Album Review: Katy Perry – Teenage Dream

Artist: Katy Perry
Album: Teenage Dream
Release Date: 8.24.10

The thought of listening to a Katy Perry album initially made me cringe. She’s so… pop! Not that I’m not a fan of pop music, but her singles are total bubblegum, and an entire album of that seemed like torture. Only, it’s not a whole album of bubblegum pop; rather, Teenage Dream offers quite a bit more substance than most of her counterparts. It’s that element that intrigues me about this project. I was actually rather impressed with Perry’s depth and range on Teenage Dream, as it’s my first full length Katy Perry album. Suffice it to say, the album does not disappoint…

Perry’s ability to produce summer smashes remains unfaltering as evidenced by the chart positioning of the album’s lead single California Gurls and it’s fast-rising follow-up Teenage Dream (title track). If you thought she was bold for kissing a girl on a record, wait til you hear the gratifying naughtiness of Peacock, this time shifting focus to the other gender – literally shifting focus, that is. It’s a fun and humorous record. One listen to Circle The Drain and you’d immediately think this song is revenge on former lover Travie McCoy – and it probably is. But it’s really a more intense revelation of her own pain of dating and, eventually, leaving an addict: “I’m not stickin’ around to watch you go down. Wanna be your lover, not your f*ckin’ mother”. That passion took me by surprise on this album but more of it is found on the dark and introspective Who Am I Living For? one of the album’s best contributions. Pearl is one of Perry’s most vocally expansive tracks and features some very big sounding production, while Hummingbird Heartbeat turns the lights back on, bringing the fun feeling back to the album before it closes on the more somber Not Like The Movies.

Of the album’s 12 standard release tracks, there wasn’t much that disappointed. Though she’s known for being a world-class party girl, Last Friday Night doesn’t seem to light much fire in that department. In her words, it’s kind of an “epic fail”. Firework also misses the mark on this one, it just seems a bit out of place sonically and in content. Both of these songs lack the depth of the rest of the album and don’t have that “single-quality” that California Gurls possesses.

You could overlook the fact that this album gets very deep and personal at times, completely contrasting Katy Perry’s light poppy singles and you’re still left with a great sounding album in Teenage Dream – I’d venture to say the best pop female release I’ve heard all year. Choosing her next single is probably her next hurdle as there’s lots to choose from (Pearl, Circle The Drain, Who Am I Living For? are my choices) There’s an enjoyable amount of variety here in terms of style – from ballads to electropop – and content – from young naïve love to vengeful scorn. Perry brings her ‘A’ game and a consistently great sound and feel to this record – an element that may just earn her some longevity on the unsteady pop landscape…

Sound-Savvy rates Teenage Dream with 4 out of 5 platinum headphones.