Teenage Dream, Sunny

Let's see, I just sort of have a loose collection of thoughts here:

This album really takes me back. Perry was a hurricane force in the mid-'00s, when my brain was highly plastic and ready to receive whatever pop culture would pour down the funnel. Listening to this album again is a taste of that youthful joy, which I guess is the point of "Teenage Dream" and Teenage Dream (and I'm guessing that is true of much of the PoYB reader/writership. Strong album pick, Sweeties, well played. I will always remember The Sweety Man (don't click that link)).

Amazing how like four songs here were mega hits, and then another two semi hits, on a twelve-track album. What an incredible batting average. I remember burning "California Gurls" on a CD-ROM for a girl who might have been one who got away, and you gotta give credit to Perry for placing that track right after the FUCK YOU track.

I remember Snoop Dogg being here for "California Gurls," and a lot of his verse, but I forgot all of the background "West Coast" and "California haha yeah" he adds to the background of the track. Which are great. Relistening to this album as an adult with adult headphones really does reveal finer details, like Snoop, or the little bells at the start of "Teenage Dream."

Speaking of little details, wasn't Kanye on "E.T."? Am I misremembering that? I'm sure a quick google would answer, but eh. Here's a joke I'm trying out—Kanye: at least he's not Diddy.

OH yeah, and here's "Firework." There's that Lonely Island parody video; I remember hearing this on TV all the time. Commercials and stuff I guess? Or, oh right, politics.

In my mind-palace, Perry's popularity was building up to and peaked for this album, circa 2010. And then once again for the 2015 Super Bowl (covered excellently on PoYB). I sort of tracked what happened after that, and she's on American Idol now, with Lionel Ritchie? Which is bizarre on several levels.

Still, even tracks I don't care for ("Who Am I Living For?" and "Circle the Drain" (what pills was Travis McCoy taking anyway?)) are as catchy as the average Q102 tune. It all adds up to a great album. Wonder if, like Gaga, I'll see a Perry renaissance in my lifetime.