Nothing comes naturally for
Katy Perry. Blessed with a cheerleader’s body, a girl-next-door face and a drama-club queen’s lust for the spotlight,
Perry parlayed all these qualities into success via her 2008 debut One of the Boys, an album that worked overtime to titillate. Working hard is
Katy Perry’s stock in trade: whether she’s cavorting in the Californian sun or heaving her cleavage, she always lets you see her sweat, even when she’s presenting herself as a curvy
Teenage Dream, the ideal she puts forth on her 2010 sophomore set. Perry doesn’t have great ambitions in mind: all she wants is the spotlight, and she’ll follow the path of others to get there, raising eyebrows a’la
Alanis, strutting like
Gwen Stefani and relying on
Britney’s hitmaker
Max Martin for her hooks. There’s no question
Perry knows every rule in pop and follows them to the letter: she never breaks away from the expected lite club beats that transition from day-to-night without a hitch or the chilly, stainless steel ballads designed to lose none of their luster on repeat plays.
Perry acknowledges some shifting trends -- she salutes Ke$ha on “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.),” replicates
Ryan Tedder’s glassy robotic alienation on “E.T.” but tellingly avoids ripping off
Lady Gaga -- but these are merely accents to her One of the Boys palette.
Perry is at her best when she’s delivering sleek singles like “Teenage Dream” and “Hummingbird Heartbeat” with efficiency. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine