Katy Perry
“Birthday”
Prism (out October 22 on Capitol)
No matter how many records she sells, the Santa Barabra native remains an under-appreciated force in pop music. At her best, Perry is capable of transcendent slabs of window-down magic, and I’d argue that “Teenage Dream” is easily one of the best, most intoxicating pure pop songs of the last ten years. Admittedly, she’s also responsible for her fair share of tepid, paint-by-numbers arena rock dross (see: Prisim‘s lifeless first single, “Roar”). However, when she dials up the bubblegum, the Swedish, and the synths (e.g., the perfect “Firework”, the Kanye-assisted “E.T.”), she’s as direct and unstoppable a pop star as anyone since Britney.
While early Prism singles have been uninspiring, Good Katy comes out to play on the delicious, disco-soaked “Birthday.” Over a bouncy, Saturday Night Fever guitar-line (a bit reminiscent of Jessica Simpson’s secretly brilliant, “A Public Affair“), Perry is in full Teenage Dream-mode here, cooing birthday salutations to an exxxxxxxtremely lucky dude like only she can. The 28 year-old has the rare ability of being unabashedly sexy without surrendering one ounce of her power, and “Birthday” is a perfect example of that. It looks like the song of the summer might have just came out in October.
And just in case you forgot, here’s the video for “Teenage Dream.”
