Katy Perry: “Teenage Dream” Video Review
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Katy Perry is an enigma. Her magazine cover shoots are usually of the pop star in very little clothing with her breasts pushed so far up with a 1950s bustier. Her lyrics are filled with sexual innuendos and the allusion of hidden fantasies from a teenage girl who is not so sure about her sexuality. Her fiancé is a former heroin addict who once had sex with 80 different females in a single month. Even her Tweets are filled with the vulgar slang of a long shore sailor. Example: “I’m so excited for my album release on tuesday I might have a Teenage WET Dream tonight.”
But Perry definitely has a hidden private persona behind her celebratory public one — which means that Perry is a hypocrite, an idiot, or a genius.
Take her new video release for “Teenage Dream.” The song and video is meant to act as a reminiscent tale of teenage love and lust. The song is slower paced than most of her bubblegum pop hits like “Hot n’ Cold” or “California Gurls,” which just means that it will be played endlessly by teenage girls with hopeless crushes on the school quarterback.
The video itself is remarkable at capturing the youthful spirit of teenage “love.” The look of the video itself is even is faded, as if the audience is watching old home movies or flipping through photo albums before the age of the digital camera.
The entire shoot is filled with sexual imagery, as Perry even loses her virginity — it’s assumed by the lyrics — on screen in a dirty old motel room.
“We drove to Cali / And got drunk on the beach / Got a motel and / Built a fort out of sheets / I finally found you / My missing puzzle piece / I’m complete / Let’s go all the way tonight / No regrets, just love / We can dance until we die / You and I / We’ll be young forever.”
What’s odd about Perry’s celebrity is that she seems to be the opposite of her onscreen persona, something that is not uncommon in the female bubblegum pop genre. But, what is uncommon is that the onscreen persona is one of a slut, and behind-the-scenes Perry is a good girl. Whereas Britney Spears and Vanessa Hudgens had to keep a squeaky clean Disney image in public, they tried to hide a secret smuttier side — that is until leaked photos of vaginas started spreading across the Internet (pun intended).
Perry told FMQB radio that she felt horrible about making out with her co-star in the video, “I had to make out with a boy, which was very traumatizing, I was kind of mean to him. I would be the one to call cut because I was like, ‘oh I can’t do this!’ I feel so horrible. But I know it’s a job. [Russell and me] understand what our work is.”
Perry was profiled in a recent issue of Rolling Stone, and although she received a lot of press because of her sexy photos, the actual article paints Perry in a totally different light — especially since she grew up the daughter of two evangelical ministers who forbade her from experiencing any pop culture.
According to the magazine, “They banned Katy from attending coed parties and dances, didn’t sign her up for sex education in school and forbade most pop culture, including magazines, TV and movies in the home. ‘It was not a ‘kumbaya’ atmosphere,’ says Perry.’
The article continues, “‘Whenever I went to a friend’s house, I would immediately turn on MTV,’ she says. ‘The other kids would say, ‘Why are you watching this? Let’s do something else,’ and I would be like, ‘No. I have to watch.’ It was all about Gwen Stefani’s ‘Don’t Speak’ and ‘Just a Girl,’ Alanis Morissette and Shirley Manson for me.’”
Perry was signed to a Christian music label singing gospel music. After the label closed up shop, Perry turned to writing songs about love and boys — and was introduced to a lot of music and movies she had missed out as a child and young teenager.
This actually explains a lot. Most people know one or two people who had never drank any alcohol or had never experienced any interaction with the opposite sex before they left for college. Realizing that they were no longer under the watchful eye of strict parents, they explode into a bender of binge drinking, snorting blow and hosting orgies. Maybe it’s not that drastic, but there are plenty of stories about the sheltered lives of children leading to ridiculously crazy experiences after leaving the nest.
This also could explain the relationship between her and British lothario Russell Brand. How does someone go from having crazy sex with multiple women each night to settling down with the daughter of evangelical preachers? Just ask anyone who has ever dated a woman who spent her teenage years attending an all-girl Catholic school.
This is why Perry is such an enigma. Even though she has a great relationship with her parents, they still preach against pop culture — which ironically leads to less record sales for Perry. And maybe she is OK with this, because she knows that teens have a way of experiencing pop culture when they are ready for it and will buy her albums secretly anyway.
Katy Perry – Teenage Dream
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(P) (C) 2010 Capitol Records, LLC. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction is a violation of applicable laws. Manufactured by Capitol Records, LLC, 1750 North Vine Street, Hollywood, CA 90028.
Posted on 09/1/10
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