Brightest Young Things

In this weekly feature Nina (a real live breathing 17 year old-ed) will examine whatever song is currently at the top end of the charts and defend its “musical merits” to the best of her ability talk about it.

"Waking Up In Vegas" by Katy Perry

Well it's been almost two months since I last wrote about a Top 40 song.  I've been trying not to fail school and whatnot but then Svetlana wrote on my wall and I realized how long it's been.  Also school is almost done and I don't have homework so this is the perfect time to get back in the saddle!  And what better way to do so than with the new Katy Perry song!

"Waking Up In Vegas" sounds like every other Katy Perry song.  And by that I mean it's really, really poppy and the lyrics are "subversive" because they're about getting drunk in Vegas!  Edgy!  I think she took a lot of cues from Lady GaGa (another poet laureate for my generation) in this one.  For example, Katy Perry sings about losing her motel key and ID, and then says "Why are these lights so bright?  Did we get hitched last night?"  SOUND FAMILIAR???!!!???!  In "Just Dance," Lady GaGa wonders what her keys are, if she lost her phone, and how her shirt got inside out.  LOL drunks.  Another correlation between Lady GaGa and Katy Perry I just thought of: neither likes wearing pants.  Because pants would be the opposite of subversive.

Moving on.  I strongly dislike Katy Perry because whenever I see her I just think of how she looks like a trashy version of my #1 girl crush, Zooey Deschanel.  Unacceptable.  But then I heard that she wrote Kelly Clarkson's latest single, "I Do Not Hook Up," which I like, so my respect for Katy Perry moved up a teensy bit.  In light of this recent development, I'm actually going to try to defend this song.

2. It's obscenely catchy.  I had never listened to the song in full before sitting down to write this, but even from just hearing the chorus I had it stuck in my head for days.  She definitely has a knack for writing hooks.
3. Katy Perry has done a surprisingly good job of not being a one-hit wonder, which was my expectation.  Because really, when would you expect someone whose first single was called "I Kissed A Girl" to have a legit career?
4. The music video for this is not bad.  Really showy and decadent (given that the song is about crazy times in Vegas, what else would you expect?) but when a lot of the videos these days are trying to be gritty and "real" or quirky, it's fun to watch something that is unabashedly in-your-face and glittery.  Also there's some product placement that is REALLY subtle.  That may or may not have been sarcastic.  Hint:  It was.

That's all I've got.  In truth, I think Katy Perry's star will fade very soon and I cannot wait for that to happen.  This lady annoys the junk out of me.