Audio By Carbonatix
If every discerning music nerd only gets to pick one pop princess to admit to unapologetic digging, I totally pick Katy Perry.
Yes, she’s good looking– that’s a given, but it’s much more than that. Perry has a sort of easygoing charm, a rare thing in the realm of radio-dominating queens.
Yeah, I know she’s totally a diva, complete with a crazy demanding tour rider, but I still get the sense that Perry isn’t as prissy as she could be. She’s married to Russell Brand, a feat I’m sure requires a serious sense of humor, and she seems more than willing to poke fun at herself.
Tunes like “UR So Gay” and “Peacock” are irreverent (though I have to say, the latter is just so incredibly annoying and off putting that it almost destroys all the goodwill I have for her), and videos like “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)” prove that Perry doesn’t take her role as a popstar too seriously.
But there are other reasons I dig Katy Perry.
1. “California Gurls” is spelled that way because of Big Star.
Wanna instantly endear yourself to a music geek? Make a gigantic hit with a Big Star nod in the title. “California Gurls” is insanely catchy, but its title features a tip of the hat to Big Star, my absolute favorite power-pop band, a band high in the running for my favorite band of all time (see my weepy tribute to Big Star songwriter Alex Chilton from earlier this year). Apparently Katy’s manager Bradford Cobb is a huge Big Star fan, and he pleaded with Perry to spell “girls” in the title in the manner of Big Star’s “September Gurls.”
