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[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]Kelly Clarkson - The War Is Over (Smoakstack Sessions Version)
I should know by now that every Kelly Clarkson album must contain at least one song that is a total gut-punch to me. My December had Maybe, All I Ever Wanted had its title track, and now Stronger has The War Is Over. This acoustic version of the song from the pre-order exclusive Smoakstack Sessions EP is similar to the album cut (enough so that I wonder why Kelly didn’t pick a track that would be a bit more different acoustically) but the slightly stripped back production gives Kelly a chance to deliver a vocal performance that’s a bit less bombastic but has more emotional nuances. Each time she hits that chorus, you can feel the determination in “I won’t let you pull me in…” coupled with the resignation and relief in “but the war is over”. This song (along with I Forgive You) has been my main entry point into Stronger, which I initially found disappointing but which has been growing on me with a few more listens.
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[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]Katy Perry- Circle The Drain
Remember what I just wrote about how matching the right persona to a pop song can result in perfection? Well, the reverse is true as well, and matching the wrong persona to a song can easily drag it down from decent to shitty. Such is the case with Katy Perry’s OTHER new song, “Circle The Drain” (written/produced by Christopher Stewart, Katy & Monte Neuble), which is never going to be amazing but could be significantly better performed by someone else. This attempt at an angry break-up song, complete with generic rock guitar that seems about to go into the Beat It riff at a moment’s notice and gratuitous cursing, would fit in nicely on the last two Kelly Clarkson albums (it even has that echo effect on the last word of many lines that Kelly overuses) but it feels completely false coming out of Perry, especially since the other two singles from her upcoming album are pure bubblegum pop with no edge. She’s trying her damnedest to summon up some real venom, but just can’t get there. The lyrics alternate between bitterly specific and completely generic, and while this usually results in a revenge-pop masterpiece, the generic complaints don’t have that sing-along quality that has made You Oughta Know, Like I Do, the Fleetwood Mac catalog, and many many others karaoke staples. There’s gossip blog buzz that this song is about Katy’s relationship with the guy from Gym Class Heroes, but if anything, that make this come off as tacky and mean since she’s obviously moved on to bigger and better things (number 1 singles, engaged to another celebrity, cover of Rolling Stone) and he’s still toiling in comparative obscurity. A miss from Perry that stops her hot streak at 2.
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Katy Perry- Teenage Dream
OK, I think I’m kinda addicted to this song. I’ve listened to it like 10 times in the last 24 hours, and have been trying to figure out why I’m so enamored with it. I am far from a Katy Perry fan, not liking any singles from her first album and begrudgingly conceding that California Gurls is extremely catchy, but my sister was blasting this all through our trip to Chicago and it took over my brain. It’s not flawless, with verses featuring completely awful lyrics and far too thin and high vocals (making this song something that will undoubtedly be painful to hear drunk sorority girls sing for the next 6 months), but once the effects come in on Perry’s voice at the end of “we can dance until we die”, the song overcomes those flaws and heads into a transcendent fist-pumping second chorus perfect for shouting along to. It follows the usual Dr. Luke/Max Martin template, but somehow transcends the formula to be potentially their best work post-“Since U Been Gone”
Lyrically, there isn’t much to hang onto here except for a few lines. “we can dance until we die, we’ll be young forever” Isn’t that secretly the best part of teenage love, thinking you can be with someone whose mental image of you is always going to be you at your peak, fresh-faced and beautiful, having fun and dancing instead of the adult you, who probably is better overall but isn’t as open or free? There’s something powerful in knowing that there’s someone out there who will always see you the way you want to be seen instead of the you that exists in present reality; it keeps the dreams and memories from fading. The other notable lyric is “Let’s run away, and don’t ever look back”. Even in the idyllic portrait the song paints, they’re still running away from something. I don’t know about you guys, but my teenage relationships had an us vs. the world feeling to them that’s juvenile and unhealthy but also kinda fun and romantic, and this song manages to throw that feeling in there offhandedly but in a great way. It’s also nice to see a contemporary pop song where the girl wants sex as much as the guy does but isn’t portrayed as a harlot or skank.
What really pushes the song head and shoulders above the glut of other Dr. Luke/Max Martin productions in the last few years is that Katy Perry is the perfect performer for it. Hers is the only current pop persona that could’ve pulled this song off, and in the hands of another singer, it would’ve fallen apart. It’s too simple and sweet for Gaga, Britney would’ve done her sex kitten routine and ruined it, Ke$ha’s too dirty, it just wouldn’t fit Kelly Clarkson, and the younger breed of popstars (Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, all those Disney girls no one over 13 can tell apart) still can’t convincingly sing about sex without creeping everyone out. Perry’s slighty dirty but mostly innocent and ditzy persona matches the song’s tone and elevates it past greatness and into near perfection.
Pat Benatar- Hell Is For Children (live, 1981)
Can we talk about how awesome Pat Benatar is for a minute? Lady can ROCK. Children of Bodom covered this song and it came out less intense than the original because they couldn’t nail the bridge as hard as she does. Where is the Pat Benatar of today? Pop culture needs a hot chick who’s ready for a fight and who can really sing fronting a band with heavy guitar solos. I guess Pink is close in attitude, but she’s down on the pop end of the spectrum. Kelly Clarkson has the voice, but not the attitude, and is also way too pop.
On the topic of this video, how amazing are the trippy effects during the bridge and solo? It’s such ridiculously 80s cheese that it made me smile. Also, Pat Benatar is one of the few women I think looks better with short hair, it accentuates her facial structure really well and contributes to her “tough chick” image.
