m sorry to all Ke$ha fans, but it felt like it belonged on her album. Something very unfinished and a bit stupid. I wasn’t too impressed by this track at all, it doesn’t seem polished, the lyrics are very good, but her vocals do sound very childish and for me, nothing seems to really gel.

Rating: 4/10

Track 3: California Gurls

This track is the first track off the album and I absolutely loved it from the first moment I heard it. After Eminem’s ‘Love the way I Lie’ I do think this is one of the best summer tracks of 2010. Perry teams up with the brilliant Snoop Dogg and together they have created one of my favourite summer tracks of recent years. I think the whole song has quite a laid back feel to it, and it is the sort of track that really should be listened to in the car, with the windows down and everyone in the car singing along. With this summer however, the windows have had to stay up due to the terrible weather, but it is still a great summer tune.

Perry’s vocals are fantastic as always, she has such a unique tone to her voice, and even when she sings live she is able to show off her brilliant talent. Snoops rap is a bit forgettable, but I do think they work very well together. The whole song is very upbeat and if you liked her previous tracks, then I’m sure you’ll like this one.

Rating: 10/10

Track 4: Firework

The one thing I think that Katy Perry does so well is create fantastic hooks and really catchy tracks which stand out and make you want to dance. This song for me, had so much going for it, when you hear the bridge and the chorus, you can really see what this song could have become. It really could have been an amazing dance track, but the verses for me, bring it back down as there’s nothing really too special. I know her main audience is tweens, however, I think a very good song, has been ruined because they added too many poor beats and too much sickly sweet moments in the song. I really could have heard this track out in a nightclub until I think the producers made their stamp on it.

7/10

Track 5: Peacock

Before listening to this track, I had heard it was possibly the most annoying track ever released. The first thing that came into my head was the track ‘Hey Mickey’ when I heard this track, and I could just see a bunch of girls doing a load of cheerleading routines to it. It’s not a bad song, and really not as annoying as some have said. I heard the track before her appearance on Alan Carr and found it quite funny to find out why this track is called Peacock, as throughout the song she is saying “are you brave enough to let me see your pea-cock”, which I thought was really childish originally, however apparently she wasn’t allowed to use the word that she wanted to use, so she chose peacock instead, as one way or another people are going to take it in the wrong way, but in reality it is not a bad word at all. A genius move really, but not a brilliant track at all.

Rating: 6/10

Track 6: Circle the Drain

I assume this track was written about her former boyfriend Travis McCoy (who is currently in the charts with the track Billionaire and was in Gym Class Heroes), and when I first heard it I was really impressed with the lyrics. It was so different from anything I’ve really heard from Perry, it’s got more of a rocky feel to it and the lyrics really did feel like they were coming from the heart. That being said, I have never been a fan of tracks that slate people, with the lyrics in the bridge she tells us all that he ‘fell asleep during foreplay’, which to be honest was not really necessary in the song in my opinion.

Ignoring that however, the song is very good, all about addiction and the fact she couldn’t stay with him anymore whilst he circled the drain.

Rating: 8/10

Track 7: The One The Got Away

This track is really nothing special, but it’s not really a bad track, it is just quite boring, especially following the likes of Circle the Drain. Perry’s vocals are good, but just nothing too special. It’s not bad, and I’m sure some people will like it, but for me it’s just a bit too boring.

Rating: 5/10

Track 8: ET

Another rather disappointing track, I had been told by a friend that they loved this track, but for me it was just rather disappointing. It had a strong beat, but nothing seemed to gel. Perry really does work better when the songs are catchy and I think that songs like this are only on the album for one reason, to fill a space. Nothing special at all, and the beat gets on your nerves very easily.

Rating: 5/10

Track 9: Who am I Living For?

So far this album has just been like One of the Boys, quite a few good strong tracks, but then the rest are only there for filler material. I liked Perry’s vocals on the track, but it was just all too slow for me, and just didn’t gel together. There is quite a weird sync sound to the track and it adds a bit of uniqueness to the track, which is why I’ve given it a bit of a higher rating than I’m sure it all together deserves. Another boring filler track.

Rating: 6/10

Track 10: Pearl

When I heard this song, I found that it just pretty much melted into the previous track, I always think it’s a mistake to put similar tracks together. Perry’s vocals do get a bit slower and I do like this track a little bit more, but it’s just too slow, and has too much going on in the background. I have heard that Perry loves this track, but I can’t understand why myself. It’s just a bit too slow, but at the same time way too busy to be a very good track, just average like the rest of the album.

5/10

Track 11: Hummingbird Heartbeat

This track seems to attempt to get the same hooks and likeability that California Gurls and Teenage Dream have attempted, but it just doesn’t seem to work together. I do think that it is trying to rip of tracks like California Gurls and even Hot N Cold, and it’s nothing really unique. As well as that, it becomes forgettable. I don’t think people will talk about this as much as California Gurls was talked about when it was released. It’s a good track, it’s not bad, but it could have been a bit more catchy I think, I think the first thing that failed was the rather lame title.

Rating: 7/10

Track 12: Not Like The Movies

The one thing I was hoping for on the album was to get another ‘Thinking of You’ styled song. I think Perry’s vocals are fantastic when it comes to ballads and I was happy to hear this song was on the album. It is in entirely different league to my favourite Perry song, but the song is simply beautiful. I think the album would has just gained another star after I listened to this track because it is really captivating and juts beautiful to listen to. Perry really shows off her amazing vocals, and I’m glad to see she’s put another beautiful ballad on the album. One to listen to.

Rating: 9/10

My Opinion

I knew I wasn’t going to get much from the album, but with my little sister paying half I thought it wasn’t going to be too much of a loss anyway. I didn’t really get much at all from the album and was quite disappointed by the lack of variety in the tracks and to be honest it was just too teeny bopper and she didn’t really improve from the previous album.

That being said, I’ve had a few of these tracks on in the car since reviewing them above, and one track in particular, firework has really grown on me and I can now really see it becoming a fantastic single from this artist.

If I had to choose between One of the Boys and Teenage Dream I would say the previous album had a lot more to choose from, and I think the previous album had a bit more maturity to it, whereas this album in my opinion, bar a few tracks, is quite immature and really just overproduced and silly in places. I was quite disappointed as I really do like Perry’s voice and I do think she has one of the best female voices in music today.

I can imagine her doing some great things in a few years when she finally gets a bit more mature with her music and everything starts to work together. She really could have done a lot with this album, but I think she played towards her target audience a bit too much, which alienated the rest of us.

One of the worst albums I’ve listened to in the last year and it’s a shame as four of the tracks on the album are really good, but the rest are so bad that it’s not really worth any money spent on it. I loved California Girls, Teenage Dream, Firework and Not Like The Movies, but the rest just were too poppy and juvenile for me to even be able to listen to in the car.

Hope this helps.

(C) Kirsty 2010