California Girls

...They're undeniable.

I refuse to link the video.   I'm sure you've heard that blasted song.

Ah, chart-toppers.  Britney Spears.  Lil Wayne.  Rihanna.  The Black Eyed Peas.  Ke$ha, and of course, Katy Perry.  The constant, constant, constant rush of fill-in-the-blank, catchy tunes with no substance that are designed hit the top... and nothing else.

There is the occasional good song that creeps in.  "Raise Your Glass" by Pink, at first blush, sounds like your typical A plus B song, A being alcohol and B being dancing.  But on re-listening, it's an ode to everyone out there that's different, odd, nerdy, and overall not the perfect Barbie doll that most pop songs promote.  Hell, one of the opening scenes is her in a Rosie the Riveter outfit.  '

And, of course, Florence + The Machine's "Dog Days" is excellent.  I'll be doing a separate post on them some other time, for sure.  But it more then deserved the number 9 spot it took back in 2010.

And then, of course, there's Katy Perry's California Gurls.  Which doesn't.  It may be the shallowest song I've heard ever.  Now keep in mind, there are probably more shallow songs out there, it's just that this particular example struck me unlike any other.  Here are the lyrics, for what it's worth.

California Gurls alternates between sounding like aural porn and the statewide version of a college fight song.  That's kind of it.  The main thrust of the song seems to be something along the lines of "California is the best because we have women who will have sex with you!".

Snoop Dawgg appears to make himself sound like a scumbag.  I mean really, to quote the lyrics: "I mean, like, she's the one!  Kiss her, touch her, squeeze her buns!".  Yuck.  Euurrrgh.  I don't want to get anywhere near that man, for fear of being molested regardless of my sex.

To be fair, Katy Perry does have talent.  "Who Am I Living For" and "Not Like the Movies" of the same album  both demonstrate her excellent voice, although both sound suspiciously autotuned.  They're also both excellently produced, although I doubt she had any hand in that.

So yeah: Katy Perry: one or two of her songs suggest she's a talented musician, most of them suggest she has the brains of a raisin.

(Random thing, I did a very strange remix of that song, so go listen if you like strange things.)

snooglebum