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.
On folklore , Taylor Swif t’s essential fall album, the singer delves into the craft of storytelling. While many of Swift’s songs tell stories, until her eighth studio album, most of those stories were about herself. Tales about “ betty ,” James, and Augustine could be a metaphor for the singer but it was quite refreshing to hear about other people in towns created by the singer. With Swift returning to making anthemic pop hits, the lowkey double album cycle has come and gone. “ The Last American Dynasty ” is a song on folklore in which Swift tells the story about the previous owner of her house. The song tells the story of the wealthy widow to the heir of the Standard Oil fortune, Rebecca “Betty” Harkness. It’s a kind of country song, romanticizing its subject and drawing parallels between Harkness and Swift, setting them up as outsiders unable to fit into the social classes they happened to belong to. THERE GOES THE MADDEST WOMAN THIS TOWN HAS EVER SEEN. Taylor Swift has b...
Last year, I listened to a podcast introducing artists who sound similar to another artist to help lesser-known artists expand their fan bases just to hear some takes that the commentators had to say about another artist I was preparing to post about. I didn't actually end up writing about that artist, but I inadvertently discovered a few new artists to add to my AppleMusic library, one of which was Filipina-British singer-songwriter Beatrice Kristi Ilejay Laus , better known by her stage name beabadoobee . BUILDINGS AND RUST. With over 17 million monthly listeners on Spotify, bedroom pop singer beabadoobee opened for Taylor Swift last year on a leg of the Eras Tour. Laus is just one of many artists that Swift was probably introduced to through a rumored ex, The 1975 ’s Matty Healy . Born in Iloilo City in 2000 and relocating to London with her family at the age of three, Laus was influenced by indie rock from an early age. At the ag...
Writing a song that an entire nation sings for a year or more is no small feat. In 2018, the K-pop band iKon released a single that was hummed by the elderly and even banned in some elementary schools for what teachers and administrators said was inappropriate lyrics, but was really about the students singing it excessively. Unlike some K-pop bands, iKon's members are often involved with the songwriting process. Kim Han-bin (김한빈), better known by his stage name B.I , took inspiration from the ending scene from the 2016 musical La La Land when writing iKon's " Love Scenario ," the song that was called "The Song of the Year" in South Korea in 2018. THE LOVE SCENARIO WAS CREATED AND NOW THE LIGHTS ARE OFF. Spoiler alert: In the final scene of La La Land, Mia ( Emma Stone ) and Sebastian ( Ryan Gosling ) play out a "love scenario" which plays to a beautiful instrumental fantasia. In this fantasy, Mia and Sebastian imagine themselves together, patch...
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