I think Katy Perry seems like a really nice person.
As an artist, she ranges from bland to offensive.
Look, I did a positive and a negative! :fairandbalanced:
I think Katy Perry seems like a really nice person.
As an artist, she ranges from bland to offensive.
Look, I did a positive and a negative! :fairandbalanced:
Originally Posted by Ben7
I honestly started this because I thought it was hilarious she was winning a prize for her "LGBT activism", ha.
But she's cute and fine, I just prefer... Lady Gaga.
If we're choosing sides here.
Edit: and after reading through this thread I see everyone agrees with me!
I honestly don't see any comparison between Lady Gaga and Katy Perry, other than that they're both pop stars.
I just discovered this blog post from Jane Fonda, from last summer, that I really enjoyed. Thought I'd share it:
http://janefonda.com/a-katy-perry-night/
A KATY PERRY NIGHT
In Atlanta for a few days for business. Invited friends to go with me to Katy Perry’s “Part of Me.” I am a fan but my friends didn’t know her and never would have gone had I not insisted.
All of them, even art historian, Bill Arnett, who’s just a smidge younger than me and someone you’d never think of as a Katy Perry sort of person, thanked me afterwards.
The film/documentary is so well done. Her talent and goodness as a person comes across loud and clear. I love her connection with her fans–even bringing many on stage to dance. I loved seeing how the girls –by the 1000s–connect with her. They clearly are inspired by her authenticity, her courage to be who she is despite much pressure early on to conform to what others thought she should be. She writes from her heart and they identify. There’s a telling and wonderful scene where she is sobbing because of the breakdown of her marriage to Russell Brand and she has to decide whether she’ll do the show (20,000 people are waiting in the arena) or not.
We all left the theater feeling happy. She’s that sort of presence.
After the film, we all went to dinner at The Watershed (which moved right next door to Ted’s Montana Grill–Turner, that is) on Peachtree and had a totally scrumptious southern dinner.
Omg, to all of those people complaining about her song and being so nitpick-y, please go watch the video "Firework" and then come back.
"Now my life is sweet like cinnamon..."
What will watching a video where her boobs launch fireworks do exactly?
This woman is the devil incarnate.
Why do we have a thread dedicated to her?
From that Jane Fonda quote Ben7 posted earlier:
This seems to suggest that early on (say, the period of I Kissed A Girl and You're So Gay) she had less influence on her career.her courage to be who she is despite much pressure early on to conform to what others thought she should be.
I will marshall all the forces of darkness to hound you to an assisted suicide - Peter Capaldi, In The Loop
First of all, the fireworks aren't bursting from her breast. But if thinking that helps you accomplish other things, go ahead. I mean, the whole video is about self-acceptance. It has a great message and she has said several times that "Firework" is the song she feels the most proud of.
"Now my life is sweet like cinnamon..."
I think it suggests that she was pressured to conform to what might sell or be popular, but she refused as to stay true to herself.
Didn't she start out as a pseudo-Christian artist, though?
"This is not your daddy's HBO version of Mandela," said Weinstein. "This is the kickass version of Mandela."
Yea, she did. I'm actually kind of surprised that you knew that. I don't know why. Anyway, you should go check that album out if you can find it. It actually has some good moments.
Also, I am fine with myself. I just think Katy Perry is only acceptable as a "there's nothing else on the radio and this song is stupidly fun" choice.
Do I think Katy Perry is anything other than completely, unequivocally pro-gay and a champion of gay rights? No. But this seems tacky. She's like that girl in high school who wants to know "where her gayz be at?!" Her ideas of homosexuality seem outdated.
The less said about the terrible, offensive "I Kissed A Girl," the better.
Beavis and Butthead ripped into Firework, but I can't find the damn video online. So I'll say that I enjoy "Firework" in that capacity.
I also enjoyed it when Patrick Stump wrote, basically, the good version of Firework:
And Cyndi Lauper did a pretty good version of Firework too!
This is a pretty good summation of how I feel about her.
"This is not your daddy's HBO version of Mandela," said Weinstein. "This is the kickass version of Mandela."
I will give "Firework" credit for being, like, the definitive 13-year-old-reads-Kerouac-for-the-first-time-but-doesn't-really-understand-any-of-it, omg-this-is-mind-blowing hilariously ridiculous and obnoxious reaction to the "Mad Ones" passage of On The Road, only filtered through an illiterate 20-something pop artist and her moron boyfriend. And I'm not sure what some terrible, saccharin, generic "be yourself" song is supposed to say about her other terrible, more explicitly offensive songs? And to be clear, I don't think she hates gays or some shit. She seems to luvvv the gayz, lol! She's just an idiot, and through her stupidity has managed to produce offensive songs.
The only good thing that's ever happened as a result of Katy Perry is Rob Delaney's "analysis" of Last Friday Night:
Last Friday night
Yeah I think we broke the law
Public intoxication and indecent exposure are indeed against the law. Is your potential neck-punching rapist included in this “we”? If we ever figure out that he did rape you, then yes, he broke the law too. In fact, it was only during our parents’ lifetime that they abolished the death penalty for rape in the United States. So it’s like, really illegal.
Always say we're gonna stop
The blackout and your blasé attitude toward it suggest alcoholism, which is also characterized by promises to “stop,” which are routinely broken.
Whoa-oh-oah
Whoah
This Friday night
Do it all again
No! Don’t do it again! FIND OUT IF YOU WERE RAPED! And if you weren’t, change your horrible habits or you soon will be! I may not like your music, but I don’t want you to be raped or punched in your lovely neck.
This Friday night
Do it all again
Trying to connect the dots
Don't know what to tell my boss
Why do you have to tell your boss anything? Were your exploits reported in the paper? Is your boss also your landlord? Wait—aren’t you international pop superstar, Katy Perry? I would have thought you were your own boss. Uh oh, I think we’re arriving at why this song is not just awful, but is in fact dangerous. You are playing a character in this song! A character based on the young female demographic you target your music at: young women who do have jobs and bosses and mothers and fathers and necks and vaginas which sure as hell will be damaged and violated if they subscribe to the ideas you foist on them with your songs and the confusing “goofy slut” persona you’ve created.
Sure she doesn't hate gays, but I don't think she is just an idiot. That would be totally absolving her. I think she knows what sells and might well knowingly manipulating audiences as per the circumstance.
Last edited by haqyunus; 12-04-2012 at 12:18 PM. Reason: doesn't...not 'does'.
The Rob Delaney thig is still so fucking funny.
And some of you so-called Katy Perry fans here still haven't addressed Sage's post.
Cate Blanchett
The Beautiful and Talented Godgend Señor El Diablo Blanchitto
Returning to Hollywood with a Vengeance in 2013
The thing about "Ur So Gay" is that, like "I Kissed a Girl," it's just entirely wrong on so many levels. Like, I don't think anyone serious or objective could honestly believe that making fun of lazy stereotypes is something that can be done "tongue in cheek" in a song marketed to kids. Like, yes, she was "joking," but the "jokes" are jokes about lazy, lazy stereotypes!
But even if you forgive the gay stereotypes and how they affect out gay men (which you shouldn't), what about kids who get bullied for that sort of bullshit? (Considering bullying is the cause for her "award.") The entire point of the song is to suggest her boyfriend isn't a "real man." The part in the video where the Ken doll is revealed to not have any genitalia is so obviously offensive I don't even know where to begin with someone who can't see that. Which, fine, whatever, I'm not here to police the messaging in music, but an anti-bullying organization giving her an award? Like, news flash, "not even liking boys" has never, ever stopped a kid from getting bullied for being "so gay." Gender-normative bullying is, I would bet, at the root of most gay bullying among kids, and many, many, many straight kids (on top of, obviously, the many gay kids) have had the shit kicked out of them for being "gay." Like, I'm sure there are a few gay kids who find boyfriends/girlfriends when they're 13, but I'm willing to bet that the majority of anti-gay bullying among kids has less to do with actual relationship status than it does with expectations of gender. The contents of that song have everything to do with why kids get bullied. It's a pro-bullying song.
Last edited by Sage; 12-04-2012 at 07:12 PM.
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