Katy Perry - "Teenage Dream" (single) [2010]

Don't worry, I actually hate myself a little for admitting this to the blogosphere... but I kinda sorta love Katy Perry's new single "Teenage Dream." (See the official video here) With pop music being, for the most part, formulaic, contrived, unimaginative, and just plain annoying, it can be refreshing to come across rare songs like "Teenage Dream" that don't instantly make you reach for the barf bag (see: Selena Gomez), want to bang your head against the wall (see: Rihanna) or kill yourself (see: Ke$ha). I also find this admission super hysterical considering the scathing review I did for her ridiculously awful debut. If it means anything, up until now "Waking Up In Vegas" was the only KP song I actually didn't mind and would sometimes find myself taking the longer way home in my car just to hear it in its entirety (of course, only during moments when I was alone). So it's safe to say "Teenage Dream" just may be a true watershed moment, even though the most intellectually stimulating lyric of the song is "Ima get your heart racing, in my skin-tight jeans, I'll be your teenage dream tonight." But I'm learning that's okay. Sometimes you need something mindless, fun, harmless and not to be taken seriously... especially if it gets your motor running a tad. The song (and its completely literal video) speaks of youthful love, gallivanting on the beach, amorous drives up the coast in a convertible, cheap motel nookie, and all the associated cliche "been there, done that" rites of passage this country was founded upon, except... she chose a boxer guy instead of the typical football jock as her love interest (plus, he's not even cute, really?). If she was gonna go gaga over some muscular video dude, she may as well have commissioned Channing Tatum for the job because isn't he the boxer-type du jour with all the right moves? First Russell Brand, now this guy? I definitely question her taste in men. But at least the song's great and it will make my commute a little brighter until I get home and blast something in my collection that will restore any, if not all, of my music credibility... any suggestions?

The Dream - Lovehate (2007)

Without fail, everytime I jam the song "Fast Car" from this album someone says "Is this Prince?" Thats a pretty solid compliment for any artist in my book. I admittedly have a soft spot for slightly cheezy R&B, but I honestly think that the first 5 songs on this album are good. Swear. Do you like the Rihanna song, "Umbrella?" Don't even, everyone loves that song. And this is the guy that wrote it! Yeah! I know!

Also check out the song "Nikki," its his I gots cheated on and am gonna a write a Justin Timberlake "Cry Me a River" style song bout it. Its unabashedly awesome.