One of the Boys

Performer: Katy Perry
Distributor: EMI Music Distribution

Notes: Katy Perry is the late 2000s version of the sassy pop-rocker wielding girl power like an Uzi. Blending elements of Alanis Morissette, Britney Spears, and Gwen Stefani, Perry's 2008 debut, ONE OF THE BOYS, bashes metrosexuals ("Ur So Gay"), flaunts lesbian experimentation ("I Kissed a Girl"), and celebrates spontaneous road trips ("Waking Up in Vegas"). Thanks to a cadre of top-shelf producers, including Desmond Child, Dave Stewart, and Glen Ballard (who also produced Morissette), ONE OF THE BOYS glitters like spun cotton candy, but it's Perry's bold, topical songs and in-your-face attitude that help the album pack a punch. Listening to Katy Perry's litany of belched alphabets, fruity boyfriends, Vegas hangovers, and lesbian lip-locks on her debut, One of the Boys, it's easy to assume she'll do anything for attention, and a close read of her history proves that suspicion true. Prior to her transformation into a teen tart, Perry was a Christian singer operating under the name Katy Hudson -- an appellation a little bit too close to Kate Hudson, so she swapped last names and started working with big-name producer after big-name producer, cutting sessions with Glen Ballard and then the Matrix. That was enough to get buzz touting her as a next big thing in 2004, but not enough to actually get a record into the stores, a nicety that often proves invaluable for wannabe pop stars. Given this long line of botched starts, maybe it makes sense that the 24-year-old trollop is singing with the desperation of a fading burlesque star twice her age, yet Perry's shameless pandering on One of the Boys is startling, particularly as it comes in the form of some ungodly hybrid of Alanis Morissette's caterwauling and the cold calculation of Britney Spears in her prime. This fusion is no accident, as Perry works once again with Ballard, the producer behind Alanis' breakthrough Jagged Little Pill, and Max Martin, the writer/producer of "Baby One More Time" -- and that's just for starters! She also brings aboard Desmond Child to give "Waking Up in Vegas" an anonymous anthemic pulse, Dave Stewart to give "I'm Still Breathing" a Euro sheen, and Butch Walker to amp up the amplifiers, giving her a different sound for every imaginable demographic. All the pros give One of the Boys a cross-platform appeal, but there's little question that its revolting personality is all down to Katy Perry, who distills every reprehensible thing about the age of The Hills into one pop album. She disses her boyfriend with gay-baiting; she makes out with a girl and she's doesn't even like girls; she brags to a suitor that he can't afford her, parties till she's face-down in the porcelain, drops brands as if they were weapons, curses casually, and trades under-the-table favors. In short, she's styled herself as a Montag monster. Perry is not untalented -- she writes like an ungarbled Alanis and has an eye for details, as when she tells her emo meterosexual boyfriend to hang himself with his H&M scarf on "Ur So Gay" -- but that only accentuates how her vile wild-child persona is an artifice designed to get her the stardom she craves. Maybe if the music were as trashy as the style, she could get away with it, as it would have a junky thrill, but that's where all the high-thread-count producers actually work against One of the Boys. They flatten everything out, turning the stomping Gary Glitter beat of "I Kissed a Girl" into a leaden stumble and burying Perry's voice underneath Pro Tools overdubs so it all winds up as a faceless wash of sound designed to be placed in TV shows, movie trailers, and malls -- which is of course part of the plan, as this is music designed to be everywhere after Perry's taboo flirtations break down doors. The problem is not with Katy's gender-bending, it's that her heart isn't in it; she's just using it to get her places, so she sinks to crass, craven depths that turn One of the Boys into a grotesque emblem of all the wretched excesses of this decade. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine Listening to Katy Perry's debut, One of the Boys, it's easy to assume she'll do anything for attention, and a close read of her history proves that suspicion true. Prior to her transformation into a teen sensation, Perry was a Christian singer operating under the name Katy Hudson -- an appellation a little bit too close to Kate Hudson, so she swapped last names and started working with big-name producer after big-name producer, cutting sessions with Glen Ballard and then the Matrix. That was enough to get buzz touting her as a next big thing in 2004, but not enough to actually get a record into the stores, a nicety that often proves invaluable for wannabe pop stars. Given this long line of botched starts, maybe it makes sense that the 24-year-old is singing with the desperation of a fading burlesque star twice her age, yet Perry's pandering on One of the Boys is startling, particularly as it comes in the form of some hybrid of Alanis Morissette's caterwauling and the cold calculation of Britney Spears in her prime. This fusion is no accident, as Perry works once again with Ballard, the producer behind Alanis' breakthrough Jagged Little Pill, and Max Martin, the writer/producer of "Baby One More Time" -- and that's just for starters! She also brings aboard Desmond Child to give "Waking Up in Vegas" an anonymous anthemic pulse, Dave Stewart to give "I'm Still Breathing" a Euro sheen, and Butch Walker to amp up the amplifiers, giving her a different sound for every imaginable demographic. All the pros give One of the Boys a cross-platform appeal, but there's little question that its personality is all down to Katy Perry. She disses her boyfriend with gay-baiting; she makes out with a girl and she doesn't even like girls; she brags to a suitor that he can't afford her, parties till she's face-down in the porcelain, drops brands as if they were weapons, curses casually, and trades under-the-table favors. In short, she's styled herself as a Montag monster. Perry is not untalented -- she writes like an ungarbled Alanis and has an eye for details, as when she tells her emo metrosexual boyfriend to hang himself with his H&M scarf on "Ur So Gay" -- but that only accentuates how her wild-child persona is an artifice designed to get her the stardom she craves. Maybe if the music were as trashy as the style, she could get away with it, as it would have been a junkie thrill, but that's where all the high-thread-count producers actually work against One of the Boys. But the real problem is not with Katy's gender-bending, it's that her heart isn't in it; she's just using it to get places. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Blender (Magazine) (p.74) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[M]yriad big-name producers keep the new-wave synth hooks hopping..."

Her voice and veneer call up Amy Winehouse, but with a punk pop bent, bubblegum pinup style, and an affinity for 1980s rock themes; Katy Perry burst onto the top 40 on both sides of the Atlantic in the late 2000s. She gathered a cult following in late 2007 with the metrosexual-boyfriend-tweaking single "U R So Gay." Her star exploded when she went to the same well again with the dance pop-infused ode to fluctuating sexuality "I Kissed a Girl" (not a Jill Sobule cover), a teaser to the diverse debut, ONE OF THE BOYS. A surprising knack for hooks allowed Perry to sustain a career beyond one-note, and in 2009 she was a major player at both the Grammy and Brit Awards.

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