Katy Perry’s Fireworks Need More Sparkle

I want to like Katy Perry, I really do. I certainly don’t hate her. However, I can’t seem to like most of her music.

I want to like her for a few reasons. First, she is beautiful, and I want to like pretty people, as I think most humans do. Secondly, she is friends with one of my future husbands who doesn’t know I exist, Josh Groban (my other future husband who also doesn’t know I exist is Seth MacFarlane). Thirdly, she seems like a genuine and kind person. Finally, she has a unique voice and obvious talent. Before she ventured into the land of Pop, she was a gospel singer, and went by her real name of Katy Hudson. Clearly she changed her name to avoid confusion with Goldie Hawn’s daughter, Kate Hudson.

I do like a few of Katy Perry's songs; I love “E.T.,” I kind of like the very catchy “I kissed a Girl” and “Hot N Cold,” and to a significantly lesser extent “Teenage Dream” and “Firework.” I like the Warblers (from Glee) version of “Teenage Dream” about a million times better than the original. Interestingly however, I’m not much of a fan of Rachel’s version of “Firework” (also from Glee); I only like it about as much as the original, which says a lot since I generally love Rachel’s (Lea Michele’s) songs. I think the problem with that song is that it’s too loud, and the singer is verging on shouting (kind of like how Rihanna almost shouts the chorus of "Only Girl in the World”). I guess "Firework" is intended to be loud and shouty, since it’s metaphorically about fireworks, which tend to be loud. However, the loudness of fireworks (especially the loudness of their finales) is my least favorite part of any firework experience. In fact, I hate it more than the 80 hours spent in the car after it’s over to get out of the parking lot and the traffic. I love “E.T.” because it’s a great song filled with Katy Perry’s passionate love for aliens, and she doesn’t shout at all in that song; rather she sings beautifully.

Anyway, I don’t know what it is about Katy Perry’s music that keeps me from embracing most of it. Perhaps it’s the loudness, or perhaps it’s just that while her voice is unique and good, I don’t love it. Perhaps it’s also that I sense that she writes what people want to hear rather than what she feels. Yes, I think that’s a big part of it – ironically, it is her commercial appeal that reduces my ability to like her. I’m sure there are a lot of artists and performers who I do like, who do the same thing, but perhaps I expect more from Katy Perry, since she seems to have so much talent that perhaps isn’t shining through all the glitter of commercial poppiness. I guess I just wish she would shine through her own fireworks.