“Hot N Cold” by Katy Perry, Sunday, March 6, 2022
Around 2007 Internet bloggers started sharing a song by an edgy new pop star called "Ur So Gay," a song in which Katy Perry complains about her metrosexual, emo boyfriend who is more feminine than she wants in a man. The song was one of many cringe-worthy homophobic, sexist, or otherwise problematic songs that could exist only in the noughties, the UK pronunciation for the time period of 2000-2009. I think that it's apropos when talking about this era of music. While "Ur So Gay" never impacted radio, other head-scratching lines littered Perry's major label debut One of the Boys.
YOU CHANGE YOUR MIND LIKE A GIRL CHANGES CLOTHES. Katy Perry broke through with the single "I Kissed a Girl." After the 2004 Super Bowl incident involving Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction, the Bush-era FCC heavily censored the television and radio waves. While there were edgy hits from that time, "shock pop" seemed to abound at the end of George W. Bush's presidency. And who better to lead in the new era than former CCM singer, Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson, better known by her stage name, Katy Perry. Born to Maurice Hudson and Mary Hudson (née Perry), Pentecostal ministers, Katy Perry’s transition to fame involved both embracing the showmanship of a Pentecostal service and shedding the rigid morality associated with the Evangelical denomination. From 2008's One of the Boys until 2010's Teenage Dream most of her sugary pop singles weren't heard on your mom's light rock station--the lyrics were to overtly sexual. But then something happened around the time of her 2015 Super Bowl halftime show that didn't involve left shark--her songs were even on mom's radio stations. The shock value had worn off, and Perry's singles focused more on her voice than her sexuality. Looking back at Perry's "shock pop" from her first two albums-- kissing girls, complaining about male PMS, "freaking in a jeep," looking back at being a teenager and remembering her fantasies, a video with fireworks shooting out of her breasts, a song about freaky alien sex, and finally a song about getting drunk in a "blacked-out blur"--we see a playful, comedic side rarely seen in pop stars today.
GOT A CASE OF LOVE BI-POLAR. But does it hold up? If Setlist.Fm statistics are to be trusted, Perry last performed "Ur So Gay" in 2012. She also hasn't performed today's song much lately either. There are certainly one-hit-wonders with novelty songs, some of whom have loyal fans and large music catalogues, but they are forever attached to that one embarrassing song. Katy Perry, however, is a singer with many hits and she can easily bury her more embarrassing songs in her catalogue, even if said song was one of her biggest early hits. But just because she doesn't play it live, doesn't mean millennials have forgotten that these songs exist. But what made me feel old was last year was when I was talking about the temperature in the school, and I said, "You know it's hot then it's cold," and my high school student said, "Just like that Katy Perry song my parents used to listen to when I was little." So, yes, the erratic weather we're having inspired the song of the day. So could a song with lyrics like "Hot N Cold" or other early Katy Perry songs be released today?
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