It's no secret that I am an unabashed fan of pop music. It took me years to get here, but it feels really crystal clear in these waters. I think the turning point for me was my freshman year of college, when I tried to join the school's radio station, and it was made abundantly clear that all the "indie" and "underground" music I liked wasn't "indie" or "underground" enough for the people who ran the station. Gatekeepers gonna gatekeep.
It was a familiar experience. It happened when I worked at a music store. When I went to basement shows in high school. Eventually, I really stopped caring if the music I liked was cool enough. Sorry Seawolf and Feist weren't enough for you in 2005, babes! I still, of course, continued and do still continue to like music that's considered alt or indie or what have you, but I also don't try to suppress the fact that albums like Teenage Dream fuckin' slap.
I have a goofy personal connection to "Firework," because a dear friend of mine moved to California, and we always text each other when the song comes on. We sign our texts "baby, you're a firework." It's so over the top and corny as a pop song that it actually works. It hits all the right notes. It sends you soaring. It's a pop masterpiece.
"Firework" is also perhaps the most sincere of the singles from the album, and it transcends the 2010 universe the rest of the album lives in. "Teenage Dream," "Last Friday Night," "California Gurls," and "E.T." have gone the way of "spin class bangers." Truly the finest graveyard for pop songs of yore!
Truth be told, I hadn't spent much time with this full album outside of the singles, and was pleasantly surprised by all the gems (or pearls, rather) that lived inside. A few skips. But damn if Katy Perry isn't camp as hell. Come on now "Peacock!" I love a self-aware pop girlie!
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