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Thursday, August 22, 2013

From 'Meow' to ROAR!

It's been about a year since we've heard from Katy Perry when she released Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection. In her hit album, Teenage Dream, she sings
about running away with a guy, girls with binkies, fireworks, and a supernatural relationship. Though the album was explicit, sexy, and used one too many cuss words, she ended it on a good note with her moving on song, 'Wide Awake.' After her divorce, she also released a 3D movie.

Now if you are Katy Perry fan, or if you just know a little about her style, you know that she is a candy girl. (See pic)Though her hair is naturally colored black, her hair is often colored, blue, pink and purple.

But that little stunt is over.

With the release of her lead single, 'Roar', she has released four teasers. One showed her burning her blue wig. Another took place at a cemetery where they supposedly buried the old her. The third showed a cat, meowing. He eats something black, then roars. At first, I thought these teasers were a good sign. Maybe she would go back to the way thing were before with her debut Christian album. Then I came to realize that though Katy is weird, at least she is weird in a candy, innocent sort of way. Since she's putting all that behind her, what would become of her now?

She is a cat girl. Her super fans are called 'Katy Cats'. But now, she isn't a cat anymore.
If you haven't guessed it by now, she's a tiger.

'Roar's shows a new side to Katy. It is full of girl power and triumph. Letting people push her around is not a option anymore. Staying in the depths of despair is not longer doable. "I wrote it because I was sick of keeping these feelings inside and not speaking up for myself, which caused a lot of resentment," Miss Perry says, on writing this song.

Starting off, she speaks of the old her. "I used to bite my tongue and hold my breath/Scared to rock the boat and make a mess/I stood for nothing/And feel for everything."

As the song gets faster, she tells the pusher that she will no longer put up with it. "You held me down/But I got up/Get ready cause I've had enough."

What is she going to do now?

Roar! "I got the eye of the tiger/Dancing through the fire/Cause I am champion/And you're gonna hear me Roar/Louder than the than the lion." Though she is softer now, she still has a fierce side. "Now I'm floating like a butterfly/Stinging like a bee/I earned my stripes/I went from zero/To my own hero." Katy has no intention of being merciful either. "You hear my voice/You hear my sound/Like thunder, I'm gonna shake your ground."

When I first heard this song, I was delightfully surprised. Maybe this song doesn't provide the best message, it is really good for Katy! Though I've never been a huge fan because of her inappropriate music, I did enjoy some songs. This is way better than the lead single for Teenage Dream, 'California Gurls',

Through the years, Katy has been through a lot. She started out a Christian artist, but since she has gone astray. I had hopped that her divorce had perhaps woken her up.  When I heard 'Wide Awake', I was hopeful. Then I heard that she said, "My music's about to get f---ing dark."

This song isn't dark, but I pray that the rest of her album, Prism, isn't. 'Roar' talks about girls. Think about this. When a guy ticks another guy off, the another guy beats him up and it's over with. On the other hand, girls can be mad for months. They don't punch. They talk and their words leave a mark. We're emotional people and we when we 'roar', we can hurt people more than guys do. Physical scars don't hurt, but emotional ones definitely do.

Though 'Roar' is pretty clean and its triumphant message is encouraging, when I put it that way, it isn't the best message.

Stars Dance: It Makes My Head Hurt

I decided to post this review on both blogs so you guys can get to it quicker)

So Selena Gomez has came out with a new album. But I'm not going to get into her story. Chances are, you know who she is since she has gotten more popular'. Also, since she got the starring part in that R rated movie.

But like I said, I'm not going to get into that.

I would say, however, that this record is a solo deal, unlike her three other albums which features her band The Scene. Now she's solo. This album is definitely a lot more 'Dance' than the rest of them. You can tell by the title, 'Stars Dance' of course.

Selena Gomez was actually one of the first un-Christian artist's I listen to. After I listened to 'Fly to Your Heart', the song she sang for the original Tinkerbell movie, I loved her. (Okay, that was awhile ago) That was back in 2009.

Some of these songs do sound like their under the influence of Selena Gomez's relationship with Bieber. But to tell you the truth: I wish it wasn't. Because this album is full of... well... 'it', even if it never says it directly.

So here it goes.

Wholesome Content

It was a tad difficult to scrape up some good stuff for this album. But one song makes the cut completely. 'Love Will Remember' is a good song which though talks about a broken relationship, looks to the positive side of things. "We used to be inseparable... I don't how it screwed up... love will remember... forever it will be ours/Even if we try to forget."

'Forget Forever' calls a lover up for hurting her. "Our love was made to rule the world/You came and broke the perfect girl." Though there is a hint toward trying again, in the end, Gomez tells her ex, "Forget forever/Forget you ever knew my name."

On a different note, 'Come and Get It' is a song about committing to one person. "I'm gonna love you for life/I ain't leaving your side," she confesses persistently. Though 'Like a Champion' is a little on the prideful side, you can say its a victorious song. 'Stars Dance' is a song about Gomez making her guy happy.

I'll face it: None of these songs, expect for maybe 'Love Will Remember or 'Forget Forever' are very good at all. In fact, they prove to be annoying and frequent mentions to intense sexual content doesn't help things at all. But other than 'Forget Forever', these songs are happy. That's not something I see everyday. Maybe she's happy for the wrong reasons, but its progress.

And that sums up the good things about these songs.

Unacceptable Content


These songs might be happy but the sexual part of it, in every song, makes me raise an eyebrow. To start of, 'Come and Get It' might have its good points, the overall meaning of the song is 'When you're ready, come and get my body." Similar meanings pop in nearly every song.

'Birthday' though is one of the more tamer songs, talks about everyday partying and compares sexual relationship to cakes and other party things. What's her excuse for doing all this? Every day is her birthday. She's lying about it. "Tell them it's my birthday/They don't know so it's okay... Feeling so fine and free/Crashing into you/Crashing into me/(So yummy)

In 'Slow Down', Selena asks a guy to 'slow down the song' to make the night go slower. The lines definitely talk about s-x. "You know I'm good with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation/Breathe me in/Breathe me out/So amazing." 'Save the Day' encourages what definitely is suggestive towards sex.  'Like a Champion' is a very prideful song. Plus, she also sings, "You gotta show them you're someone else/You've never felt so sexy sexy sexy." (with emphasis on the sex part in that word)

Though 'Write Your Name' is clean, Selena seems like she wants to over committed to her lover. 'Write your name... across my heart/Over every part." 'Undercover' definitely is the worst song in this album. "I look at you/And everything I want to do/Disappears," she begins. "I got a craving for you, baby... you're a sexy machine... I wanna find a place alone in the dark... Find me in the shadows/And put the shades down until tomorrow." Because of the title, Selena could likely be telling this guy to cheat on his girlfriend.

 In 'Nobody Does It Like You', Gomez is a bad girl wannabe falling for a bad boy.

Conclusion

First off, I want to say that Selena wasn't very clean in the first place. From her first album with her band, she has always loved partying. So I guess you can say she's always had this in her. Her last album was suggesting toward stuff like this.

There's a lot of sex going on in this album. The lines are not just suggestive. She's not just playing around with the idea anymore. What concerns me is that ironically, Gomez is still on Disney Channel. She says that she has respect for her young fans.

I would believe that. After all, these songs are, again, happy. But the mentions toward sex and her role in her R rated movie shows evidence to something else.

Okay, I'll be honest with this. I had a hard time reviewing this album. For awhile. I even decided to not review it because the songs were so annoying and they literally made my head hurt. They're catchy, believe me. But if Gomez had something else to say other than singing the chorus six times each song, I might be a little more soft. But seriously, these songs lack creativity and it's full of auto tune.

I would say, "Try again," but I really don't want to. Because these albums just keep getting worse and worse.