In defense of Katy Perry

Perry's Teenage Dream is my 20-something soundtrack.

For the record, I've taken a lot of flak for Katy Perry. I was lucky enough to attend an all-women's college (anyone surprised?) that, by its nature, fostered a great deal of feminism and queer culture, and an appreciation of both on behalf of myself and several close friends.

Around this time, Perry's "I Kissed a Girl" was released and quickly gained popularity in the mainstream music scene. My friends immediately revolted, saying that the pop star's new tune was offensive to bisexual, lesbian, and queer women. Perry didn't plan the kiss; she was drunk when it happened; it wasn't what "good girls" did; she only kissed the girl to try it; it doesn't mean she's in love; she does, in fact, have a boyfriend. Essentially, Perry wasn't taking her brief foray into lesbian interaction (hello? Cherry Chapstick?) seriously, and my friends thought she should.

Well, the first time I kissed a girl, I had a boyfriend. I had been drinking. And I was terrified.

Don't get me wrong, I think representations of queer culture should be taken seriously, especially in mainstream contexts, but we also need to be prepared to see what happened to straight sex happen to gay sex, too. It's going to be marketed, it's going to make money for lots of people, and it's headed down the road to becoming the mainstream. Now is the time for us to ask ourselves if that's really a bad thing.

A few months after "I Kissed a Girl" hit the airwaves and even I had gotten sick of it, my partner and I travelled to her hometown in Virginia for a brief vacation. While visiting her high school friend and her children, I heard the 7-year-old daughter of my partner's friend walking around the house singing -- you guessed it -- "I Kissed a Girl." In Virginia.

No offense to the South, but we've all heard the horror stories, and here was a little girl singing about experimenting with her sexuality, and no one was batting an eye. Luckily for the 7-year-old, she's got two of the most liberal parents I've met in my partner's hometown. But that song was all over the radio stations, and...nobody cared.

For me, this was huge.

God forbid we are ever told not to experiment with our sexualities, to try different things (safely, of course, and with love, I hope) in an effort to find something -- or someone -- who fits us. Girls across the country and across the age spectrum are still appreciating this song not just because of its good beat and (semi-)inspired lyrics, but because it tells a story that a lot of us lived. I know I did, and thankfully, the night I decided to "just try" kissing a girl put me on a path that eventually led to the healthiest relationship of my life.

All of that being said, Perry's new album, Teenage Dream, hit store shelves last month, and I couldn't have been more thrilled.

Along with the now-classic duet Perry shares with rapper Snoop Dogg, "California Gurls," and new sensation "Teenage Dream," the album contains some of Perry's best work yet -- and some of her worst.

I know, I know...the gays like "Peacock." And I know why. I've seen the tribute videos on YouTube.

I do, however, take offense to the derogatory use of the word "bitch" -- i.e., as an insult when targeted at someone's particular manhood. It insinuates that women are the weaker, whinier sex; a disrespectful view that I have found to be patently false time and again. This train of thought, following Perry's use of the aforementioned insult in "Peacock," luckily distracted me from the rest of that utterly ridiculous song.

These essentially anti-woman sentiments are directly contradicted in "Pearl," when Perry laments a nameless woman's fall from self-confidence and success. If mainstream artists and performers (ahem) abstained more often from using gender as an insult, the average teenage girl perhaps wouldn't struggle quite as much.

"Peacock" sounds too much like a slutty cheerleader chant for me, and maybe part of an attempt that the whole album makes at representing all experiences of the teenage spectrum. There are the cheerleaders ("Peacock"...ugh), the drugs ("Circle the Drain"), the falling-in-love-for-the-first-time ("The One That Got Away"), the loss of one's virginity ("Hummingbird Heartbeat"), and the never-ending quest for self-esteem ("Firework"). All of these are important stories that should always be told -- well, maybe except for the cheerleader part. For the most part, good intentions laid the groundwork for the album's underlying theme.

Perry hits her stride with "E.T." I mean, I've always kind of thought aliens were sexy, but this cements it. Her synthesized stutter on the chorus makes this the kind of song you blast in the car and keep on repeat until you hear it in your dreams. If you can get past the fact that the lyrics include the erroneous turn of phrase "a whole nother" (even I did), Perry's mature voice and clear handle over the vocal range will hypnotize you. "E.T." will be in the clubs before Boston knows what hit it.

Another winner (and one that I've had on repeat all week) is "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)," a fun, upbeat song that follows a prodigal question we've all had to answer: what happened last night? Granted, the lyrics are not quite on point ("skinny-dipping in the dark" doesn't really rhyme with "m�nage a trois," but it still sounds good to me), but the chatty verses and addictive chorus will have you chanting "T.G.I.F." in no time.

Overall, Teenage Dream is a good album, at least in my estimation. It's not perfect, but the fun things in life never are. I'm looking forward to college reunions when I can sneak Perry's new tracks on a couple mix CD's for my friends. Despite the critical eye with which we were all bestowed in college, they all like a good beat.

Katy Perry's newest album, Teenage Dream, is available from Capitol Records on iTunes, at Amazon.com, or at your local record store.