Come on, show 'em what you're worth

Let's all just pretend the other Katy Perry song to leak this morning doesn't exist and enjoy the other Stargate contribution from her upcoming Teenage Dream album, the dance/rave explosion that is "Firework."

Katy Perry - Firework by ileaks

By the way, after initially being just mildly positive about "Teenage Dream," I fell hard for it last week.

You can preorder Katy Perry's album Teenage Dream here (physical).

Must be something in the water

I'm not much of a lying around the pool in the middle of summer kind of girl--give me a book and some shade, thank you very much--but a weeklong early summer vacation in a humid southern state kind of demands it. The songs that fell into frequent rotation for me this year during my "would have been more deserved any time from February to April but by this point was basically just a change in location, not leisure time" vacation (it's heavy on songs I added just before taking off and losing computer access):

Kelly Rowland, "Commander" (the song of summer, and don't pretend it's anything else)

3OH!3 feat. Kesha, "My First Kiss" (does this mean I'm giving in?)

Sean Kingston & Justin Bieber, "Eenie Meanie" (my "maybe the kids are all right" moment with today's teen pop, it's enough bubblegum fun to outweigh the awful "catch a bad chick by her toe" part)

Alexandra Burke, "All Night Long" (the only thing wrong with this song is that the best part is the backing "all night, all night, all night night night night" part, not the actual chorus melody. Other than that, it's just the sort of fun, lighthearted party song the summer demands)

Alphabeat, "DJ" (what's clearly the best song from their most recent album finally gets a single release)

Kesha, "Bootycall" (another Kesha leak/demo, this one could stand with the first few opening and final seconds getting cut, but the '80s candyfloss joy of the chorus and its overproduced '80s drums makes up for it)

Enrique Iglesias feat. Pitbull, "I Like It" (long live Enrique, even if the cynical side of me is unconvinced about staying power here. Plus, well, how can you begrudge him working with RedOne when he's the creator of what's obviously the best "RedOne + artist" tag ever in "Takin' Back My Love"?)

Baby Alice, "Piña Colada Boy" (gimmicky summer fun)

Aggro Santos feat. Kimberly Wyatt, "Candy" (the best thing about this dance-rap song is that the worst lyrics in it--heck, probably the worst lyrics all year--are the catchiest part, delivered in a staccato style so they're as easy to understand as possible, and transcend over into brilliantly awful: "girl. you. look. familiar. Where. do. I know. you. from?/Have. you. been. to. visit. me. at. AggroSantos.com?")

Taio Cruz feat. Ludacris, "Break Your Heart" (one of my favorite pop songs of 2009, so who would have thought the insertion of a couple of Ludacris raps into it could possibly make me love it even more? The best thing Ludacris has done since Usher's "Yeah!", and we all know how amazing that was)

Rogue Traders, "Would You Raise Your Hands?" (back on track after the misfire of "Love Is A War," the Australian dance-rock team delivers a song that never fails to make me pick up the jogging pace)

Katy Perry feat. Snoop Dogg, "California Gurls" (lightweight, but begging for successive summer plays...and do you know what? There's no point resisting)

Kids Of 88, "Just A Little Bit" (avoiding watching the video, loving this snappy electro-pop song from a two guy New Zealand act)

Jason Derulo, "Love Hangover" (broke down and bought his album just before leaving. It's not a must-own, but why is this not the next single instead of "Ridin' Solo"?)

Scissor Sisters, "Fire With Fire" (confession: the only Scissor Sisters song I've ever really enjoyed before this album campaign was "Paul McCartney." Maybe it's due to Jake is using his voice differently that this particular door opened up, but it's the joyous uplift of the Elton John-meets-the-Killers'-"Human"-but-better of the song itself that sealed the deal)

Mini Viva, "One Touch" (most thrilling Xenomania song since, what, at least "Miss You Bow Wow"? It's the attitude-filled fresh female sound that caused us all to fall in love with Girls Aloud)

Play, "Consequence Of You" (haven't really listened to the Swedish girl group's album, but there's no way there can be anything better than this song on it)

Throw in some random holdovers from spring--Matisse's "Better Than Her," Young Money's "BedRock" (cheesy puns are my weakness; see also: above picture), Lady GaGa's "Alejandro," Kesha's "Your Love Is My Drug," Gabriella Cilmi's "Superhot," etc.--and a few other songs--Dolly Rockers' "Automatic Girl," Taio's "Dynamite"--you've got the new additions. There's a whole summer playlist that gets rolled out, of course, but those standbys will have to compete with some great new songs from the past week or so. In fact, hmm, give me a few minutes...

(By the way, Crystal Bowersox and American Idol, you couldn't have had your hometown visit one week earlier or one week later? Really? It had to be during my previously scheduled and unmovable week away?)

#10 Katy Perry, "Hot N Cold"

I should know
That you're no good for me

As I said back when I first wrote about this song last March, after her still-refuse-to-name-it first single, it was going to take something amazing to get me to like Katy Perry's music.

And "Hot 'n Cold" was that something.

The sound of Max Martin and Dr. Luke setting aside their straightforward pop-rock formula for a moment to create a song that bounced along with a fizzy pop energy and attitude-including lyrics that managed the amazing task of being both completely Katy Perry and not repellent--taking her persona and actually making it work for the song--"Hot 'n Cold" was so irresistibly fun that I couldn't help being drawn in by it. To be fair, it's not a full rejection of that Max/Luke pop-rock template, but more a refining of it, taking out most of the guitars, replacing them with electronic elements, and speeding everything up just a little bit. Jason Nevins-remixing the template, in other words. Or sharpening up the sound of Paris's "Nothing In This World," giving it a little bite. Whatever comparison you want to make, though, "Hot 'n Cold" still came across as fresh, a bit feisty, and, most importantly of all, fun.

Of course, then Katy had to go and release "I Kissed A Girl" and ruin everything.

(Except not quite, as I later found some of the songs on the album to be decent.)

Find it on: One Of The Boys

Get up and shake the glitter off your clothes now

I think I've made pretty clear in the past that I both have severe reservations about K.P. (and that was before I even heard "I Kissed A Girl") and ADORE "Hot 'N Cold" . All the buzz I'd heard about her album was that there was nothing to rival "Hot 'N Cold" on it, which meant I dodged the majority of the "well, is it OK to listen?" dilemma; all I had to do was be frustrated whenever she appeared on TV singing "I Kissed A Girl" or newspapers ran thinly-veiled promotional articles about, say, her style or something and I felt fairly free to enjoy "Hot 'N Cold" in peace.

Last weekend, though, I was forced to listen to her debut album--well, saying "forced" makes it sound a lot more extreme than it was--just being in the car with someone who was listening to it. As I said on Fizzy Pop, I was pleasantly surprised. Maybe I shouldn't have been (surprised, that is), since I'd found out earlier on that she sang the demo for Miley Cyrus's "Breakout," a song I like (despite some offputting first verse lyrics) in a style I'm generally open to hearing more of from anyone--kind of Go-Go's-esque. I wouldn't say the album is all killer no filler by any stretch, but--though the "no rival to 'Hot 'N Cold' statements are right--there are things to enjoy there, though slightly more on the pop-rock side of things than either of her first two proper singles are.

I think "Waking Up In Vegas" is my (non-"Hot 'N Cold") track of the moment from it; the bridge and chorus are just the right kind of melodic power pop/pop-rock. It's not propelled forward quickly like "Breakout" nor electro-buzzy and jumpy like "Hot 'N Cold" and any "shake shake shake" is far from the gleeful chant of Metro Station's "Shake It," but it's no ballad either. If Miley isn't going to be our next Go-Go's, could (gulp) Katy? Or maybe she's the morning after the Go-Go's, when, with the previous night's parties over, you're left putting the pieces back together. Most of them are still whole, enough for the melody, the attitude, and some of the fun to be recoverable, but a few--that sugar rush and some of that untameable backing beat--are too shattered to be saved, and added into the mix are a few new pieces which you're can't figure out if you're proud of or regret.

To buy her latest album, go here (physical) or here (digital).

Next up: maybe that British song or Spanish song.