Teenage Dreamwas Katy Perry's marriage album. Perry, along with her songwriting team of Max Martin, Dr. Luke, Et. al. wrote the songs as the singer was dating British comedian Russell Brand. Perry and Brand were married less than two months after the release of Teenage Dream in a Hindu wedding ceremony in India. But Perry's teenage dream soon became a nightmare, with the couple separating 14 months after the marriage, Brand calling off the marriage via text message.
I USED TO BITE MY TONGUE AND HOLD MY BREATH. The documentary film Part of Meshows a heartbreaking scene in which Perry has just found out that her marriage is over. Not even one album cycle had passed, and Perry's marriage had dissolved. The single "Part of Me" was released on Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection
expanding the album cycle until she released Prismin October of 2013. But Prism isn't a morose break up album. Starting with the anthemic "Roar," an arguably more powerful track than Teenage Dream's counterpart "Firework," Prism is a balanced album in dealing with Perry's past traumas. That being said, Prism lacks the cohesion of its predecessor, feeling like an imitation or a variation on the near perfect form Teenage Dream set. Perry has yet to follow up the magic on Teenage Dream with Prism’s follow up, Witnessexperimenting more with the formula but with even less cohesion.
I STOOD FOR NOTHING, SO I FELL FOR EVERYTHING. “Roar” uses clichés and mixes metaphors, but between the lines, the song hints at some of the adversity Katy Perry faced throughout her career. In an interview with Ryan Seacrest, Perry said that she felt that there was a time in her life when she “didn’t stand for anything” so she “fell for everything.” Of course listeners can look to Perry’s career leading up to this interview, first as a Christian singer then as an emerging talent marketed to Alternative markets, and finally her ascent to pop superstardom to look for moral compromises. The conservative Christians judged Perry every step of her way. In an interview last year with Inside the Studio Podcast last year, Perry talked about finding a new moral compass after no longer believing in the teachings of the Bible she grew up with. Morality is also overcoming the patriarchy in the entertainment industries imposed as formulas for female success. “Roar” is Perry waking up and taking the reins of her own success, shrugging off the mistakes of the past.
Before " Shape of You ," Ed Sheeran was known primarily as a singer-songwriter. His albums + and X took clear influence from The Beatles , Carole King , Elton John , James Taylor , and the ballad writers of yesteryear. But he had a knack for throwing in a few rap bars along the way. With every record, Sheeran gained more acclaim. His sophomore record produced the mega Billboard #2 hit , " Thinking Out Loud ," which won two Grammys including Song of the Year. The final single from the album, " Photograph " was written in collaboration with Snow Patrol 's Johnny McDaid . Sheeran drew inspiration from his long distance relationship with singer/songwriter Nina Nesbitt (the featured musician on Kodaline ’s acoustic version of “Brand New Day” ). The two spent five months apart. They would eventually break up, but the song remains a gem on Sheeran's second best-selling record. LOVING CAN HURT . "Photograph" was the song that introduced m...
I've talked about how Carrie & Lowell , Sufjan Steven 's 2015 masterpiece, is a quintessential portrait of dealing with grief and forgiveness when I wrote about the first two tracks, " Death with Dignity ," and " Should Have Known Better ." By the third track on the record, " All of Me Wants All of You ," explores grief in a different way from the previous two tracks. As with most songs on the album, "All of Me" appears to be deeply personal to the artist. But being personal doesn't stop this track's language from being the most obscured with allusions to geography and possibly an allegory from a little-known Spanish play. ALL OF ME THINKS LESS OF YOU. There's a debate on Lyrics Genius about the meaning of this song, especially surrounding the identity of the only other character mentioned by name in this song, Manelich. Is he the one the song is about? Stevens has written vaguely about homosexual attraction throughout ...
Last year, RIIZE debuted on SM Entertainment with the single album Get a Guitar , which contained two songs, “ Memories ” and the title track . The group was the first new boyband to debut on SM in seven years, following NCT ’s debut in 2016. The concept of the fifth-generation K-pop group is “emotional pop” akin to the millennium boyband sound--first and second-generation K-pop. RIIZE is a portmanteau of the words rise and realize , and the group’s motto is “a team that rises together and realizes dreams.” RIIZE was created with Sungchan (정성찬) and Japanese singer Shotaro Osaki , members of the massive now 26-member supergroup NCT, combined with five other members to form RIIZE. Get a Guitar sold more than one million copies in its first week. The success nearly matched H.O.T , whose debut album slightly outsold RIIZE's debut. DRAWING SUNSHINE IN THE RHYTHM. Last month, Slate ’s Hit Parade podcast delved into the history of boybands. Host Chris Molanphy first guided...
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