Katy Perry: One of the Boys

Introduction

The photography of the album itself is subtle in its sexuality. On the cover, Miss Perry is lounging sexily on a lawn chair, the pillow and blanket which sits under her, suggestively poised to insinuate she has just finished with a nasty act of fleshy justification.

Although this album may be a bit young for my 33-year-old mind, I still enjoy listening to it now and then, as it was something I enjoyed in my youth. One of the Boys, released in the Summer of 2008, debuted at number nine on the U.S. Billboard 200 and was nominated for two Grammys. It produced four singles, including the smash hit "I Kissed a Girl," which tattooed Perry's name in the minds and hearts all over the world, including Germany to Mexico to Switzerland and many other corners of the Earth.

It received mixed reviews upon its release, but it holds up against the negativity as a strong album with a combination of pop, soft rock and lyrics of blatant honesty and rawness. Five years in the making and released when Perry was 23 years old, it contains many aspects of the singer's personality at that time: From humorous songs like "One of the Boys" and "Waking Up in Vegas" to the more serious and depressing, such as "Thinking of You," "Lost," and "I'm Still Breathing," and venturing to the corners of sexual controversy in songs like "I Kissed a Girl" and "Ur So Gay."

In this review we will look at this writer's seven favorite tunes on the 12-track album, including: "I Kissed a Girl," "Thinking of You," "Ur So Gay," "Lost," "Self-Inflicted," "I'm Still Breathing," and "Fingerprints."

Though not Perry's first album (she released a full-length album in 2001 titled Katy Hudson), this was her first smash album. This record is a far cry from the ultra-religious upbringing she endured as a child: Who says a pair of churchy parents can't produce a daughter who rocks the world one show at a time?

"I Kissed a Girl

Though the young songstress struggles to hit the occasional note in a very Billie Holiday-ish manner, she correctly, appropriately, and best of all, openly embraces her drunken make-out session with a woman, unable, even, to identify her by name. Given that the previous track was titled "One of the Boys," she is quite adept at adapting to that lusting-after-women role that so many men seem to possess.

A massive hit in the Spring of 2008 that put the singer on the map, this song was penned by Perry, Max Martin, and Cathy Dennis. It clocked in at approximately three minutes -- three minutes that challenged the prejudices of a very prudish youth here in America and three minutes that changed Perry's music from that day forward.

It's mix of pop and obnoxious, in-your-face rock music, the lyrics are both straight and delightfully punkish in its content. This tune, causing a huge uproar on the music scene in 2008, has represented every girl's stifled fantasy and every heterosexual male's wet dream: A beautiful girl planting another one on a girl. What could be better than that?

Hitting #1 in countries all around the globe, this foray into sexual experimentation was (and is) widely accepted in America and other parts of the world, urging us to reexamine our own bigotry, while at the same time making way for a new pop sensation.

"Thinking of You"

These beautiful, poetic verses sat snugly as the fourth track on this record. A ballad in every sense of the word, it really showcases Perry's talent as a lyricist and musician, starting off with the songstress's words of: "Comparisons/Are easily done/Once you've had a taste/Of perfection."

The richness of her words and the way in which she sings them is from the perspective of an agitated female: She is irritated that she is intimate with one man while thinking of an ex-lover. Nothing, she feels, would ever compare to this particular lover, who is nothing short of perfection.

It highlights what we've all felt at certain times after a break-up: the mourning of a relationship gone bad, all the while being deluded that this was the relationship, this was it for us, and this was all we needed to survive. But hindsight is not always 20/20, as it can create a world of fantasy and flawlessness that never really existed, and Perry describes this superbly well in her verses.

Still, she is trying to move on with her life by dating someone else -- and it falls short of her expectations, as no one can quite measure up to the lure of fantasy and delusional recollections.

"Ur So Gay"

"I hope you hang yourself with your H&M scarf" is the first lyric sung by the pop singer. Quite attention-getting and mean-spirited though it is, the recording's sadistic undertones are anything other than the accepting nature of "I Kissed a Girl." It cruelly attempts to put down gay culture and effeminate men.

It is the true story of a former flame of Katy Perry's who was more girly, womanly, and metrosexual than the lady herself. Through her callous disregard of her lover's feelings, she reveals the humiliation that she enjoys putting her beau through via the lyrics in this song; a type of tune that only a Millennial could weave like a noose.

Although not released as a single in 2008 (and understandably so), it has become a fan favorite as an abrupt head-on collision towards cancel culture and the politically correct. Though this writer does not favor the politically correct society that Americans seem to indulge in all too often, this song is a beautifully sick piece of material. Perry, at times not being able to distinguish herself from other songstresses of her generation, stands out in this track as a verbally abusive and homophobic girlfriend of an overly emotional boyfriend.

Though the gesture and thought behind the song is unusually (and unnecessarily) vindictive towards a man who is undeniably true to himself, she tries to redeem herself with an ill-attempted lyric of: "I can't believe I fell in love with someone/Who wears more make-up than..."

With its casual whistling at the start and its creepy and almost spiderlike sequencing of sounds and words, it introduces the listeners to the singer's darker side of her psyche: One who can be unquestionably cruel and talented at the same time in this paradox, travesty, and gem of a song.

"Lost"

This track -- the ninth one on the album -- is undeniably a standout track on this record. It's an arriving-at-adult story in which a young woman finds herself out in the world, alone, unable to emotionally connect with those around her.

The chorus is simple and direct, understandable and relatable to all of us in our lives at some point: "Have you ever been so lost?/Known the way and still so lost?/Another night, waiting for someone to take me home." This theme outlines the meaningless bullshit that we've all experienced in our youth.

Penned by Perry and Ted Bruner, it's a keyhole into the mind of a young persons' difficulties in forging her own path into the dark and dishonest globe, dealing with "fair-weather friends" and being "face down in the porcelain." A raw and honest look into hardships that can leave us wanting the stability of our homelife while craving independence, it also details her agnostic point of view with the Svengali of God that so dominated her life as a child, singing, "So if I pray/Am I just sending words into outer space?"

The refusal to go back home to her parents is immediately apparent in this song, but the depressing nature of being alone dominates the lyrics and music, letting the world know she would rather be miserable alone than living in the comfortable nest of her parents' home. Her opinion on this matter is quietly and politely implied rather than the blunt message she describes in some of her other songs on the record like "I Kissed a Girl" and "Ur So Gay."

"Self-Inflicted"

This rowdy and rambunctious song, testimony to her one-of-the-gang perspective, tells a story in which she is ready to dive into the crowd and happy to destroy herself for the man she loves. Audacious and forthright, it is easily one of the best tracks on the album. It sheds light on her behavior which is readily self-destructive, singing that her heart is "still wide open" after all the hell she's been through with this guy.

"These wounds are self-inflicted/I'm going down in flames for you/Baby, you are the weapon I choose/These wounds are self-inflicted/One more thing I'm addicted to" is a staunch rebellion against leaving a bad relationship with an ounce of self-respect and, instead, favoring a wonderfully unhealthy lover in her life. A taste of excitement, energy, fun, and danger are all evident in the almost punk quality of these deliciously masochistic lyrics.

Friendly and pleasantly confrontational, this track was penned by Perry, Scott Cutler, and Anne Preven. A gem that possibly could've been a single, it is hidden safely as the tenth track, unassuming, and still with a wonderful, blatant disregard for her enthusiastic listeners.

"I'm Still Breathing"

The controversial nature of this song, I suppose, is what really prevented it from being a well-known number in Perry's collection of ballads. The controversy confronted here is suicide, a delicate subject for the world's citizens, but particularly Americans who are incredibly old-fashioned and God-fearing in their ways of life.

It's dark beauty presents itself is in the nature of its verses, as the underrated poet contemplates the final act, singing: "I'm weaving a rope and/Running all the red lights/Did I get your attention?/ 'Cause I'm sending all the signs." She also advises her listener to "Pick your favorite shade of black/You best prepare a speech." It reflects her mournful state of mind following the loss of a man that had once been in her life but had since departed and moved on with few thoughts of her.

It's a soft and sad song, by far the darkest on the record, and putting into perspective what we've all thought about at one point or another: How would we do it if we had to? Depressing and holding all the flames of a torch song, the nearly four-minute song fades out to the sound of a church organ.

"Fingerprints"

This final bang on the album promotes the singer's image of that of a restless and ambitious spirit, anxious to leave her, well, fingerprints upon the world. Perry boldly takes the initiative in this song, grabbing the bull by the horns, and the man by the balls, singing: "Don't you wanna go down in history?/Rather than end up begging on the streets/Trading under table favors/For a place to sleep."

Despite the suicidal messages in her previous song, "I'm Still Breathing," this track possesses nothing but a lust for life and an enormous desire to leave a legacy and imprint her signature on the world around her. It is a superb ending to an album, forgoing the normal half-ballads that have become the custom, and bringing the listener into a life of an uncertain and exciting future.

"Fingerprints" is a pop-rock tune in every sense of the word, supported by rock and roll drums and a hunger for more than what she has right then: "I gotta make my mark/I gotta run it hard/I want you to remember me."

How could we forget?

Conclusion

The album title, One of the Boys, is one that is misleading and somewhat of a paradox: In the delicate nature in which the singer presents herself, she seems to be, indeed, one of the girls, tempted by traditional men, and an admiration for the 1940s pin-up poster scene, as the photography well presents with images of an impish Katy Perry hanging out in her backyard, complete with a cheap pool, rubber duckies, food paraphernalia (a heart-shaped lollipop, fruit, and an orange Nehi), and a feminine, pink hi-fi. She completes the image of a bathing beauty, half-dressed, and suggestive while not giving too much of her long-gone chastity away.

With much more depth than what appears on the surface, the singer showcases her natural talent in songwriting and how the sound of a song should match the content of its lyrics. Beautifully fused together with light and darkness, abuse and temptation, this record has rightfully put this young woman in the spotlight, and, despite her upbeat appearance, reveals an ominous and warped nature to her personality that otherwise would not have been seen.