Written off as frothy confection, Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream proved to be pop perfection
Image: Graphic: Patrick Gomez Music Features Katy Perry
Katy Perry's Teenage Dream (Capitol)
By the time Katy Perry released Teenage Dream in August 2010, the album had already given us the summer of “California Gurls” and the title track was well on its way to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Expectations were exceedingly high—and critics were quick to say they were not met. The A.V. Club’s own review described most of the album as “ho-hum ballads and lackluster radio fodder,” which was kind compared to the Chicago Tribune’s take: “With music as rigidly formulaic as this, no wonder the teens in her songs want to party until they blank out.” But the album also made teens listening to her songs want to party—and apparently other age groups as well, as Teenage Dream would go on to become one of the most successful releases ever.
Though Teenage Dream is technically her third studio album, in many ways it was the debut of the Katy Perry so familiar today. It was the culmination of a transformation that began when Christian-rock singer Katy Hudson released an self-titled album in 2001 and kicked into high gear with the release of 2008’s pop-rock One Of The Boys. While there was a seven-year gap between albums, her transition from Christian messages to decidedly secular (and cringe-worthy) lyrics like “I hope you hang yourself with your H&M scarf” and “You’re so gay, and you don’t even like boys” actually began shortly after the release of Katy Hudson. “I’ve been working on my record since I was 18 years old,” Perry (no longer Hudson, due to the popularity of actor Kate Hudson) told Prefix a few months before releasing “I Kissed A Girl,” which would become her first No. 1 hit. “I’ve gone through two record labels and written between sixty-five and seventy songs, and now it’s ready to come out. It’s been a long trip. I’ve had lots of money, lost lots of money, but the record’s here and it’s the right one.”
One Of The Boys earned Perry two Grammy nominations, a spot on Warped Tour, and two additional top-10 singles (“Hot N Cold” and “Waking Up In Vegas”). But she was just getting started. A year after releasing Boys, Perry headed back into the studio to begin work on what would become Teenage Dream. She reunited with Boys producers (and pop-music kingpins) Dr. Luke, Max Martin, Greg Wells, and Benny Blanco, and rounded out her team with the masterminds behind recent hits for Beyoncé, Rihanna, Kesha, and Kelly Clarkson. While working on the album, Perry told Rolling Stone that she would “definitely keep it pop” in order to not “alienate” her fanbase—though fans of her rock influences may disagree with the success of her latter goal.
Perry sent producers a mixtape of ABBA and The Cardigans songs as an example of the vibe she was looking to evoke on Teenage Dream, which was recorded over a six-month period. “When I went on tour, as much as I love all the in-between songs, I felt I was missing some of the stuff that made people bounce up and down. I really love that feeling when people are all jumping in unison,” she told HitFix in April 2010. Just a month later, she released “California Gurls,” which debuted at the top of the U.S. Billboard Digital Songs chart and at No. 2 on the Hot 100. Positioned as a West Coast answer to JAY-Z and Alicia Keys’ “Empire State Of Mind,” the song featured a verse by Snoop Dogg and Perry’s signature cheeky wordplay, but traded Boys’ grungy guitar for an infectiously catchy disco-pop vibe. It was so infectious, in fact, that many said co-producer Dr. Luke had also used it on Kesha’s “Tik Tok.” (Years later, Perry would be deposed as part of Dr. Luke’s defamation suit against Kesha following the “Tik Tok” singer’s sexual assault allegations against him.)
Comparisons to Kesha aside, “California Gurls” was buoyant summer fun, a retro mood that continued two months later with the release of Teenage Dream’s title track. In many ways, “Teenage Dream” is a quintessential midtempo pop song, but sprinkled with unexpected chords and syncopated vocals. The song had a relatively slower rise to the top of the charts, debuting at No. 20, but reached the apex of the Hot 100 in an impressive six weeks.
After providing a party track and a love song, Perry shifted gears to a well that she’d return to often in the years to come: the empowerment anthem. As one critic put it, “Firework” was a “a straight up self-empowerment anthem wrapped in a Coldplay-on-poppers club banger.” The song became her third consecutive chart-topper, with a fourth coming down the pipeline in her Kanye West collaboration, the dubstep-infused “E.T.,” followed by a fifth with her debauched dance-pop celebration “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.).” Perry released her sixth-and-final Teenage Dream single 17 months after “California Gurls”: pop ballad “The One That Got Away,” which reached No. 3 on the chart. (It should be noted that Perry released 1980s-rock inspired “Hummingbird Heartbeat” as a single in Australia almost another year later.)
Simply based on descriptions, Perry’s six (or seven) Teenage Dream singles run the gamut—but the magic of the album is that it remains cohesive, and all but two of the 12 tracks were released as at least promotional singles. Even when taking into account the innuendo-laden cheer song “Peacock” and ballad “The One That Got Away,” the heightened emotions of teen love, lust, and self-discovery remain a constant throughout. Perry credited a lot of her own hummingbird heartbeat during the creation of the album to comedian and actor Russell Brand, who became her fiancé a few months into her Teenage Dream recording sessions. Brand would continue to influence Perry’s music after their 14-month marriage ended in December 2011: Perry released Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection in March 2012. The deluxe reissue featured remixes and three brand-new songs, including break-up track “Part Of Me,” which many assumed was about Brand but was actually written years before their split, and power ballad “Wide Awake,” which Perry has said was inspired by “major life changes”—including her divorce.
In total, the singles off the original album spent a record-breaking 69 weeks in the Billboard Hot 100’s top 10. Teenage Dream is tied with Michael Jackson’s Bad for the most No. 1 singles off one album (a record Perry bests if you include “Part Of Me”). But beyond the impressive statistics—which also include spending more than 200 weeks on the Billboard Hot 200 and being certified eight times platinum in the U.S.—Teenage Dream solidified Perry’s fanbase and allowed her to graduate to stadium tours, million-dollar endorsement deals, and, eventually, American Idol judge. She’s sold millions of copies of two subsequent albums, Prism and Witness, and Smile is due later this week. But ask any casual fan for their favorite Katy Perry song and they’ll probably conjure up an image of her Candy Land costumes and offer a now-decade-old song from Teenage Dream. Perry may never eclipse the success of her 2010 album—but as her album cover predicted, Perry is doing just fine among the clouds.
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Convincing proof that it’s basically impossible for a famous act the studio wants to push to not get huge airplay on its next album.
Really?
Seriously. Of every album ever made THIS was chosen worthy of a column?
Because the title isn’t the only thing around here spouting off a frothy confection!
Poptimism was a mistake
What?! C’mon, man!
At the risk of being a rockist curmudgeon, I agree. At first I thought it was nice that critics were taking pop music seriously and according the better works in the style some respect. Now I just feel the same way I feel about what has happened to most movie criticism in the blockbuster era. And giving a Katy Perry album a handjob like this is about as aesthetically suspect as praising a third-tier MCU movie. It’s just capable product; let’s calm down.
“One Of The Boys earned Perry two Grammy nominations, a spot on Warped Tour”The Warped Tour with Pennywise and Sevendust or is this a different one?
Same one. I had the same reaction cept I was like, “the same warped tour as Kid Rock, 311 and Limp Bizkit?” And yes, the 90s was the last time I remembered the warped tour.Seems its participant list is pretty varied.
A bit odd to say that “Teenage Dream” is “sprinkled with unexpected chords”, since there’s exactly two chords that repeat regularly throughout the whole song. Of course, it’s somewhat unusual that neither is the tonic (a trick also used in Fleetwood Mac’s “Dreams”), and it’s very effective – I think that’s Perry’s only great song.It’s been a while since I heard the rest of the album, but I feel like most of the other singles are pretty thin-sounding with Perry’s vocals in weirdly chirpy territory. I think Kesha’s first couple albums captured this aesthetic better (and “Tik Tok” is definitely a better song than “California Gurls”).Critic Tom Ewing called “Wide Awake” the “best song about not googling Russell Brand before marrying him.”
I feel like the singles on her “first” album were maybe a little better than most of the stuff here? Or at least more comfortably within her vocal range? Certainly the two big hits were more memorable than most of the singles here; for all its shameless and embarrassingly successful Maxim pandering I Kissed a Girl is a pretty good post-Britney Glam Rock pastiche, and Hot n Cold is very catchy in an unforced way nothing here quite manages.
This is just a reminder that California Gurls and Tik Tok are the same song.
The same awful song.
Maybe I don’t have an ear for this stuff, or maybe I’m much more strict on my definition “same song,” but I just still I don’t hear it. They mix together quite easily, sure, because they share the same tempo, but that’s so much pop. So, so much pop. A standard beat like this is ubiquitous in the genre to me.
I love/hate when music people get smug about that shit because it outs them for not having much actual music knowledge. In 2001 the Strokes’ “Last Nite” was written off as a Tom Petty “American Girl” clone. But nope. They are in different keys and have different chord progressions. They just both open with a downstroked chord.
I still don’t fucking hear how “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is Boston’s “More Than A Feeling”, either. My best mate is an audio engineer, studied music at a conservatorium, and even he can’t hear it, either.
The Teen Spirit riff is similar to (not the same as) the lead-in to the chorus of More Than a Feeling. But yeah, it’s just a rhythmic similarity These things bug me because there are better ones than are never called out. The Bangles’ “Eternal Flame” has the same verse as “Underneath Your Clothes.” Radiohead’s “Climbing Up the Walls” has the same verse as BRMC’s “Rifles.” Gwen’s “Cool” verse nicks the “Under Pressure” coda.
And Johann Pachelbel’s “Canon In D” has the same everything as…everything.
The tempo is actually slightly different but in a very close range—I was thinking more the beat, chord progression, the chorus in each song is overlappable, and did you listen to how similar the bridge is? They’re both Dr. Luke, so that makes sense, since he does the same thing over and over again.
Man, this sounds like drunk grinding with a rando at 1 in the morning. Thanks!
I think we all appreciate this album much more now that it’s filled with memories and emotions from ten years ago. It was kinda the soundtrack to our lives back then, with eight smash hit singles constantly on the radio and the carefree vibes. I still play it every now and then! -Angela
Who’s here listening in 2020????? 😛
I kinda hate Katy Perry and I hate everything about this album and yet I have to admit the songs are really catchy and Katy Perry is very hot talented so I’ve made my peace with it all.
Its very weird because I am aware of all these songs, was aware of them and Perry at the time they were massive hits, dont mind perry’s musical stylings and yet I dont believe I have ever consciously heard any of them.
Why are thinkpieces on disposable pop music a thing?
I feel like music critics have been trolling the hell out of me for the last ten years or so with this shit.
Blame Chuck Klosterman and his seemingly knee-jerk tendency to value what the academy (or however you want to phrase it) devalues. At the same time, this contrarian cultural critic perspective can be very insightful. For what its worth anyway given the mostly inconsequential subject matter.
Because it would be pretty foolish to present oneself as an expert on a particular medium without giving some thought to the most widely consumed works within the medium? Maybe.
This is a glowing review, not some thought. And that is a disingenuous take and you know it.
That’s damning with faint praise if e’er I saw it.
Then maybe the thoughts could be shorter.
Please. They also sell lots of McDonald’s hamburgers. Does a real food critic have to write thousands of words about a Big Mac, as opposed to just eating a Big Mac and going, “Oh. Okay?”
Ha! Thank you. Not gonna pull it out of the grays:“disposable > seven grammy nominations, five number one singles (first female in history to do so), pieces written about the record 10 years after it was released, songs still being played in clubs and radio stations around the world”As you say, sales and numbers don’t mean that much. Particularly the past 15-20 years … The charts have largely been dominated by forgettable pap. The Grammys have been worthless for decades. They represent so little of music and are notorious for terrible choices.
It is part of music criticism that disposable pop music is considered worthy of think pieces upon achieving some sort of milestone/anniversary, often coinciding of when said critic was in High School. This explains all the recent critical reappraisals of such albums as Britney Spear’s “Ooops…I Did it Again” and Blink 182.
Blink 182 was pretty big in the punk scene before they switched to pop. Dunno if you can compare the two.
You can get music for free, and if you’re a music critic you can even do it legally. It used to be that if you were into alternative music you had to put money into that obsession. You had to buy albums and magazines to make sure you were up on what was happening. Now you just need to go to a free website to download albums, or read online magazines.But there are people who don’t know how to get things for free, and they’re the ones propping up the music industry. They buy albums on iTunes (do they even do that anymore?) and stream algorithms on Spotify. They’re also the ones who don’t have AdBlock installed, and actually click ads on websites. So if you’re a music website, you can write about alternative albums, and you might even get some good page views and ad impressions. Or you can write about pop music and get some ad clickthroughs. Also, some people actually like this dreck and think it’s good.
Because not all pop is disposable. People still love these songs 10 years on while I expect much of their contemporaries on the charts are largely forgotten. Not to mention piling up that many hits off of one record is a pretty amazing feat itself.
It was, at one point. The current release model is to support an artist till they hit, exploit every single they possibly can off the one album, then hopefully ditch the artist before they can negotiate better terms for future works.It doesn’t help that, in this case, the subject is so… meh. Her performance is heavily auto-tuned (TBF, that happens to pretty much everyone these days). Her music is essentially what every other ‘success’ on radio was doing at the time. Hell, one of her bigger ‘hits’ even has her failing to rhyme “are” with a made up syllable she just sorta yells. She’s basic Pop 101 with the added advantage of modelling a series of strange ‘looks’ that weren’t as threatening as early period Lady Gaga. I’m pretty sure “attractive human wearing as little as possible and what she does wear looks like anime costuming” was her leverage to get her level of fame.
These are the same people who believe a Happy Meal is as worthy a culinary masterpiece as Noma degustation menu.
Just because you keep reusing your toilet paper doesn’t mean it’s not disposable.
pop music bad
why is anything a thing?
disposable > seven grammy nominations, five number one singles (first female in history to do so), pieces written about the record 10 years after it was released, songs still being played in clubs and radio stations around the world
i don’t think you know what the word disposable means, friend
If it was disposable it wouldn’t still be stuck in your head 10 years later?
Why are you just re-writing the *laziest* take in music-criticism-criticism?
The chia pet commercial jingle is also stuck in my head years later. A catchy tune does not equal “worthy of cultural examination.”
It isn’t. Whose head are you talking about?
Just leave her stuff written off.
I mean, at least there’s a nod to Big Star so the album has that going for it…
I remember hearing the chorus to “Hot N Cold” while shopping in some store and assuming that it was a more aggressively pop oriented track from The Sounds. This has been “Ninja Robot Pirate’s Aughts Music Anecdotes.” Next week: I discuss getting a fake ID to go to an Interpol concert, and the time my mom found said fake ID, but let me use it to go see TV on the Radio because I showed her a picture of the band and she felt reassured that there would be other black people there. Stay safe out there, folks!
Frothy?
Her music is utter garbage of course but this woman was very sexy. Zooey Deschanel with curves. She should have been groomed for the movies, which would have removed the need to “sing”.
Play some Skynyrd, man!
I actually like Katy Perry. She’s bubblegum pop, she does have any real staying power and nobody is gonna remember her in 20 years… and she knows all of that and leans into it. She is in on the joke. I always kinda like that type of thing.
I can take or leave her music, but she did an interview with Nardwuar a while back and came off as a really nice and gracious person and not at all weirded out by Nardwuar’s . . . Nardwuardiness? I’ve always had a positive impression of her since watching that.
A few years ago she appeared at New Orleans Jazz Fest, and the day before her set, she went to the fest as a fan — hung out, said hi to the fans who recognized her out of makeup and her usual stage get-up. What I liked most is that she apparently pigged out on a lot of the food at the fest, then told her audience the next day that she kind of regretted it, as it made performing a little more strenuous. That crawfish bread will linger with you.
New Orleans Jazz Fest food is fucking outstanding though.
I’m trying to imagine Taylor Swift doing this without a bunch of security dudes surrounding her with one hand to their earpieces and the other on their Glocks.
I disagree – there will always be a handful of pop stars who still get play years down the road, and I bet Perry is one of them. Her biggest hits are 10 – 12 years old and most people can still sing along without thinking twice.
This is gonna seem like the weirdest comparison you will come across all day but bear with me : Katy Perry is the new Marlyn Manson.I say that for a specific reason – both have very specific styles of music and both get their own joke. In Manson’s case it’s “How ugly can I be and still be a rock star” and in Perry’s case it’s “How bubblegum can I be and still be a big deal” but in both the thing I like the best is simply that they know what their joke is and go with it. I like that. I like ANY performer that knows what they are and goes with it without trying to “Subvert expectations” – I like Troma movies for the same reason (They know they aren’t making big tentpole movies and so they lean into the somewhat cheesy aspects… making their movies better). Perry knows she is bubblegum pop. And so she can lean into it and have fun with it. I never get a sense she is thinking it’s below her or anything – I get the sense she enjoys doing that.
Plus they use comparable amounts of makeup.
Even if its just for that fireworks song getting played during a music mix at the 4th of July
Probably due to age or place in life, but only have heard a couple of these songs and nothing really ever grabbed me from Katie Perry. I was also 100% not the target demographic for this album. Listening to the clips above, still does not grab me in. But if we are talking about pop albums from the year 2010 that transcend the years, and impressed people across genres, why not just discuss Robyn Body Talk. That is an album I can fully get behind despite also probably not being the target demographic. There is just something majestic about great pop music vs. cookie-cutter bubblegum pop.
Body Talk is great and I would have much preferred a lengthy piece discussing it. Of course, I liked it 2010 and Robyn remains an artist I am interested in to this day – her collaboration with Röyksopp in 2014 is a personal favourite – whereas I don’t think I could name a Katy Perry song to save my life.
She’s purty
So much hate in these comments, whew wee! I like Respectable Serious Music Appropriate for My Age most of the time, but sorry, this album is full of bangers. I will never not turn up and rock out to Teenage Dream or E.T. if I hear them out in the wild. These are mathematical formulas as much as they are songs, but dang it, THEY WORK.
I like the would-be gatekeepers who get annoyed that the gates aren’t there. Seriously though, society has been subjected to the fucking Doors for half a century – if people want to close the book on some part of pop music history, they should start there.
If Jim Morrison didn’t die so young no one would give a shit about The Doors.
+1 to closing the book on The Doors, so I never have to hear a Ray Manzarek organ noodle ever again in my life
Katy Perry seems nice enough, and her songs are harmless. I confess that Teenage Dream is not my cup of tea, but it was a big deal, and I’m not gonna bag on the album- even if I resent that something like this tied with Thriller for hit singles (You gotta be kidding me! Really??). I do legitimately like “E.T.” and “Wide Awake” though.
It’s not tied with Thriller. It’s tied with Bad.
I’m not saying it’s High Art, but it’s exactly what it intends to be, which is musical candy. I feel like if we’ve reached a point in society where Serious Music Fans & Critics can take a step back and go, “Taylor Swift is good, actually??!” we can also allow Katy Perry this one moment where she successfully captured her own essence in an album full of radio gems, ya know?
I feel like if we’ve reached a point in society where Serious Music Fans & Critics can take a step back and go, “Taylor Swift is good, actually??!”We haven’t, because she isn’t.
Agreed. And as someone who tried back in the late 80’s, it’s actually pretty hard to write a catchy pop song. It seems like it should be incredibly easy, but it really isn’t.
I’m about four days too late, but felt obligated to comment and agree with you. God forbid that these pseudo-intellectuals just pass the article by and go about their day. But *of course* they have to be incredibly disparaging – as if behaving this way will really make their music choices refined and credible.It’s elementary & middle school “I’m cooler than thou” behavior perpetuated by adults.And, yes, in spite of the incredibly unfortunate Dr. Luke association, I think this album rules.
Katy Perry shouts her songs. I can’t take it.
The rest of this album is all over the place, but Teenage Dream is an all-timer. Even noted snobs Arcade Fire agree. https://slate.com/culture/2014/03/katy-perrys-teenage-dream-explaining-the-hit-using-music-theory.html
You know, some people say Katy Perry doesn’t have staying power, but I would argue that once you’ve seen her shoot whipped cream from her boobs at a bunch of Gummi bears and Snoop Dogg in an outfit I can only call Candy Pimp, it will stay in your mind forever.
Just as this column in the past introduced me to incredible, underlooked bands like Lync, now finally this generation will be able to discover the obscure indie artist Katy Perry, a person who has only sold a measly few 10s of millions of records.
One time in 2010 they wrote up this obscure British band called “the Who” – changed my life.
She did this really unknown tv show, American Idol. Maybe like that other one season wonder, freaks and geeks, av club can help idol reach a new a new audience at last.
Not a Katy Perry fan and not a radio listener at all, but these singles were everywhere and i can sing their choruses easily today (not with the correct words though, but the melodies). Hearing them now makes me go “this is so 2010, ewww.” So, i don’t think they aged so well. I wonder how someone who never heard these songs would react to them today.
“Firework” is exactly the song that people who despise Coldplay but don’t know any of their music think Coldplay sounds like. I’d say it’s as bad as pop music gets, but “Roar” is actually somehow even worse.