Katy Perry – “California Gurls”
Published May 09th 2010
Filed under Reviews
Katy Perry’s lead single California Gurls from her upcoming second album premiered this week via her official website with the statement “Summer starts now!”. California Gurls, produced by Dr. Luke, features rapper Snoop Dogg and sounds like a summer anthem which could rival the success of Katy’s 2008 huge hit I Kissed A Girl.
The problem with California Gurls as a lead single and also a comeback single is that the chorus has no stand out lyric to catch onto. Having listened to the song quite a number of times, it’s hard to remember any of the lyrics from the chorus. The only thing that keeps me returning for another listen is the addictive melody present throughout the track.
The production on the track sounds a bit raw and unfinished. On first listen, it sounded like it was an unfinished demo. The vocals are swallowed by the music for most of the song and it’s hard to understand why it was intentionally produced that way. California Gurls also sounds very similar to Dr. Luke’s recent hit with Ke$ha, TiK ToK, to the extent where the chorus of each song could be interchanged between their respective tracks and fit perfectly with the only alteration being the pitch.
Regardless, California Gurls is a strong enough lead single to become a hit despite its similarities to TiK ToK and it’s a solid effort from Katy showing some progression from the sound of her debut album One of The Boys. Even Snoop Dogg’s rap doesn’t sound out of place or forced although the misspelling of “girls” in the title could have been avoided but it’s hardly surprising as it seems to be a Dr. Luke reoccurring trend.
You can listen to California Gurls on Katy Perry’s official website now.
Ke$ha – “Blah, Blah, Blah” Video Premier
Published February 24th 2010
Filed under Videos
Ke$ha’s music video for her second international single Blah, Blah, Blah featuring 3OH!3 premiered today. The video, like TiK ToK, shows Ke$ha as a wild, party “animal” once again.
Blah, Blah, Blah is set in a bowling alley with shots of Ke$ha bowling, rolling around the bowling lanes, getting photos taken unsubtly with a Nokia phone, jumping around like Katy Perry in the middle of 3OH!3, tying a guy up, ripping a wig off a bald man’s head and flying up and down outside the building.
As an album track, Blah, Blah, Blah isn’t the song that stood out as being second single material but having seen the video, it is clear why it was chosen over the other (better) songs. To the general public it won’t sound like a rehash of TiK ToK and will give people the impression that Ke$ha isn’t just churning out the same song again (although they will come to realise this by the time singles three and four arrive).
3OH!3 are a bit out of place in both the video and the song and don’t add anything except looking awkward and irrelevant. The Starstrukk reconstruction scenes are completely unnecessary and the duo probably should have been cut from the song completely for the radio edit.
However, the video does its job which is to yet again showcase Ke$ha as a party girl while also being fun and showing off her rebellious personality.
Blah, Blah, Blah is set to be released on March 1st through RCA Records.
Ke$ha – “Animal” Album Review
Published January 17th 2010
Filed under Reviews
Ke$ha’s debut album was released digitally on January 1st following the release of her debut single TiK ToK which went to number one in several countries.
The album opens with the infectious Your Love Is My Drug which on first listen makes you think you’ve heard the song a thousand times before but somehow it still sounds fresh. While not being incredibly innovative, the chorus will get stuck in your head for hours after listening to it. As far as singles go, it’s definitely a contender but should be a later single in the campaign as it has the same sound as TiK ToK.
If you’ve been to clubs any time in the past few months, then you can’t have missed out on hearing TiK ToK which gets a spin a few times per night. TiK ToK was the perfect debut single for Ke$ha as it established exactly who she is as an artist. Like most of the songs on Animal, TiK ToK is about being drunk at a party.
Throughout the album, it’s hard not to hear similarities to Avril Lavigne’s 2007 effort The Best Damn Thing. Although it’s not surprising since Ke$ha wrote some tracks with Avril which didn’t make the final cut of the album. The sound of The Best Damn Thing isn’t only on the tracks by Dr. Luke, who worked on most of The Best Damn Thing, but also on tracks like D.I.N.O.S.A.U.R. which doesn’t sound too distant from the “rapping” and beat of Avril’s I Don’t Have To Try.
Kiss ‘n’ Tell is a strong contender for the second single. You can instantly tell it’s a Max Martin and Dr. Luke track which echos Katy Perry’s Hot ‘n’ Cold in the chorus sonically and in structure.
The slower songs on the album are quite good and while they show Ke$ha’s diversity between up-tempo and mid-tempo songs, some of them are too similar to each other. In particular, Blind and Dancing With Tears In My Eyes could interchange their choruses and the only thing that would make you realise they weren’t the real chorus of the respective song is the lyrical content. Having said that Blind is the stronger of the two and a contender for the best song on the album.
Other highlights on the album include the title track, album closer Animal and Hungover, both mid-tempo but quite different to the aforementioned with Hungover using the metaphor of a hangover to describe being broken-hearted and Animal which is the perfect way to end the album. The mid-tempo tracks really show an honest side to Ke$ha while still maintaining her party girl image in both Hungover and Dancing With Tears In My Eyes.
Overall Animal is a very nice debut and looks set to be a very successful album campaign.